Friendly-fire incident leads to dismissal

WASHINGTON, July 3 (UPI) -- The U.S. Army is dismissing an officer who fatally shot a soldier in a friendly-fire incident during a battle with what were thought to be Iraqi insurgents.

Capt. Timothy R. Hanson, now 33, shot and killed Pfc. David H. Sharrett II of Oakton, Va., in Iraq, near the city of Balad, in 2008, The Washington Post reported.

Sharrett's father, David Sharrett Sr., a retired English teacher in Virginia, had pressed the Army to investigate the death of his son for four years.

Hanson had received little more than reprimands in four previous Army reviews, was promoted from lieutenant a year after the incident and was allowed to transfer from active duty to a full-time Army Reserve job in Wisconsin, the Post said.

The Army sent an e-mail to David Sharrett Sr. last week saying Hanson was "currently being processed for separation from the Army."

Army officials would not say whether the separation was honorable nor why it came four years after the incident.

On Jan. 16, 2008, Hanson, then a lieutenant, led a squad of seven soldiers to capture what were thought to be al-Qaida insurgents. Two U.S. soldiers were killed and two others wounded.

The Post said overhead video from a drone, two helicopters and two jets captured Sharrett standing and firing before running from the enemy. Hanson turned to his left and fired one shot into Sharrett's left buttock from about 6 feet away, but trees obscured the moment when Hanson shot Sharrett.

Sharrett, who was found alive 75 minutes after the shooting, died soon after of massive internal bleeding from a severed femoral artery, the Post said.