[1][2][3] Sergeant John M. Russell (born 1965) was serving his third tour of duty in Iraq as a communications NCO with the 54th Engineer Battalion.

Five U.S. military personnel were killed: U.S. Army Specialist Jacob D. Barton, 20, Sergeant Christian E. Bueno-Galdos, 25, Major Matthew P. Houseal, 54, Private First Class Michael E. Yates, 19, and U.S. Navy Commander Charles K. Springle, 52.

On May 15, 2012, prosecutors decided to seek the death penalty, overruling a pre-trial hearing recommendation that Russell's mental "disease or defect" made capital punishment inappropriate.

An indictment of combat zone mental health care in the U.S. military, an August 1, 2012 Bloomberg BusinessWeek story suggested the three counselors Russell saw for about 2.5 hours total are culpable, and could have prevented the tragedy.

Jones, who roomed with victim Matthew Houseal and survived the shootings by escaping through a window, instead describes a combat stress team that was "competent, well-trained, and empathetic" and a soldier, Sgt.

[13] In 2013, before the tribunal at Joint Base Lewis–McChord, Russell pleaded guilty to five counts of unpremeditated murder to avoid a possible death sentence.