The Marines have identified the student stabbed to death during a Tuesday incident at Camp Pendleton but provided few other details about the ongoing probe.
Pfc. Ethan Barclay-Weberpal, 18, was pronounced dead at the School of Infantry inside Camp Pendleton on Tuesday morning. Another Marine student is in custody.
According to Marine Corps Training and Education Command spokesman Capt. Joshua Pena, Barclay-Weberpal was assigned to the school’s Lima Company, Headquarters and Services Battalion.
He was being reclassified after he attempted to pass the Basic Reconnaissance Course.
“The name of the Marine in confinement, also assigned to the same unit, will not be released at this time,” Pena said by email.
First responders were called to Area 52, the sprawling section of Camp Pendleton where the School of Infantry is housed, around 7:45 a.m. on Tuesday following reports of an injured person.
Pena referred all further questions to Naval Criminal Investigative Service. Spokesmen there declined comment, except to note that Pena’s command would release the name of the suspect.
Identifying himself on his Facebook page as the father of the slain Marine, Scott Weberpal of Whitewater, Wisconsin, said that he was being “inundated with message requests, friend requests, and media inquiries” but could not get to all of them.
“It’s with excruciating sadness and tears in my eyes that I’m writing this – my only son, my own blood, Marine PFC Ethan Andrew Barclay-Weberpal, was killed yesterday morning at Camp Pendleton, CA,” Weberpal wrote. “He was stabbed by another Marine. There are few details at this time as there is an ongoing investigation. Arrangements are pending and I will post an update when I know more.”
NCIS continues to probe another death at the School of Infantry.
Pfc. Michael Michael Philomeno Giannattasio, 22, of Armada, Mich., was found unresponsive during land navigation training on the Basic Reconnaissance Course in August.
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