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MALS-39
Dark Day

March 5, 1996

Marine Aviation Logistics Squadron (MALS)39, Camp Pendleton California
CO - LtCol Thomas Heffner
XO - LtCol Daniel Kidd
SgtMaj - SgtMaj JJ Kegler

We had a Squadron run that morning, I don't recall the distance but it was around the airfield, so I'll call it a 'couple miles' for now. After the run, we went to our shops and reported to work as normal. The workday for most consisted of getting ready for an upcoming IG inspection; the offgoing Night Crew was getting ready to stand an Alpha uniform inspection later that morning. I honestly don't recall what my role in the IG was to be, it was probably to run a PFT as well as making sure my Embark gear was good to go.

Like most Marine NCOs I had multiple duties in the shop. My primary MOS (job) was Aviation Ordnance, and as a Sergeant I was a Quality Assurance (QA) inspector in 71B, the "Gun Shop" for MALS-39. It was our job to disassemble, repair and inspect the M197 20mm cannon assemblies for the AH-1W Cobras flown by several local squadrons. We also stored the automatic cannons and machine guns used by those squadrons for their UH-1N Huey helicopters, so security in the shop was always on our minds. In addition to electronic alarms, we had a 24x7 armed guard in the 71B Gun Shop next to the armory at all times. During the day that was me, carrrying a 9mm M9 Beretta with M-16s available inside my armory; LCpl Chad Hohman was also walking post that day with an M-16A2.

Late in the morning, I was in the office talking to Gunny Jon Fimea when a Marine who shall remain nameless barged in and cried "the CO's been shot!" Gunny Fimea and I looked at him like he had just grown a third eye - a statement like that was so stupendously unbelievable that it was hard to comprehend. You have to understand that this young Marine was one of those "lost ones" who just didn't get it, and we all believed he was saying this as a leadin to some horrible joke only he thought was funny. When he said it again, Gunny almost came over the desk saying "If you're lying, I'll (exact phrase not remembered, but great bodily harm was inferred) you!" Just about that time, Corporal Chuck Strickland came in, and the guy was almost green. Chuck was a squared-away Marine, not given to stupid jokes like that, which is when we realized there was a problem.

Right away, we tried calling PMO (Military Police), only to realize that '911', '5911' or whatever other combinations we could come up with using the Camp Pendleton phone switch wouldn't work. Unbelievably, we didn't know the emergency number for the Military Police, and I seriously don't think we tried '0' for the operator!

In hindsight this next bit may have been a bad move, but we secured LCpl Hohman's rifle and locked the doors providing access to 71B - I secured the outer armory door, since you have to realize we were working with no details to this point. Was this an attack on the base? Was someone trying to break into the armory and the CO got in the way? Looking back at it, by securing the door that quickly I cut off access to the M-16s we stored inside, and Gunny would not allow me to reopen it to issue them as he did not want to compromise security of the vault. I don't fault him for that decision at all, he made a decision based on the limited information at hand and stayed with it. That's what our training is for; we have to make a decision immediately and lives depend on it.

Gunny was the ranking Marine in the shop, but I was now the only armed Marine in the entire MALS hangar building. My post was in the 71B Gun Shop, and leaving your post is instilled in us as something Marines simply do not do. Then again, we were about to experience something else that Marines never do. Once we realized the CO had been shot and as further details trickled in, we learned that LtCol Heffner had run, bleeding, from his offices in the middle of the building, down half the length of the hangar and down the ladderwell (stairway) outside my shop. With Gunny's permission I went out to see if my services (and M9 pistol) were needed. What I saw out there was amazing; one of the female Ordies, LCpl Hallum, had LtCol Heffner cradled in her arms as they lay outside the large doors. She was directing the others to grab clean rags from our cleaning bins and used them to help staunch the bleeding. The CO was bleeding heavily, and there was a thick trail of dark red blood leading back to the stairway they had just come out of. Several dozen MALS Marines had the pair completely surrounded, not knowing when or where he had been shot, and were using their bodies as shields to prevent another shot. Again, we had no clue what the hell had really happened in the last five minutes but went immediately into 'worst case' mode.

Around this point Gunny had given up on the Camp Pendleton phone system and trying to get through to PMO and simply pulled the Fire Alarm, knowing that would bring them running along with fire and medical personnel.

Other than providing the security for my armory, and posting/relief of nighttime guards in the same location, all my prior 'guard' experience had consisted of walking mindless circles around some inanimate object, or occasional postings to the barracks to maintain the security of the area. Fortunately I had been able to pick up some tidbits of actual security procedures during a pair of month-long weapons handling courses given by the Marine Corps Rifle and Pistol Teams, so I decided I somehow needed to secure the area and determine what had happened since it was blatantly obvious that I was not the only armed person in the building. Major Miller, one of our Squadron Maintenance Officers was outside already and with confirmation from a couple other Marines nearby told me that "PFC so-and-so" had been in the CO's office and shot him and was now walking through the rest of the upstairs offices, murdering Marines. Did I know PFC So-and-so? The name sounded familiar, but I couldn't say that I knew him. The Major I had just been talking to volunteered to walk with me and ID him.

As I typed this for the first time, I just realized how stupid this was, and at the same time how it displayed the Major's brass cojones. We were walking into what was described as a one-sided firefight, and I needed help ID'ing a shooter? The Major was going back upstairs unarmed, with my 6'4" body as the only bulletstop available to him.

The outer door was already open, and as I said, there was a trail of blood coming out. These stairs wrapped clockwise around an elevator shaft, so there were two 90-degree right hand turns before you got to the top. LtCol Heffner's blood was everywhere, and I paused at every corner, knowing there was a shooter waiting for me. My M9 was drawn, and per Standard Operating Procedures there was always a round in the chamber. I had thumb pressure on the safety, ready to flip the safety off as I raised the weapon and already had a finger waiting to drop onto the trigger, just as I had been trained. This is where that training and repetition comes in, you have to be able to do without thinking.

At the top of the stairs you faced the long wall in a small hallway, only about ten feet long. Standing at the top step, the elevator door was to the right, facing the same way I was. To the left was a door that opened onto a hallway about 50 feet long. Once through the door, S-3 (Training) was immediately to the right, and the Maintenance shop was on the left. Maintenance was constructed with a second 'hallway' running parallel to the main one, and this second hallway had a long rollup window where business was conducted. The wall between the two parallel hallways was cinderblock. After opening the door at the top of the stairs, I realized the CO had taken the path down that second hallway to provide cover. There was no way anyone following them could miss the path he took, as it was splashed with red...

About 5 steps into this longer hallway my heart froze. A figure had turned the corner at the end facing me, the unmistakable shape of a gun in his right hand. His arm was straight and pointed down but away from his body - but something wasn't right even with that picture. I called for him to halt, to drop the weapon and there was no response. I had already stepped back, called for him to drop the weapon, dropped my safety and was bringing my weapon to bear when I realized the Major was saying something. Less than 1/2 heartbeat from firing the first round, I realized he was trying to talk to the Major, and the Major was telling me "that's not him" - I had hesitated because he didn't match the description of the shooter, and that had likely saved his life.

The Marine holding the gun was Gunny Tiller, our S-3 Training Chief. Not "PFC So-and-so" at all, but instead a Marine who happened to have some very attentive guardian angels that day. He had apparently come through a doorway several minutes earlier when he ran right into the shooter. They struggled briefly during which time the shooter fired a .45 about 6 inches from Gunny's ear, into the wall behind him. Gunny got the gun away from the shooter, who escaped down a front stairwell. He was deaf and undoubtedly dazed when I saw him, which is why he failed to respond. I hesitated in shooting him only because I knew him, and knew there was no mistaking him for some PFC who sounded vaguely familiar.

LtCol D.W. Kidd

After learning the shooter had escaped and that the upper floor was secure, I returned to the armory and 71B. It was only then that I learned our XO, LtCol Daniel Kidd had also been shot. Gunny Fimea wouldn't let me leave the shop again, which is probably good in that it would have resulted in a completely different trial, my own. The shooter eventually surrendered himself to Gunnery Sergeant Sullivan in Maintenance Admin only a few doors down from my armory. There are reports that he said "I did this for the brown brotherhood" igniting rumors that Latino gangs had declared war on the US military.

What we learned.This is all from verbal record; I have not sought out the official statement but we were given the info as the trial progressed. During the squadron run the morning of March 5, the XO had the role of playing 'motivator' to the stragglers. This was his job during every run, and apparently worked most of the time.

That morning however, Jessie (or Jesse) Quintanilla decided he didn't like what LtCol Kidd said. Quintanilla worked in Aviation Supply and had lat-moved to the Air Wing after a tour in the Infantry. By some accounts, his performance while Infantry was above average. He was an E-5 (I refuse to call him a Sergeant of Marines, as his actions dishonored that rank and our Corps) After that morning's run, Quintanilla went back to the shop but changed into civvies. He drove back over to the MALS hangar (changing and driving both indicate pre-meditation) with what I understand was an illegally-owned .45 handgun. He walked up the stairwell to the XO's office and may or may not have had words with some of the Marines in the Admin offices on the way there. Once in the XO's office a heated exchange started, which is expected when someone barges into your office carrying a gun. LtCol Kidd tried to turn and seek shelter in a closet behind him, only to be shot in the back and side at least twice, killing him.

LtCol Heffner and the SgtMaj heard the argument, and as the CO came out of his office across the hall from LtCol Kidd, he was shot at least once, possibly twice in the chest. I understand that it was at this point that LtCol Heffner began his painful journey to my armory, and Quintanilla went back into the XO's office, since he was some time behind the SgtMaj and CO when he left the area. Shortly after that while following the blood trail he ran into Gunny Tiller, who was able to wrestle the gun away. Once he had lost control of his weapon, Quintanilla fled down one of the fire escapes before calmly surrendering himself in Maintenance Admin. LCpl Hallum's uniform was blood-soaked, and the Squadron replaced that for her. I am told that she was pissed that there were several people standing around while the CO bled, and she grabbed a handful of cleaning rags and began to apply direct pressure. Jesse Quintanilla was placed under arrest by the MPs who finally showed up, and after a trial was sentenced to Death and is currently being held at Leavenworth.

Update, March 2004. I got an anonymous email from someone claiming to have been in an infantry unit with Jessie Quintanilla, telling me that he was really a good guy who even earned a meritorious promotion at one point and telling me to remove this page. That's all well and good, but you know what? He also happens to be a disturbed individual who stepped outside society's norms and murdered his XO because he was "dissed". You know how the saying goes; no matter how many times you shine nobody remembers it. But you fart in church once, and nobody forgets it. What Jessie Quintanilla did is so much more heinous than farting in church, and I have no intentions of removing this page just because he may have once been a meritorious promotee.

Update, March 2005. If I am reading this correctly, at the end of January 2005 there appears to be a chance that Quintanilla's Death Penalty is under review and he may even be up for parole within the next couple years.
http://www.jag.navy.mil/NMCCA/9801632.PUB.doc details prosecutorial misconduct, including keeping the murder weapon as a friggin' souvenir on a plaque. Hopefully his original sentence will be upheld and even carried out before he dies of old age - it's more than his victims had.

That's what I recall at this point of the "MALS shooting". I've been unclear on the exact date until the first night I wrote this. For some reason these are things you try to forget. I got off active duty in January 1997, and it wasn't until 2001 that I even told anyone what had happened, and only then because I had freaked while walking up the stairs at work. Yeah, I froze. Something about that day was eerily too similar to March 5, 1996 and I think the coffee was the last straw. The stairs had the same clockwise turn as the MALS stairwell, and someone had spilled a large cup of coffee on the stairs, lending that same dried blood look to the steps and landing. That took awhile to get over, and my civilian companions couldn't understand the look on my face; apparently it was ugly.

I have also gotten several emails from Marines who were in MALS-39 at that time and were able to fill in the blanks for me about names, including that of SgtMaj Kegler and Gunny Tiller. I thank them for coming forward and sharing what info they had as it helped me tie together some forgotten, loose ends. More or less in alphabetical order they are:

• CWO4 Lori Dean (then SSgt Hanagan)
• Gunny Jon Fimea
• Cpl (then LCpl) Chad Hohman
• CWO2 (then SSgt) Kraig Meyer
• Cpl Eric Nehls
• AO1 (then Sgt) Tim Organ
• SSgt J.R. Risser
• Gunny Bill Tiller
• Van Kirk...friend of LtCol Kidd. Van provided the picture shown above

e-mail Jim
created: Mar 7, 2003