Coast Guard Officer Shot Dead at Station
The commanding officer of a remote U.S. Coast Guard navigation station in Alaska was shot and killed in what officials said appeared to be the first murder on Coast Guard property.
Chief Warrant Officer Timothy Harris, the commander of the Coast Guard’s Loran station on the Bering Sea island of St. Paul, 800 miles southwest of Anchorage, was shot several times early Tuesday morning, officers said. He was found dead in his quarters.
A local man was charged with first-degree murder. Carl Merculief Jr., 25, described by Alaska state troopers as a resident of both St. Paul and Anchorage, was in jail in lieu of $100,000 bail.
The motive for the shooting was not disclosed.
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