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Pendleton Marine arrested in shooting death

SANTA ANA, Calif. — A 21-year-old Marine and Iraq war veteran from Camp Pendleton was arrested and is being investigated in the death a fellow Marine, sheriff’s officials said Friday.

A second Marine suspected in the killing has been on unauthorized leave since April and is now considered a fugitive, said Orange County sheriff’s spokesman Jim Amormino.

Lance Cpl. Christian William Carney was placed in the Camp Pendleton brig on Thursday night after sheriff’s deputies informed military personnel that he was wanted for the May 15 slaying of Pfc. Stephen Serrano. Carney, an Iraq war veteran, was then arrested Friday by sheriff’s deputies, Amormino said.

Meanwhile, authorities sought a second Marine, Pfc. Alvin Reed Lovely, 20, also of Camp Pendleton, in connection with the slaying. Amormino said Lovely is considered armed and dangerous.

The sheriff’s spokesman said neither Carney nor Lovely were believed to have retained attorneys.

The victim and the suspects were all assigned to the 1st Marine Division. Carney and Serrano had been with the Marines about one year, but Lovely went missing several months after arriving at the base, Amormino said. It wasn’t clear why he left, he said.

A hiker found Serrano’s body — still in desert fatigues and boots — in a drainage ditch in San Clemente on May 15. Authorities said he had been shot once in the chest and was believed to have been killed in the ditch. A murder weapon has not been found.

Lovely and Serrano served together in 2nd battalion, 5th Marines, said Marine spokesman 1st Lt. Curtis Williamson. Amormino said the three Marines knew each other, although it isn’t clear how well.

Authorities have ruled out a love triangle as the reason for the killing but said they otherwise have no motive.

Serrano, of Sacramento, was a field radio operator who joined the Marines in March 2007. He had not served in Iraq.

Carney, of Suffolk, N.Y., served in Iraq from March to October 2007 and was awarded a Good Conduct Medal, said Williamson. He is assigned to Headquarters Battalion, 5th Marines, at Camp Pendleton.

Lovely, of Dallas, Texas, had not deployed to Iraq. He was listed by the Corps as being on unauthorized absence, a step before being declared a deserter, Williamson said.

Intentional violence, particularly a killing, among Marines is extremely rare because of the intense discipline on the base and the limited free time allowed the service members, said Gary Solis, a former Marine Corps prosecutor and judge who teaches law of war at Georgetown University Law Center.

Last month, a Marine sergeant was charged with manslaughter in the January shooting of a comrade in a barracks at the Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center in Twentynine Palms. Investigators have said that the shooting was from negligent handling of a privately owned gun and did not appear intentional.

Solis said in 18 years as a judge-advocate he saw only a handful of similar cases.

“It’s always unusual in the Marine Corps because there’s a certain tightness, a certain esprit, that is particularly strong with Marines,” he said. “Marines are tightly controlled. They’re under supervision most of the time.”

Tom Umberg, a former Army colonel and military prosecutor, agreed that such cases are exceedingly rare despite the combat stress that many service members face during and after deployment.

“Being in a high stress situation over a long period of time can exacerbate a number of things, including the ability to continue to cope, especially if the person is already unstable,” he said.

Three servicemen from Camp Pendleton have died in the past eight days in noncombat-related incidents.

Lance Cpl. Samuel Stucky, 19, died Saturday after he was found unconscious in his barracks a day earlier with a gunshot wound. The same day, 25-year-old Lance Cpl. Noah Cole died of injuries suffered in a motorcycle accident during a visit to relatives in Grand Rapids, Mich.

Associated Press Writer Chelsea Carter in San Diego contributed to this report.