Probe of Marine could take weeks

Jace Radke

Monday, April 28, 2003 | 10:59 a.m.

An investigation into whether a Las Vegas Marine reservist committed war crimes probably won't be completed for a number of weeks, according to a spokesman with the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

Marine Gunnery Sgt. Michael Giannetti, a spokesman with NCIS, said that an investigation has been opened based on newspaper reports that quoted and paraphrased Marine Gunnery Sgt. Gus Covarrubias' accounts about hunting down and killing two Iraqi soldiers.

"They are going to have to interview everyone involved, so I'm sure it will take at least a couple of weeks," Giannetti said.

Maj. Carolyn Dysart of Marine Reserve Forces Headquarters in New Orleans said she believes NCIS investigators met with Covarrubias on Friday.

"It's a preliminary inquiry based on the article," Dysart said. "We saw the article and decided to look into it, but a newspaper article is not a sworn statement."

Covarrubias, a member of the weapons platoon of Fox Co., a Marine Reserve unit made up of soldiers from Nevada and Utah, was one of nine soldiers wounded in a firefight while moving from building to building in Baghdad.

The nine soldiers from Nevada, California and Utah are recovering from their wounds, and some, like Covarrubias, were sent home.

Covarrubias suffered a concussion when a rocket-propelled grenade exploded near him and other troops. After the fighting, Covarrubias reportedly took his pistol and went in search of the Iraqi soldier who fired the grenade.

The gunnery sergeant reportedly found an Iraqi Republican Guard member in a nearby house with a grenade launcher next to him. Covarrubias ordered the Iraqi soldier to stop and turn around, before shooting him twice in the back of the head, according to the newspaper account.

Covarrubias then reportedly tracked and killed another Iraqi soldier and returned to his unit with the dead men's identification tags. The NCIS will determine if Covarrubias followed rules of engagement and complied with the laws of war.

Also, the property of the enemy is not to be taken or destroyed unless it is critical to military operations. Covarrubias reportedly took a Republican Guard beret, and a bayonet along with the identification tags, according to media reports.