Possible shooting reported at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio

Shooter IDed as Tech. Sgt. Steven D. Bellino, 41. Victim is Lt. Col. William A. Schroeder, 39.

What's weird is the background of Bellino. He had been in the Air Force less than a year, but was already an E-7. And before that he was a Special Agent in the FBI for about two years.

www.washingtonpost.com... rations/

Was Bellino booted from the FBI for some reason? Being a Special Agent is a respected and sought-after position, and usually applicants are college grads with degrees in accounting or law. And these federal agencies are loath to lose people so early after having spent all that money training them.

Would a man with such a background then enlist in the services? Why would the Air Force accept a 40-year old enlistee?

Was Bellino in fact an undercover agent doing an investigation at the time? I suspect there is more to this story.

a reply to: starviego

He could have been prior service.

Which would explain his rank. That said, you do pose an interesting question: if he is not prior service, then how'd he make it to TSgt in such a short time, and what was he doing prior to the Air Force?

Some more details on this baffling case. The shooter did indeed have prior military service:

www.mysanantonio.com...
The assailant, Technical Sgt. Steven D. Bellino, was a former FBI agent and Army veteran of Iraq who joined the Air Force to become a pararescuer. He went AWOL after failing a water endurance test. ....
The San Antonio Express-News confirmed that Bellino had failed a water endurance test and walked off without following the proper procedure. He left San Antonio and went AWOL, and later was taken into custody in Parma Heights, Ohio and brought back to Lackland. On Friday Bellino came to Forbes Hall on the pretext of accepting nonjudicial punishment...

What pissed Bellino off so much that he went AWOL?

a reply to: starviego


I think FBI agents are being increasingly burned out. Lots of restrictions, bad publicity, world becoming more dangerous, etc.. After moving to another career, they still have problems forgetting about what the FBI working environment did to them and their families.

originally posted by: Byrd
Shootings in and around military bases are fairly common (and often with tragic consequences.) Weapons are easily accessible and in military towns, everything from knives and swords on up is usually easy to buy.

While the bases may be "gun free" they're not EXACTLY gun free. Under certain circumstances someone may carry a weapon (and the military police unit is always armed.) As a rule, guns have never been worn around base ... this dates back to the 1950's ... and I'm speaking from experience.

Any one with official duties on the base requiring sidearms will carry them on base. I had to carry a sidearm to transport registered pubs or take such for destruction. When moving special weapons for loading, all transport crew were armed. At the time, Thompsons were common.
Officers had personal sidearms on ship and a safe to keep them in, of course.

Here's some more background on the shooter. He had gone AWOL back in Aug-Sept of last year. Which makes his motives even more mysterious. He had an elite background--not the type you'd think would fly off the handle for little things.

news4security.com...
Bellino joined the Army after graduating from high school in 1992, training first as an Army Ranger at Ft. Stewart, Ga., then as a Green Beret at Ft. Bragg, N.C., according to his attorney, Daniel Conway. In 2002, he left the Army and joined the Army National Guard, serving with a special forces unit based in Ohio, according to Conway and military records. During his time in the Army and National Guard, Bellino served multiple tours in Afghanistan, Iraq, Kosovo and Kuwait, Conway said.
From 2004 to 2007, Bellino also worked as a civilian contractor(in Iraq) with a private security firm, the lawyer said. In 2011, Bellino left the military, went to work as an FBI special agent in the New York office but resigned after less than two years, according to an FBI statement. He then tried to reenlist in the Army or join the Navy, but eventually settled on the Air Force because it involved the least amount of red tape, Conway said.