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| More Details on the American Women Injured in U.N. Kosovo Shooting |
| 2004-04-19 |
| An American former correctional officer serving with the U.N. mission in Kosovo was in critical condition Sunday, a day after an attack on a group of prison guards, most of them Americans, by a Jordanian policeman also serving with the U.N. mission in Mitrovica. Two American women died in the shooting and another nine American officers were wounded at a jail in the city of Mitrovica in the northern part of the province on Saturday. An Austrian prison guard was also wounded. The Jordanian officer was killed when the guards returned fire. Among those injured was Janice Biggs, who has worked in corrections for the St. Louis (Missouri, United States) County government since 1984. Biggs was shot in the buttocks during the battle on her first day at work at the prison, said the husband of Biggs’ roommate in Kosovo. Biggs, 43, was working with Beth Mechler, 44, of Topeka, Kan. Mechler’s husband, Topeka police Lt. Randall Listrom, said that his wife, who was also injured, told him that she, Biggs and the others were leaving from their first shift at the prison when they were attacked. "They had been in Kosovo 10 days, and this was their first day on the job," Listrom said. "I have talked with Beth on the telephone," Listrom said. "She seems fine, although she has been through an emotional time." Friends who were riding in the same car as Beth Mechler were killed. "She watched as friends died needlessly, and that may be an image not forgotten," Listrom said in prepared statement. "The future of the mission is unclear." Listron said his wife told him Biggs had survived. U.N. peacekeepers and police officers have been working in Kosovo since 1999, after NATOs 78-day bombing campaign to stop forces backed by the former Serbian president, Slobodan Milosevic, from driving ethnic Albanians from the province. Jordan has about 120 anti-riot officers in the region. A spokeswoman for the U.N. force in Mitrovica, Tracy Becker, said the guard in critical condition had suffered gunshot wounds to the head and had been returned from a hospital in Macedonia to Camp Bondsteel, the main American army camp in Kosovo. Besides Biggs, Mechler and the unidentified former American correctional officer, five other American prison guards wounded in the attack were also being treated at the camp, she said, and two others had been released. None was identified by authorities. The shooting took place just after 3 p.m. as the guards were leaving the jail in three cars. Officers close to the investigation said that five Jordanian officers were at the gate when the shooting started but that only one opened fire. The gunfire lasted about 10 minutes, said Joe Napolitano, the commander of a nearby U.N. police station, and local people who witnessed the attack. Becker said the prison officers had no contact with the Jordanians before the shooting took place. "It was their first day at the detention center," she said. "They had just completed their induction course and were being shown around the prison for the first time." Police investigators said they could not comment as to whether the Jordanian officer had deliberately chosen Americans as his target. |
| Posted by:Kentucky Beef |
| #1 two guesses, and "no" is wrong |
| Posted by: Frank G 2004-04-19 9:56:06 PM |