Kodiak Man Arrested in Killings of Two Coast Guard Workers

photo credit: jkbrooks85ANCHORAGE, Alaska (Reuters) – A former coworker has been arrested for fatally shooting two U.S. Coast Guard employees last year on Kodiak Island in Alaska, federal officials said on Friday.

James Michael Wells of Kodiak will appear in federal court sometime next week in Anchorage to face charges of killing Coast Guard electricians Mate First Class James Hopkins and retired Chief Boatswain’s Mate Richard Belisle, the U.S. Attorney’s Office said.

Hopkins and Belisle were shot dead on April 12 at the Coast Guard’s communications station on Kodiak Island, part of the large Coast Guard base complex on that Alaska island. Hopkins was an enlisted Guard member and Belisle was a civilian employee.

Wells, a civilian, worked with the victims in 2011 at a Coast Guard project on Shemya Island in the Aleutians, according to the Coast Guard.

Read more from this story HERE.