A Malian national has admitted the charges filed against him after he fatally shot a US Defense Department official to his death. The man pleads guilty of conspiracy to commit murder.
According to ABC News, the 2000 carjacking Niger suspect, Alhassane Ould Mohamed, changed his plea to guilty. The man is known to have escaped prison twice and charged with killing US Defense Department official, William Bultemeier, after he left the restaurant in Niamey on December 22, 2000. Moreover, he is accompanied by a second man who shot Marine Staff Sgt. Christopher McNeely who ended up with wounds that had lasting injuries.
Mohamed, 46, said he's sorry for the wrongdoings at his appearance in a federal court as reported by Yahoo. However, he told the judge, William F. Kuntz II, that the murder does not involve intent. Bultemeier was scheduled to go home in North California and eat to La Cloche so he could dine with other embassy employees. But little did they know, Mohamed and his accompany was waiting near his Toyota Land Cruiser with a pistol and AK-47 in hand. Mohamed demanded the key before he shot Bultemeier on the chest, fatally wounding him. After McNeely tried to intervene, he's shot by the second man.
Military Times reported that Mohamed was arrested in Mali two days after the intervention and remained in custody. However, he was able to escape the embassy in 2002 and later in 2009 when he was retrieved again after killing four Saudi Arabian nationals. He was sent back to Niger and found guilty with a 20-year sentence behind bars. He escaped for the second time.
Nonetheless, following his recapture, Mohamed was extradited to US in March 2014. Prosecutors are doing what they can to allow Bultemeier's and McNeely to be able to hear Mohamed's sentencing. Mohamed is expected to see 25 years of his life in prison.
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