{"id":108812,"date":"2020-12-28T17:00:30","date_gmt":"2020-12-28T22:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/valorguardians.com\/blog\/?p=108812"},"modified":"2020-12-29T09:36:43","modified_gmt":"2020-12-29T14:36:43","slug":"army-suspends-former-1st-special-forces-group-co-after-arrest-on-domestic-violence-charges","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/?p=108812","title":{"rendered":"***Updated*** Army Suspends Former 1st Special Forces Group CO after Arrest on Domestic Violence Charges"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Another Green Beret in the news for nefarious conduct.<\/p>\n

The U.S. Army has suspended an I Corps colonel at Joint Base Lewis McCord, Washington after he was arrested early Sunday morning and charged with allegedly making death threats and committing assault related to domestic violence.<\/p>\n

Army Col. Owen G. Ray — the former commander of 1st Special Forces Group (Airborne) — has been suspended from his current job as I Corps chief of staff while a civilian law enforcement investigation into the case continues, I Corps spokesman Lt. Col. Neil Penttila told Military.com.<\/p>\n

Ray is being held in the Pierce County Jail in Tacoma, Washington, according to the Pierce County Jail’s website.<\/p>\n

Ray was booked by Pierce County Corrections at 3:45 a.m. Sunday on charges of felony harassment threats\/domestic violence or death threats, and first-degree assault, which is also a felony, according to the website. Ray was also charged with unlawful imprisonment, a felony, and malicious mischief 3rd degree\/domestic violence, a misdemeanor charge, according to the jail.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The Army confirmed the allegations today.<\/p>\n

I Corps confirmed Ray’s arrest and released a statement on the case.<\/p>\n

“We are monitoring the allegations of domestic assault and felony harassment against Col. Owen Ray,” Penttila said in the statement.<\/p>\n

“We have been in contact with local law enforcement, who have informed us that the investigation is still on-going. While the investigation continues, we will work closely with the family and the officer to provide support services including counseling, behavior health support, and legal assistance. The safety of everyone involved is the command’s priority.”<\/p>\n

Before assuming the I Corps chief of staff position, Ray commanded the 1st Special Forces Group and held other leadership positions in the Green Beret unit. He served as a detachment commander in 2003 and as a company commander in Afghanistan in support of Operation Enduring Freedom in 2011, according to a previous Army news release.<\/p>\n

In 2013, Ray commanded 4th Battalion, 1st SFG as part of the special operations joint task force, according to the release.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Looks like he’s had an excellent career thus far. Here’s one of the Army’s past write ups on the feller; https:\/\/www.army.mil\/article\/208525\/ray_returns_to_assume_command_of_1st_sfg_a<\/a><\/p>\n

As we’ve discussed with other recent, high profile issues in the special operations community, I think our decades of high ops tempo has taken a toll.<\/p>\n

Source; Military.com<\/p>\n

****UPDATE****<\/em><\/p>\n

ninja gives us an update below, sourced from here<\/a>. Army Times<\/a> has also picked up the latest info on the colonel here.<\/p>\n

State and local police near Joint Base Lewis-McChord, in Washington, spent roughly two hours talking a Special Forces colonel armed with a rifle and pistol into surrendering after they responded to a domestic assault in progress call just after midnight Sunday.<\/p>\n

Col. Owen G. Ray, 47, and his wife got into an argument earlier in the evening, according to a probable cause affidavit. Believing her husband was intoxicated, the wife retreated to her children\u2019s bedroom to hide.<\/p>\n

She then heard Ray say, \u201clet\u2019s do this,\u201d before he went to the garage where the guns were stored, Pierce County prosecutors wrote in the affidavit. The house is in the town of DuPont, about 10 miles southwest of the base where Ray serves as the Army\u2019s I Corps chief of staff and previously commanded a Special Forces group.<\/p>\n

Ray, now armed, went back into the house and found his wife, who proceeded to call the police, \u201cat which point, the defendant became enraged.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe pointed the gun at [the wife] and threatened to kill her,\u201d the affidavit reads. \u201cHe proceeded to kick [her] over and over with his boots in the face and chest. The two children had woken up and were screaming, \u2018don\u2019t kill mom, don\u2019t shoot us.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Ray left the room but returned after his wife had tried to barricade the entrance with a bookshelf, the affidavit stated. He smashed the barricade down and waved a gun while yelling threats.<\/p>\n

Washington State Patrol and a mix of local police units arrived sometime after midnight. Ray eventually allowed his wife and two of the children to exit at around 12:33 a.m. His teenage daughter followed them out shortly afterward.<\/p>\n

Police were able to contact Ray via phone at 12:49 a.m., and he threatened to take his own life as well as anyone who tried to arrest him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe defendant outlined his extensive training in combat,\u201d the affidavit reads. \u201cHe told law enforcement he was a 25-year veteran and spent most of his time in the 1st group special forces. He stated that he had killed a lot of people and he had no problem killing law enforcement if they made attempts to arrest him. The defendant was calm, coherent, and articulate.\u201d<\/p>\n

After these initial threats, Ray would alternate between saying he had great respect for law enforcement and warning them not to arrest him, according to the affidavit. During the two-hour standoff, police said they saw Ray on the balcony holding a pistol to his head and holding a rifle inside the house.<\/p>\n

\u201cActive negotiations and de-escalation attempts took place until the suspect eventually surrendered and was safely taken into custody,\u201d DuPont police said in a statement. \u201cThis occurred approximately two hours after initial communication was established between the police and the suspect.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Yikes.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Another Green Beret in the news for nefarious conduct. The U.S. Army has suspended an I … ***Updated*** Army Suspends Former 1st Special Forces Group CO after Arrest on Domestic Violence Charges<\/span>Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":664,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[359,83,185,447],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-108812","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-army","category-breaking-news","category-crime","category-dick-stepping"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108812","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/664"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=108812"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108812\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":108819,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/108812\/revisions\/108819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=108812"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=108812"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.azuse.cloud\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=108812"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}