The Marine Corps identified Lance Cpl. Casey Hayden as the Marine involved in a self-inflicted gunshot incident earlier this week that temporarily locked down Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center Twentynine Palms in California.
“We can confirm the individual who sustained a self-inflicted gunshot wound aboard Marine Corps Air Ground Combat Center, Twentynine Palms, California on July 7, 2020, has passed away. We are saddened by this loss of one of our brothers, a Marine with 7th Marine Regiment. We ask for discretion for his family, friends and fellow Marines at this time. The ongoing investigation continues,” reads a statement from 1st Marine Division.
Hayden, 23, was from New York and was promoted to lance corporal in February. He joined the Marine Corps in 2014 and spent his whole career in West Coast units: 11th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division at Camp Pendleton, Calif; Combat Logistics Regiment 15, 1st Marine Logistics Group at Camp Pendleton; and then 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division at Twentynine Palms for the past year.