Lucas Michael McConnell (born February 17, 1975) is an officer in the

United States Marine Corps The United States Marine Corps (USMC), also referred to as the United States Marines or simply the Marines, is the maritime land force service branch of the United States Department of Defense. It is responsible for conducting expeditionar ...

. In accordance with standard administrative procedure, he was removed from command of the

Camp Pendleton Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton is the major West Coast base of the United States Marine Corps and is one of the largest Marine Corps bases in the United States. It is on the Southern California coast in San Diego County and is bordered by ...

-based Kilo Company,

3rd Battalion, 1st Marines 3rd Battalion, 1st Marines (3/1) is an infantry battalion in the United States Marine Corps based out of Camp Horno on Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, California. Nicknamed the "Thundering Third", the battalion consists of approximately 1,200 ...

following his role in the haditha massacre, November 2005

war crime A war crime is a violation of the laws of war that gives rise to individual criminal responsibility for actions by combatants in action, such as intentionally killing civilians or intentionally killing prisoners of war, torture, taking hostage ...

Haditha Haditha (, ''al-Ḥadīthah'') is a town in the Al Anbar Governorate, about northwest of Baghdad. It is a farming town situated on the Euphrates River. Its population of around 46,500 people, predominantly Sunni Muslim Arabs. The town lies near ...

Iraq Iraq, officially the Republic of Iraq, is a country in West Asia. It is bordered by Saudi Arabia to Iraq–Saudi Arabia border, the south, Turkey to Iraq–Turkey border, the north, Iran to Iran–Iraq border, the east, the Persian Gulf and ...

Biography

According to reports in a local newspaper, McConnell grew up in

Napa, California Napa is the largest city and county seat of Napa County, California, Napa County and a principal city of Wine Country in Northern California, United States. Located in the North Bay (San Francisco Bay Area), North Bay region of the Bay Area, th ...

, and graduated from

Vintage High School Vintage High School is a public, comprehensive high school with a student body of over 1800. It is one of three comprehensive high schools in the Napa Valley Unified School District. The other comprehensive high schools are Napa High Schoo ...

in 1993, where he was the captain of the football team. He went to study at the

United States Naval Academy The United States Naval Academy (USNA, Navy, or Annapolis) is a United States Service academies, federal service academy in Annapolis, Maryland. It was established on 10 October 1845 during the tenure of George Bancroft as United States Secre ...

, graduating in 1997. McConnell started his Marine career as the 1st platoon commander of Bravo Company,

3rd Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion 3d Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion (3D LAR BN) is a fast and mobilized armored terrestrial reconnaissance battalion of the United States Marine Corps. Their primary weapon system is the LAV-25 and they are part of the 1st Marine Divisi ...

in 29 Palms, California. In accordance with standard administrative procedure, he was removed from command of the

-based Kilo Company,

following an alleged November 2005

, where Marines under his command were accused of having murdered 24 civilians after one of them had been killed in an

insurgent An insurgency is a violent, armed rebellion by small, lightly armed bands who practice guerrilla warfare against a larger authority. The key descriptive feature of insurgency is its asymmetric nature: small irregular forces face a large, well ...

attack. According to a report in ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' on 29 May 2006, commanding officer Lieutenant Colonel Jeffrey R. Chessani and 10-years-veteran

Captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

James Kimber (born 1973) were also removed from command.Ali Hamdani & Ned Parker
"Marines and the 'massacre': a neighbour tells of aftermath"
''The Times'', 29 May 2006. Accessed 27 Nov 2008. McConnell was not physically present during the incident but was being investigated for related events that occurred afterwards.

Staff Sergeant Staff sergeant is a Military rank, rank of non-commissioned officer used in the armed forces of many countries. It is also a police rank in some police services. History of title In origin, certain senior sergeants were assigned to administr ...

Frank Wuterich Frank D. Wuterich (born February 28, 1980) is a former United States Marine Corps Staff Sergeant who pleaded guilty to negligent dereliction of duty as a result of his actions during the Haditha massacre where multiple innocent civilians were mu ...

was the Marine leading the patrol. The

Naval Criminal Investigative Service The United States Naval Criminal Investigative Service (NCIS) is the primary investigative law enforcement agency of the United States Department of the Navy. Its primary function is to investigate major criminal activities involving the Nav ...

was called in to conduct an inquiry after ''

Time magazine ''Time'' (stylized in all caps as ''TIME'') is an American news magazine based in New York City. It was published weekly for nearly a century. Starting in March 2020, it transitioned to every other week. It was first published in New York Cit ...

'' published a report on the killings that said the shooters' officers failed to effectively inquire into the incident. Thirteen months passed between the killings, and the initiation of the NCIS inquiry. NCIS recommended charges in December 2006. Charges against McConnell have since been dismissed by Lt. Gen.

James N. Mattis James Norman Mattis (born September 8, 1950) is an American military officer who served as the 26th United States secretary of defense from 2017 to 2019. A retired United States Marine Corps, Marine Corps four-star General (United States), gene ...

, commander of the Marine Forces Central Command, after it was decided that any alleged "errors or omissions" made by the Captain would best be handled through an administrative process.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:McConnell, Luke United States Marine Corps personnel of the Iraq War United States Marine Corps officers People from Napa, California 1975 births Living people People from the San Francisco Bay Area