Two airmen at a Wyoming U.S. Air Force base have pleaded guilty to making false statements about the deadly shooting of a third that prompted the suspension of Sig Sauer M18 pistol use at nuclear weapons sites for a month, the Air Force said in a statement Friday.
The gun pause by the Air Force Global Strike Command after the death of Brayden Lovan, 21, in late July was lifted in late August after Air Force officials determined the M18 was safe to carry.
Lovan was an airman with the 90th Security Forces Squadron, 90th Missile Wing at F.E. Warren Air Force Base outside Cheyenne.
Details about his death were released for the first time Friday, including that the alleged shooter, Marcus White-Allen, had pointed the gun at Lovan’s chest in a “joking manner.” White-Allen after the shooting allegedly urged the other two surviving airmen to lie about what happened, according to the statement.
White-Allen, who was arrested on suspicion of involuntary manslaughter and making a false statement, was found dead on base on the morning of Oct. 8. Air Force officials have not disclosed details surrounding White-Allen’s death, saying it was still under investigation. White-Allen served as a security forces member assigned to squadron, CBS affiliate KGWN-TV reported.Â
Laramie County Coroner Rebecca Reid has not returned phone messages seeking information about White-Allen’s death. A person who answered the coroner’s office phone Friday said Reid had no comment.
Airmen Sarbjot Badesha and Matthew Rodriguez each pleaded guilty this week to making false official statements related to Lovan’s death July 20, according to the Air Force statement.
Badesha was sentenced to 30 days in confinement and forfeiture of $1,545, while Rodriguez was sentenced to 10 days in confinement, 15 days restriction to base and forfeiture of $500. Both also received administrative demotions.
The two reported hearing White-Allen’s gun go off and then seeing Lovan on the ground, according to the statement.
White-Allen allegedly told Badesha, “Here’s the story. Tell them that I slammed my duty belt on the desk and it went off.” White-Allen allegedly told Rodriguez to tell emergency responders that White-Allen’s “holster went off,” according to the statement.
Neither airman initially reported that information, leading investigators to believe at first that White-Allen’s M18 accidentally discharged, according to the statement.
Other U.S. service branches continued to use the M18 while Global Strike Command suspended its use. The suspension occurred while lawsuits against Sig Sauer allege its P320 pistol can go off without the trigger being pulled.
The New Hampshire-based gunmaker denies the claims, saying the pistol is safe and the problem is user error. It has prevailed in some cases.
AP Photo/Mead Gruver 
A second deadly incident involving an airman at the Wyoming base unfolded just weeks after Lovan’s death. In August, Air Force Base Airman First Class Jadan Orr allegedly shot a man in a Cheyenne apartment, according to police and sheriff’s officials.
Orr, 20, and several friends had been drinking at the apartment for most of the night when Orr and two others went into another room and Orr began handling an AK-47 rifle, according to a Cheyenne Police Department statement.
“While manipulating the firearm, Orr charged it and fired it through the wall into the living room, striking the victim in the torso,” police said.
Police said officers arrived to find several people outside trying to help the 23-year-old man, who died at the scene.
