Army Sergeant John Russell. (File photo)<\/p>\n
A US army sergeant accused of killing four soldiers and a navy officer has been found guilty of premeditated murder, a charge carrying a mandatory life sentence.\n<\/p>\n
Army Sergeant John Russell was found guilty of the crime during a military court session at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in the US state of Washington on Monday.\n<\/p>\n
On April 22, Russell confessed to the Camp Liberty killings, convincing Judge David Conn in issuing a life sentence instead of the death penalty – the maximum punishment for such crimes.\n<\/p>\n
\u00c5\u201cI just did it out of rage, sir,\u201d Russell told the judge, adding that \u00c5\u201cWhat I remember most was I just wanted to kill myself. One hundred percent, I had decided to kill myself.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
The shooting, in which five American troops were killed and three others wounded, took place in May 2009 after the 44-year-old soldier was admitted to the mental health facilities in the US base in Baghdad during the Iraq War.<\/p>\n
Two medical evaluations revealed that Russell suffered from severe depression with psychotic features and chronic Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), after having served nearly three tours.\n<\/p>\n
The incident marks the largest mass killing by a service member during the Iraq War.\n<\/p>\n
In 2012, the Veterans Administration revealed that nearly 30 percent of its patients who had fought in Iraq and Afghanistan had PTSD.\n<\/p>\n
The suicide rate for American troops has also increased over the past decade to average nearly one a day, prompting then former-Defense Secretary Leon Panetta in 2012 to declare it an epidemic.\n<\/p>\n
GMA\/PR
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