An Army investigator says no charges should be filed against the Special Forces soldier who fired the machine gun that killed a Vermont National Guardsman and a Canadian Forces private last year in Afghanistan.
An Army report says the deaths of Sergeant First Class Tom Stone and Canadian Private Robert Costall were regrettable, but understandable in the context of the fire fight, which took place in the early morning hours of March 29, 2006.
The report says the 38 Canadians sent to the base as reinforcements were moved into a position in the field of fire of the machine gunner without his knowledge, and inaccurate target identification caused the gunner to fire at the rooftop position where Stone was crouched behind a wall fighting off an attack by Taliban forces.