Two Coast Guard employees assigned to Communications Station Kodiak were found dead this morning, the victims of gunshot wounds. The Coast Guard is not releasing many details, and the FBI is now investigating the deaths.
Base commander Captain Karl Moore said co-workers discovered the bodies when they arrived for work at the communications station about three miles from the main base, between 7 and 8 a.m.
He would not identify the two victims, and wouldn’t even reveal their genders, until next of kin are notified. Moore also said it is unknown if the incident was a murder suicide or a double homicide. He did say a suspect has not yet been identified.
“It’s quite possible that that person remains at large in Kodiak. We’ve been working closely with the locals and the Coast Guard units in the area to ensure that all of our citizens remain safe and viligent. We encourage anybody to report any suspicious activity to local law enforcement agencies or to the Coast Guard Police Department.”
At this time Moore could not say if the suspect was a civilian or a military employee of the Coast Guard, but he did say the Communications Station is a very high security area.
“The communications station has video cameras that look at the whole area and the investigators are going to track down all leads.”
Peterson Elementary School on the base went into lock down after the bodies were discovered, with some busses diverted to the high school downtown before they arrived at the school. Moore says the base itself is not on lock-down:
“We have increased security patrols out. I’m not going to divulge exactly what we dobut we have additional Coast Guard police members out around the base and we are working with the school system. Peterson was in a lock down, locked in environment this morning but we’re working with the school board to work through that and how we’re going to do that at the end of the day.”
Since the crimes took place on federal property, the FBI is now in charge of the investigation.
Coast Guard Base Kodiak is the largest in the nation, with about 2,000 military and civilian employees.
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Jay Barrett is the news director at KMXT in Kodiak.
