NORFOLK, Va. — Two U.S. Navy SEALs and two Marines have been charged in the strangulation death of an Army Green Beret while the service members were stationed in the African country of Mali last year, the Navy said on Thursday.
Charging documents describe a situation in which some of the nation’s most elite military personnel — including two members of the famed SEAL Team Six — broke into a Green Beret’s bedroom while he was sleeping, bound him with duct tape and put him into a chokehold.
The charges do not allege a specific motive. But the counts filed against the four men range from felony murder to involuntary manslaughter.
They also have been charged with hazing.
The names of the service members who have been charged are redacted in the charging documents. Beth Baker, a Navy spokesman, said the Navy is prohibited at this time from releasing the names of the accused as well as their civilian lawyers.
The service members are not in confinement, Baker said.
The Navy has also accused them of obstructing justice after the Green Beret’s death: Officials said the men disposed of alcohol that was kept in quarters shared by sailors and Marines and also lied to Navy commanders and investigators.
The man who died was Army Staff Sgt. Logan Melgar, a native of Lubbock, Texas. He had deployed to Afghanistan twice before his death in Bamako, Mali, in June 2017, Army officials said.
The charging documents don’t state why the service members were in Mali. But U.S. Special Forces have been in Africa to support and train local troops in their fight against extremists.