The sergeant major had returned from Afghanistan mission in September 2010.
The tragedy caused by Ion Anitoiu, a 34-year-old military sergeant major with military base UM 01654, Maracineni, Buzau County, took place at a petrol station in the city of Buzau Monday night into Tuesday morning.
The man killed his wife with his assigned weapon and then took his own life, as shown by surveillance cameras on the premises. Investigators say the two corpses were found by a 17-year-old male at around 1.40 am, when he entered the station to buy some cigarettes. The teenager, scared of what he had just seen, told his mom, who was awaiting him outside, told her two dead bodies lying on the floor inside the station. At that point in time, the security officers arrived at the scene and announced the police, who came at the murder scene, identified the two corpses, and the murder weapon, a 7.65 calibre Carpati pistol. Three bullets were fired. Investigators established that shortly after midnight, the man, who was on guard duty at the base, left his guard post and went to the gas station where his wife was working at the time. The man arrived at the station in his personal car, which he parked in a hidden place, changed his military clothes, which he left in the car, got dressed in plain clothes, and then went to the gas station. The two quarrelled for a couple of minutes, as shown by surveillance cameras, then, the NCO produced the gun and shot his wife twice in the head. A few seconds later, he pointed the gun at himself and fired once. The two dead bodies were found lying next to each other.
According to Iulian Mocanu, the criminal prosecutor in charge of the case, the two were in process of getting divorced. “According to investigations, the event happened amid a spontaneous conflict following a verbal exchange after the man got into the station. The woman pressed the panic button, the husband unbuttoned his jacket, took out the pistol and fired two shots at his wife, and soon after killed himself,” Mocanu said. The two have a pair of twins, an 11-year-old girl and boy, each of whom lived with one of his parents while the divorce action was in process. The sergeant major had returned from a mission in Afghanistan in September of last year.
According to a Ministry of Defence press release, the Military Prosecutor’s Office and a commission at UM 01654 too are looking into the circumstances of the murder.
