The Army Criminal Investigation Division and local police are investigating a mysterious shooting that occurred in North Carolina, north of Fort Liberty (formerly Fort Bragg), not far from the area where America’s elite Special Operations forces train and live. The shooting occurred in Carthage on May 3, at 8:15 pm, following a call regarding a suspected trespasser who was near the property of a Special Forces Soldier.
Near the soldier’s house, two Chechen men with broken English were discovered. Ramzan Daraev, 35, of Chicago, is suspected of being the intruder. The family claims that he was taking pictures of their children. An altercation broke out when Daraev, who was confronted by the family near a powerline in a forested area of the property and was shot at close range several times. Dzhankutov, Adsalan was in another vehicle, some distance away from the incident. He was detained by police and released. The Moore County Sheriff’s office leads the investigation.
The FBI stated, “Our law enforcement partners at the Moore County Sheriff’s Office called the FBI following a shooting in Carthage.” A special agent was present to meet with the investigators, and a linguist was provided to help with a language barrier during interviews.
Sheriff Ronnie Fields stated in a press release: “The caller reported that a person was seen taking photos on the property, and became aggressive towards a neighbor outside their home …. The deceased was discovered approximately 250 yards away from the road, on a residential property. Daraev’s identity was initially unknown, but was confirmed by family members as well as an international identification found in his car.
The shooter was identified as a U.S. Army Colonel who lived at the site of the shooting.
In recent years, U.S. Special Operations troops have reported strange interactions with people around the country. They claim that suspicious surveillance has been conducted on them and their family members. Many Americans believe that U.S. bases are increasingly being targeted by foreign investigations.
It is possible that the shooting incident in Carthage two weeks ago was a mistaken identity. The two Chechens lacked any personal identification. The two chechens did own two cell phones that had Russian language contacts, as well as camera equipment. They did not wear any uniforms of the power company who allegedly employed them.
Sheriff Ronnie Fields stated that Daraev worked as a contractor for Utilities One in New Jersey at the time of Daraev’s death. Investigators continue to work on verifying his official employment status and immigration status.
Daraev did not have any identification, utility clothing or equipment at the time of the accident. The incident was reported to U.S. Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
According to sources, “power company employment often serves as a cover” for U.S. agents’ status/action in spying on foreign targets abroad.
A separate incident occurred in Moore County 18 months earlier. This time, two electrical substations were the target of a mysterious shooting. The attack caused up to 40,000 residential customers and businesses in North Carolina to lose power for almost 2 weeks. The outage primarily affected U.S. Special Operations families in communities that were heavily populated. The FBI warned the private sector, less than two weeks before the Moore County Substation incident, of an increasing number of reported threats against electric infrastructure by people who adhere to “racially and ethnically motivated violent extreme ideologies.” The FBI inherited the investigation which is still unsolved.
Daraev’s family has launched a Change.org campaign called “Justice for Ramzan Daraev” which already has more than 11,000 signatories. They added, “Ramzan fled Russia not realizing the greatest injustice would be committed in a country that is free and where he in theory should have been protected.”
The May 3 shooting at Carthage, may have simply been a mistaken identity. But members of the Special Operations Community are wondering why two Russian-speaking Chechens took photos near a elite Army Special Forces residence on a friday night around 8:15pm, 10 minutes after sunset. They also wonder why the FBI has not taken the lead in this investigation.
The FBI stated that it has not launched a counterintelligence probe and “the local investigation has not revealed evidence of a Federal crime.” They added, “the FBI is regularly in contact with sheriff’s investigators and they are prepared to investigate should a federal matter come to light.”
