Marine fatally shot at Camp Lejeune was 19 and from North Carolina, the base says

Associated Press
·1 min read
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FILE - Signage stands on the main gate to Camp Lejeune Marine Base outside Jacksonville, N.C., on April 29, 2022. A Marine was killed in a homicide at Camp Lejeune on Wednesday night, Oct. 18, 2023, and a second Marine was held on suspicion of being involved, the base said. (AP Photo/Allen G. Breed, File)

CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. (AP) — A Marine killed in a shooting at Camp Lejeune was identified by officials Friday a 19-year-old lance corporal from North Carolina.

Austin B. Schwenk, of Onslow County, North Carolina, died Wednesday in an incident in a barracks room on the base, the base said in a statement. Schwenk enlisted in 2022 and he belonged to the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment, the base said.

A second Marine was being held Friday on suspicion of being involved in the death, the base said. Officials called the death a homicide and described the other Marine as a suspect.

The Naval Criminal Investigative Service will investigate the death, said the base, located in North Carolina.

The sprawling Camp Lejeune covers about 240 square miles (621 square kilometers) and is home to the II Marine Expeditionary Force. Its beaches and ranges provide training in amphibious assaults and urban warfare and it is used both for U.S. Marine training and for exercises involving other military forces from around the world.

The death came two days before the base was scheduled to conduct annual training known as Exercise Urgent Response that “provides an opportunity for tenant commands to develop and exercise emergency security procedures,” according to a press release.

In 2021, a Marine was shot and wounded in a barracks at the base. Authorities later determined that the shooting was accidental.