No bail for former security contractor

NORFOLK, Va., Jan. 20 (UPI) -- A federal judge in Virginia has ordered pre-trial detention for a man accused of killing two Afghan civilians while working for Blackwater, now called Xe.

U.S. District Judge Robert Doumar said Christopher Drotleff might "shoot somebody he felt had angered him," The Virginian-Pilot reported Wednesday.

At Tuesday's hearing, prosecutors argued for continuing to deny Drotleff bail. They presented evidence that Drotleff threatened in 2002 to shoot a pedestrian and that he went AWOL seven times as a U.S. Marine and has a history of misdemeanor convictions.

Drotleff was working for a subsidiary of Xe, the name adopted by the military contractor Blackwater, in Afghanistan last year when he allegedly opened fire on civilians. Two were killed and a third wounded.

His lawyer played a tape of a 911 call Drotleff made to report "armed contractors" -- actually FBI agents -- were coming for him. Defense attorney Lawrence Woodward Jr. argued Drotleff did not know the men were government agents, but the judge took the tape as more evidence of Drotleff's dangerousness.

"I wouldn't want to brush up against him and provoke anger," Doumar said. "He and society do not get along."