SEATTLE (AP) — The remains of two aviators who died when their jet crashed during a training flight in Washington state last month will return home from Dover Air Force base in the coming days, the Navy said.
The remains of Lt. Serena Wileman, a California native, were due to return on Monday, Whidbey Island Naval Air Station said. Lt. Cmdr. Lyndsay Evans' remains will return later during the week in a private affair in accordance with her family's wishes.
The two died when their EA-18G Growler jet from the Electronic Attack Squadron, known as “Zappers,” crashed east of Mount Rainier on Oct. 15.
The crash occurred at about 6,000 feet (1,828 meters) in a remote, steep and heavily wooded area. The cause of the crash is under investigation.
Evans, a naval flight officer from Palmdale, California, made history as part of a team of female pilots who conducted the first-ever all-female flyover of Super Bowl LVII on Feb. 12, 2023, to celebrate 50 years of women flying in the Navy.
The first female candidates entered the U.S. Navy flight school in 1973.
Wileman, a naval aviator, was commissioned in 2018 and joined the Zapper squadron on Washington state’s Whidbey Island in 2021. She earned the National Defense Service Medal, Navy Unit Commendation Medal and a Combat Action Ribbon.
The EA-18G Growler is a variant of the F/A-18F Super Hornet and provides tactical jamming and electronic protection to U.S. forces and allies, according to Boeing, its manufacturer. The first Growler was delivered to Whidbey Island in 2008.
This undated photo released by the U.S. Navy shows Lt. Serena Wileman, a Naval Aviator. (U.S. Navy via AP)
This combination of undated photos released by the U.S. Navy shows left to right; Lt. Serena Wileman, a Naval Aviator, and Lt. Commander Lyndsay Evans, a Naval Flight Officer. (U.S. Navy via AP)
MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico’s National Guard fatally shot two Colombians and wounded four others in what the Defense Department claimed was a confrontation near the U.S. border.
The shootings happened Saturday on a dirt road near Tecate, east of Otay Mesa on the California border, that is frequently used by Mexican migrant smugglers, the department said.
It wasn't clear whether the Colombians were migrants, but one Colombian who was not injured in the shootings was turned over to immigration officials, suggesting they were.
Mexico’s Defense Department, which controls the National Guard, did not respond to requests for comment on that point.
If they were migrants, it would mark the second time in just over a month that military forces have opened fire on and killed migrants.
On Oct. 1, the day President Claudia Sheinbaum took office, soldiers opened fire on a truck, killing six migrants in the southern state of Chiapas. An 11-year-old girl from Egypt, her 18-year-old sister and a 17-year-old boy from El Salvador died in that shooting, along with people from Peru and Honduras.
Describing the events near Tecate on Saturday, the Defense Department said in a statement late Sunday that a militarized National Guard patrol came under fire after spotting two trucks in the area.
One truck sped off and escaped. The National Guard opened fire on the other truck, killing two Colombians and wounding four others. There was no immediate information on their conditions, and there were no reported casualties among the guardsmen involved.
One Colombian and one Mexican man were found and detained unharmed at the scene, and the departments said officers found a pistol and magazines commonly used for assault rifles at the scene.
Colombians have sometimes been recruited as gunmen for Mexican drug cartels, which are also heavily involved in migrant smuggling. But the fact the survivor was turned over to immigration officials and that the Foreign Relations Department contacted the Colombian consulate suggests they were migrants.
Cartel gunmen sometimes escort or kidnap migrants as they travel to the U.S. border.
The three National Guard officers who opened fire have been taken off duty.
Former president Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who left office Sept. 30, gave the military an unprecedentedly wide role in public life and law enforcement; he created the militarized Guard and used the combined military forces as the country’s main law enforcement agencies, supplanting police. The Guard has since been placed under the control of the army.
But critics say the military is not trained to do civilian law enforcement work. Moreover, lopsided death tolls in such confrontations — in which all the deaths and injuries occur on one side — raise suspicions among activists whether there really was a confrontation.
For example, the soldiers who opened fire in Chiapas — who have been detained pending charges — claimed they heard “detonations” prior to opening fire. There was no indication any weapons were found at the scene.
FILE - Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum, center, reviews the troops with Defense Minister Gen. Ricardo Trevilla Trejo, left, and Navy Secretary Alt. Raymundo Pedro Morales, at Campo Marte in Mexico City, Oct. 3, 2024. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File)
