Law enforcement and military sources say forensic evidence links Marine reservist Yonathan Melaku to last fall’s mysterious shootings at military targets around Northern Virginia, including the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle.
Melaku, 22, sparked a security scare Friday after U.S. Park Police saw him in Arlington National Cemetery after dark. Authorities then found his red 2011 Nissan truck parked in a wooded area near the Pentagon, according to an FBI press release.
Police say Melaku’s behavior after he was confronted by police prompted massive road closures during the Friday morning rush hour as officials investigated the contents of his backpack for what they initially feared might be bomb-making materials. They found no explosives. His Alexandria home also was searched.
Forensic evidence found during the investigation links Melaku to five shootings at military targets last year, sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity told www.insidenova.com.
The military shootings began Oct. 17 at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, when someone fired at least 10 bullets into the building's glass ceiling, narrowly missing a jet on display.
Two days later, bullets from the same gun shattered windows at the Pentagon. The FBI said six or seven shots were fired that morning just before 5 a.m.
The next related shooting came overnight Oct. 26 at a Marine Corps recruiting center in Chantilly.
The shooter struck a second time at the Marine Corps museum in Triangle Oct. 30, then hit a Coast Guard recruiting station near Potomac Mills mall on Nov. 2. After that, the shootings stopped as mysteriously as they began.
Melaku, a 22-year-old Ethiopian native, is now jailed in Loudoun County on theft charges related to auto break-ins in Leesburg earlier this year.
Melaku has not yet been charged in connection with the military shootings.
The FBI and the U.S. District Attorney's Office in Alexandria refused to comment Wednesday on evidence in the case, but spokesmen said the investigation is ongoing.
According to the FBI, Melaku joined the Marine Corps reserves on Sept. 4, 2007 is listed as a lance corporal and a motor vehicle operator with Combat Engineer Support Company, 4th Combat Engineer Battalion, 4th Marine Division, Marine Forces Reserve. He has never been deployed overseas, but had been awarded the National Defense Service Medal and the Selected Marine Corps Reserve Medal.
Stay with insidenova.com and the News & Messenger for more on this developing story.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
Email
Facebook
Google
Twitter
Favorites
More
Advertisement