Nicholas Slatten, 30, of Sparta, Tennessee, the teams sniper, was found guilty of first-degree murder while armed in the slaying of the river of a white Kia sedan in the Baghdad traffic circle. Prosecutors said Slatten kicked off the incident when he opened fire.
The other verdicts: Paul Slough, 35, of Keller, Texas, was found guilty of 13 counts of voluntary manslaughter, 17 counts of attempted manslaughter and one firearms offense;
Evan Liberty, 32, of Rochester, New Hampshire, was found guilty of eight counts of voluntary manslaughter, 12 counts of attempted manslaughter and one firearms offense;
Dustin Heard, 33, of Maryville, Tennessee, was found guilty of six counts of voluntary manslaughter, 11 counts of attempted manslaughter and one firearms offense.
Seventeen Iraqi civilians were killed that day at Nusoor Square, including 9- and 11-year-old boys. Fourteen of those killings were unjustified under the rules of the use of deadly force in Iraq by Iraqi security contractors.
Eighteen more people were injured.
The September 16, 2007, incident began when 19 Blackwater contractors were assigned to a convoy. After learning a car bomb had detonated in Baghdad, near where a U.S. official was being escorted, the team known as Raven 23 drove to a secured checkpoint.
Once there, in disregard of an order from Blackwaters command, the teams shift leader directed Raven 23 to leave the Green Zone and establish a blockade in Nusoor Square, a busy traffic circle that was immediately adjacent to the Green Zone, the prosecutors statement said.
Seven members of the team opened fire in the traffic circle, killing and injuring unarmed Iraqis, and Slough kept firing as the team exited the circle, killing and wounding even more Iraqis.
I'll also take this moment to remind everyone how a rich dick ran down someone in another country, fled back to the states to avoid murder charges and Trump brought the family of the victim to the states to hug it out with their son's murderer to forgive them for their crime they feel absolutely no guilt for and couldn't fathom why the family opposed this and wanted that person dragged back to their country to face charges.
Trump doesn't have any empathy for anyone, this was all done to appease the hard right who love these types of murderers
Thank you for the details - so the Blackwater people just opened fire on civilians to clear an intersection?!?!