Soldier gets shot to escape his duty [View All]

[fed-up]

Source: The Sun (San Bernadino and the Inland Empire, CA)

Stacia Glenn, Staff Writer
Article Launched: 02/25/2008 10:35:39 PM PST

APPLE VALLEY - A 20-year-old soldier had a friend shoot him in the leg Sunday to avoid redeployment to Iraq, authorities said, then concocted a story about a robbery to explain his injury.

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"We were out looking for the suspect, and things just weren't adding up," said sheriff's spokeswoman Trish Hill. "It was determined that Matthew Myers and his friend, Daniel Dotterrer, came up with this plan to have his friend shoot him so (Myers) wouldn't have to return to Iraq for another tour."

Dotterrer, also 20 and a longtime friend of Myers', shot him in the leg with a .32-caliber revolver, deputies said. It was unclear Monday where Myers was shot before walking about a mile to the AM/PM

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No information was immediately available on Myers' service in the Army, but officials confirmed he was stationed at Ft. Campbell, Ky., and was scheduled to return to Iraq.

This is the second such incident involving a soldier in more than two decades, said U.S. Army spokesman Paul Boyce.

Read more: http://www.sbsun.com/sanbernardino/ci_8363846

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another version with a few added details

http://www.pe.com/localnews/sbcounty/stories/PE_News_Local_B_iraq26.4368ae1.html
Detectives doubt wounded GI's account of being shot by a robber in Apple Valley

10:00 PM PST on Monday, February 25, 2008
By PAUL LAROCCO
The Press-Enterprise

An Army solider on leave from Iraq walked into a High Desert convenience story Sunday night with a gunshot wound to his thigh and an account of a confrontation with a robber.

..snip
Myers, a solider in the Army's 101st Airborne Division at Fort Campbell, Ky., is suspected of conspiring in the shooting while home on temporary military leave because of a family emergency, said San Bernardino County sheriff's spokeswoman Trish Hill. He is expected to return to active duty, she said.

..snip
Doctors did not remove the bullet because of possible complications, Hill said.

It wasn't immediately clear when Myers is to return to Iraq. A spokeswoman at Fort Campbell confirmed his assignment there Monday but could not provide further details.