A TWIST of fate put one of two US servicewomen shot dead in their US barracks in the wrong place at the wrong time, it emerged yesterday.
Anamarie Sannicolas Camacho, 20, was killed alongside 19-year-old room-mate Genesia Mattril Gresham at around 5am on Monday.
Their alleged killer, fellow serviceman Clarence Jackson, 20, was still in critical condition in the BDF Hospital last night, after apparently shooting himself in the head immediately after the killings.
Ms Camacho, 20, from Panama City, Florida, joined the US Navy in June last year, because she could not afford to go to college, her heartbroken mother has revealed.
Jovy Paulino described her daughter as a "happy person", who only joined the military in the hope of obtaining a degree.
"She always had big smiles," Ms Paulino said in an interview with the daily Saipan Tribune.
"She was an individual who was filled with energy."
Ms Paulino said her daughter knew that going to college would be too expensive, so she joined the navy after graduating from school, so she could fulfil her dream of obtaining a degree.
"She always tried to do things on her own. She was an independent child," said Ms Paulino, who lives in Tinian, one of the same group of Northern Marinas islands as Saipan.
Ms Paulino said her daughter's body was expected to arrive home next Monday.
She is hoping her daughter will be given a memorial service along with full military honours.
Ms Camacho shared a room in barracks at the Naval Support Activity base, in Juffair, with Ms Gresham, of Lithonia, Georgia, who had only been in the military for 11 months.
The women, who each held the rank of master-at-arms, were reportedly shot almost immediately after one of them answered a knock on the door.
Jackson, who was found unconscious with a head wound, had only just been reprieved from a restraining order after attacking one of the women, said to be his ex-girlfriend, weeks earlier, said sources.
US navy officials yesterday said it would be inappropriate to comment on what charges he may face, since he is in such a critical condition.
Doctors have said he is not expected to survive or to ever regain consciousness, since the bullet passed through his brain.
Jackson was part of the base security team and as such authorised to carry a loaded gun.
A spokeswoman said only authorised personnel were allowed to carry guns on the base. She dismissed allegations that Jackson had attacked one of the victims before as "rumours".
The spokeswoman confirmed that people working on the US base were allowed to have relationships, as long as they adhered to the strict fraternity policy and it was not disruptive to the workforce
"They have to be within their own pay grade and chain of command," she told the GDN.
The spokeswoman was unable to confirm a report in the official US military publication Stars and Stripes that a memorial for victims was to be held on Sunday.
It also emerged earlier that security teams at first thought a gunman was still on the loose, immediately after the shootings.
Hundreds of personnel were evacuated from barracks within the base, as armed teams searched the building.
Many were in underwear or nightclothes and had to be provided with clothing from the base stores, since they were not allowed back into their rooms for several hours, said sources.
Stars and Stripes reported that the incident took place on the fourth floor of the barracks, which houses both visiting military personnel and junior enlisted sailors. The barracks are reportedly less than 50 metres from the Freedom Suq, a popular shopping and recreation area within the base.
Personnel living in the barracks were initially evacuated to the nearby gymnasium, said the report. The lock-down at the base was lifted after about an hour, but it was apparently several hours before personnel were allowed back into the barracks.
geoff@gdn.com.bh
