Naval investigators are looking into a shooting-related death aboard the PCU John F. Kennedy after a sailor was placed in pretrial confinement in connection with the case. The victim was identified as Boatswain’s Mate Seaman Jesse Braswell of Colorado.
NCIS said it responded Sunday to the report of the death on the ship, which remains under active investigation. The case has not reached the charging stage, even as the Navy moves ahead with confinement for one sailor while it works to determine what happened early Saturday morning.
The death aboard the Uss John F Kennedy has put the ship’s crew under immediate strain, and the Navy has begun leaning on support services as it tries to steady the work around the case. A Navy spokesperson said chaplain and counseling services are available on board and throughout the region for those affected, and offered condolences to Braswell’s family, friends and shipmates.
That leaves investigators with the central question still unanswered: how a sailor died aboard a carrier that had not yet reached its commissioning date. NCIS said it is conducting a thorough investigation to determine the circumstances, and for now the only hard steps are the confinement of one sailor and the continuation of a case that remains open.
