Pacifica Resident Linked to Triple Shooting at Quantico

By Bay City News Service

Two Marines involved in a shooting at the Marine Corps Base Quantico in Virginia on Thursday have been identified as Bay Area residents, according to the U.S. Marine Corps.

The alleged shooter, Sgt. Eusebio Lopez, 25, was a Pacifica resident, according to a statement released today by Col. David W. Maxwell, the base commander.

Lopez was a tactics instructor at the Officer Candidates School and a machine gunner. He joined the Marine Corps in May 2006 and has deployed in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

Lopez is alleged to have shot and killed Lance Cpl. Sara Castromata, a 19-year-old resident of Oakley, and Corporal Jacob Wooley, 23, of Guntown, Mass.

The shooting occurred around 10:30 p.m. in Taylor Hall, a barracks at Officer Candidate School, Maxwell said. Lopez is believed to have shot and killed Castromata and Wooley, and then killed himself by a self-inflicted gun wound.

All three Marines worked together at the school and there may have been a romantic entanglement between the trio, according to a report on the Washington Post, but military officials have not described more on their relationship or released a motive for the shooting. The shooting remains under investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service.

 Copyright © 2013 by Bay City News, Inc. -- Republication, Rebroadcast or any other Reuse without the express written consent of Bay City News, Inc. is prohibited.

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