Military investigates photo purportedly showing body of Sgt. La David Johnson in Niger ambush
The military is probing images that surfaced online allegedly showing Sgt. La David Johnson and three other Green Berets.
A Twitter user going by the name @maboulmaaly posted a screenshot of a video allegedly posted by a group affiliated with ISIS. The video, according to the Twitter user, was over ten minutes long and showed “scenes of a screaming wounded soldier, in addition to the bodies of three other dead American soldiers.”
U.S. Africa Command has since issued a statement in response, saying that they were “aware of a post on Twitter purporting to show a U.S. soldier from the Oct. 4 ambush in Niger,” according to the Army Times.
“We are reviewing the post and determining the veracity of the tweet and the assertions that there is an associated video,” AFRICOM said, adding, “We cannot comment further on this issue, or the ongoing investigation related to the Oct. 4 ambush until the investigation is complete.”
Four servicemen killed in Niger
Sgt. La David Johnson, Staff Sgt. Bryan Black, Staff Sgt. Jeremiah Johnson and Staff Sgt. Dustin Wright all lost their lives after a 12-man Green Beret team was attacked as they left a meeting with local leaders.
The ambush led to a firefight until French Mirage jets arrived.
However, soon after the firefight had ended, U.S., French and Nigerian troops realized that Johnson was missing, and they searched for him for around 48 hours before finding his body.
The attack has since been attributed to an ISIS group in the Greater Sahara.
‘He knew what he signed up for’
Sgt. La David Johnson’s pregnant wife Myeshia Johnson also received national attention after President Donald Trump reportedly called the grieving widow to offer his condolences.
During the call, he reportedly said that Johnson “knew what he signed up for.” That phrase in particular has been blasted as insensitive, but Myeshia Johnson also accused Trump of not knowing her husband’s name.
“I heard him stumbling on trying to remember my husband’s name, and that’s what hurt me the most because if my husband is out here fighting for our country and he risked his life for our country why can’t you remember his name,” Johnson recalled.
Florida Rep. Frederica Wilson, who was traveling with Myeshia Johnson when she received the call from President Trump, came under fire from the White House for going public with the president’s remarks, which she described as “so insensitive.”
Wilson said that Myeshia “broke down” after the call with the president. Trump denied Wilson’s claims both on Twitter and in a statement at the White House, igniting a controversy as he blasted the congresswoman and attacked another Gold Star family.
“I didn’t say what that congresswoman said. Didn’t say it at all,” Trump told reporters. “She knows it. And she now is not saying it. I did not say what she said.”
‘I need to see him’
Questions surrounded Johnson’s death have swirled for months especially after his widow, Myeshia Johnson, claimed that the military would not let her see his body. There was a closed casket at his funeral.
“I need to see him so I know it’s my husband,” she said. “They won’t show me a finger, a hand; I know my husband’s body from head-to-toe and they won’t let me see anything.”
She also called for more information about how her husband died and why it took so long to recover his body.
