US soldier killed in Niger ambush was not captured, military report finds

Associated Press in Washington
Sunday 17 December 2017 18.59 GMT

An American soldier who was killed in an ambush in Niger with three comrades but whose body was only recovered days later was not captured alive by the enemy or executed at close range, the Associated Press has learned, based on the conclusion of a military investigation.

Dispelling a swirl of rumors about the death of Sgt La David Johnson, 25, of Miami Gardens, Florida, the report determined that he was killed by enemy rifle and machine gun fire as he fled the attack by an offshoot of the Islamic State group about 120 miles north of Niamey, the capital of Niger. The attack took place on 4 October Johnson’s body was recovered two days later.

Johnson’s death led to a political squabble between Donald Trump and a Democratic congresswoman from Florida after Trump told Johnson’s pregnant widow in a phone call her husband “knew what he signed up for”.

Frederica Wilson was riding with Johnson’s family to meet the body and heard the call on speakerphone. The spat grew to include Trump’s chief of staff, the retired marine general John Kelly, who called Wilson an “empty barrel”.

US officials familiar with the findings of the report spoke on condition of anonymity to describe details of an investigation that has not been finalized or publicly released.

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