USAF OSI: Afghan air force colonel who killed former MacDill airman, eight others, acted alone

Posted Jan 17, 2012 by Howard Altman

Updated Jan 17, 2012 at 04:41 PM

He served at MacDill Air Force Base, was married there and now his child lives in the area with his wife N’Keiba Estelle, also an Air Force Major.

Raymond Estelle II, 40, was buried at the Florida National Cemetery in Bushnell.

Estelle was one of eight airmen killed at Afghan air force headquarters in Kabul by an Afghan air force colonel in a shooting spree April 27 that also killed a civilian contractor and wounded five Afghans.

Now the Air Force has concluded that the gunman - Col. Ahmed Gul of the Afghan air force, who was killed during the incident at the Afghan Command and Control Center at North Kabul International Airport, acted alone. The attack, investigators say, was premeditated and may have involved personal issues compounded by financial problems.

According to the Air Force:

While the investigation did not determine a conclusive motive for the killing, the report says, the attack appeared to be premeditated, and witness statements indicated Gul may have had personal issues that may have been compounded by financial problems.

The OSI findings do not support media reports shortly after the incident that an argument may have occurred earlier that day between the shooter and the American service members or reports that the gunman disarmed and methodically killed the airmen.

Since the incident, several security initiatives have been implemented to improve the force-protection posture for the coalition advisers, International Security Assistance Force officials said.

Extra personnel have been assigned to the force-protection mission, and air advisors have received additional “active shooter” training, officials said, increasing the likelihood a shooter can be neutralized safely before attacking additional victims. Also, they added, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance capabilities have improved, command and control upgrades have been initiated, and several emergency response vehicles have been purchased.

Along with Estelle, those killed were:

- Maj. Philip D. Ambard, 44, of Edmonds, Wash. He was assigned to the 460th Space Communications Squadron, Buckley Air Force Base, Colo.
- Maj. Jeffrey O. Ausborn, 41, of Gadsden, Ala. He was assigned to the 99th Flying Training Squadron, Randolph AFB, Texas.
- Maj. David L. Brodeur, 34, of Auburn, Mass. He was assigned to the 11th Air Force, Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson, Alaska.
- Master Sgt. Tara R. Brown, 33, of Deltona, Fla. She was assigned to the Air Force Office of Special Investigations, JB Andrews, Md.
- Lt. Col. Frank D. Bryant Jr., 37, of Knoxville, Tenn. He was assigned to the 56th Operations Group, Luke AFB, Ariz.
- Capt. Nathan J. Nylander, 35, of Hockley, Texas. He was assigned to the 25th Operational Weather Squadron, Davis-Monthan AFB, Ariz.
- Maj. Charles A. Ransom, 31, of Midlothian, Va. He was assigned to the 83rd Network Operations Squadron, JB Langley-Eustis, Va.
- Ret. U.S. Army Lt. Col. James McLaughlin Jr., 55, of Santa Rosa, Calif. He was working as a civilian contractor for Military Personnel Resources, Inc. a division of L3.