23-year-old Virginia resident Yonathan Melaku pleaded guilty on Thursday for his involvement in five different shootings at military installations in October and November 2010.
Melaku was arrested back in June, and the feds said he recorded himself shooting at the Marine Corps Museum. His quotes in the video, from our previous report:
“I’ve already… that’s the military building… last time I hit them, they turned off the lights for like four or five days,” Melaku allegedly said in the video, according to an FBI affidavit. “So now here we go again; this time I’m going to turn it off permanently.”
“Alright the next time this video turns on, I will be shooting,” Melaku allegedly said. “That’s what they get. That’s my target. That’s the military building. It’s going to be attacked.”
The Justice Department said in a press release that Melaku “admitted that he carried out a series of five shootings from Oct. 17, 2010, through Nov. 2, 2010, at the following locations: the National Museum of the Marine Corps (twice), the Pentagon, a Marine Corps recruiting sub-station in Chantilly, Va., and a U.S. Coast Guard recruiting office in Woodbridge, Va. Each shooting took place late at night or early in the morning and involved multiple 9mm rounds fired at each building.”
The government and defense team jointly recommended a sentence of 25 years in prison, and Melaku will be sentenced on April 27, 2012.
