Pentagon Guard Sentenced in Homeless Man’s Shooting Death

A Pentagon security guard on Friday was sentenced to a year in prison by a federal judge after pleading guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the shooting of a homeless man.

John Edward Bell, 34, of Bryantown, Md., also was sentenced to three years of supervised release, the Justice Department said, and was ordered to reimburse the victim’s family $3,300 in funeral expenses.

The sentencing was the culmination of a seven-week investigation by FBI and Pentagon officials into the March 7 shooting death of Kenneth Allen Grant, 38, while Bell was on duty in a security trailer at the sprawling headquarters of the Defense Department.

Bell was “handling his service revolver in a reckless manner” and it discharged, according to a statement from the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia.

The bullet went through the window of the trailer and hit Grant, who was crossing a road nearby. He died a short time later of a chest wound.