Prosecutors release chilling video of Pentagon shooter's attack on Marine Corps Museum

In federal court Thursday, a 23-year-old former Marine Corps Reserve lance corporal admitted to shooting at five military buildings in fall 2010 and to attempting to vandalize grave markers of veterans at Arlington National Cemetery.

At the hearing in U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Yonathan Melaku, of Alexandria, pleaded guilty to charges of destroying U.S. property by shooting a firearm, using a firearm in a crime of violence and attempting to damage veterans’ grave markers on U.S. property.

According to the terms of a plea agreement, Melaku will be sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Click here for last year's coverage of the shootings.

At Thursday’s hearing, Melaku admitted to being the gunman who fired several shots twice at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Triangle, and once each at the Pentagon, a Marine Corps recruiting substation in Chantilly and a U.S. Coast Guard recruiting office in Woodbridge in October and November 2010. No one was injured in the shootings, which authorities said caused over $111,000 in property damage.

According to a statement of facts filed Thursday, Melaku began his shooting spree on Oct. 17, 2010, sometime between 12:30 and 7:30 a.m. when he fired 10 rounds at the museum from his car while driving north on Interstate 95, about 150 to 250 yards away.

Museum officials found bullet holes in several windows and in the base of the museum.

Next, on Oct. 19, 2010, Melaku fired several shots at the Pentagon from his car in the area of Interstate 395, court documents state. The bullets hit the south side of the Pentagon and several windows, causing $15,144 in damages, officials said.

Then, on Oct. 26, 2010, the gunman fired several shots at a Marine Corps recruiting substation at 13881 Metrotech Drive in Chantilly, damaging at least one window and causing an estimated $1,365 in damages.

In the early morning hours of Oct. 29, 2010, according to court documents, Melaku returned to the National Museum of the Marine Corps, this time videotaping himself while he fired several shots at the museum from his car.

In the video, Melaku can be seen repeatedly firing a handgun at the museum out the passenger-side window.

“That’s a military building and that’s the building I’m going to be targeting,” Melaku said in the video. “Last time I hit them, they turned off the lights for like… four or five days…Punks! Now, here we go again. This time I’m gonna turn it off permanently.”

The two shootings at the Marine Corps museum caused a total of about $94,100 in damages, according to court records.

The last in the series of shootings happened on Nov. 1, 2010, when Melaku fired at least one shot at the U.S. Coast Guard recruiting office at 2721 Potomac Mills Circle, near Potomac Mills mall in Woodbridge, causing about $597 in damages to the door there.

Melaku was arrested on June 11, 2011 after sparking a security scare in the area of Arlington National Cemetery.

According to court documents, law enforcement officers spotted Melaku on Ft. Myer in Arlington at about 1:30 a.m. that day and approached him. Melaku dropped a backpack and ran off. Authorities chased him and arrested him on the property of Arlington National Cemetery.

In the backpack, authorities found several shell casings, four plastic bags containing ammonium nitrate, a common ingredient in homemade explosives, a can of black spray paint, a spiral notebook containing “numerous Arabic statements referencing the Tailban, al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, ‘The Path to Jihad’ including ‘defeat coalition and allies and America,’ as well as a list of several other individuals associated with foreign terrorist organizations,” and other items, according to court documents.

In court Thursday, Melaku admitted that he planned to spray paint “Arabic statements” on grave markers of Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans buried at Arlington National Cemetery.

Melaku will be sentenced on April 27. Defense attorney Gregory English said he plans to file a motion requesting that Melaku receive a mental health evaluation and possible mental health treatment while in prison.

English said Melaku is competent to stand trial, but his family members are concerned that he has “anger management issues” and post-traumatic stress disorder. Family members said the shootings were “totally out of character” for Melaku, English said.

Prosecutors said they have not seen any evidence that Melaku has mental health problems.

Melaku, who graduated from Edison High School in Fairfax County, is a naturalized United States citizen from Ethiopia, authorities said. At the time of his arrest, Marine Corps officials said Melaku joined the Marine Corps Reserves in September 2007.

Following the plea hearing, officials from the United States Attorney’s office and the FBI’s Washington Field Office spoke to reporters outside the courthouse.

“Yonathan Melaku pled guilty to carrying out a calculated, destructive campaign to instill terror throughout our community,” MacBride said in a statement. “The video he filmed during one drive-by shooting is a chilling portrayal of his intent and the escalating danger he posed.”

Staff writer Amanda Stewart can be reached at 703-530-3908.

Stay with InsideNoVA.com for video Melaku shot of himself firing on the Marine Corps Museum.