Loudoun Co. booking photo
WASHINGTON (WUSA) --- A former Marine reservist pleaded guilty to charges that he fired shots at the Pentagon, the Marine Corps museum in Quantico and other military targets in Court on Thursday. We also learned that he recorded one of the shootings and tried to desecrate grave markers at Arlington National Cemetery.
PHOTOS: DC AREA MUG SHOTS
Yonathan Melaku of Virginia agreed to a 25-year sentence in the case in a plea agreement hearing on Thursday. He pleaded guilty to a three counts, including "injuring property of the United States, use of a firearm during a crime of violence, and attempted injury to veterans' memorials on U.S. property," according to U.S. States Attorney Neil MacBride.
MacBride says Melaku will be formally sentenced on April 27.
Melaku is accused of shooting the Marine Corp Museum first in October 2010, then again one month later. Investigators later found a video he taped while firing shots at the building from his car window. Melaku is also accused of shooting at the Pentagon.
All 6 of his attacks on military buildings occurred overnight so no one was hurt.
Melaku was arrested in June inside the Arlington Cemetery.
According to the statement of facts with his plea agreement, Melaku admitted that he carried out five shootings from Oct. 17, 2010 through Nov. 2 of that same year twice at the National Museum of the Marine Corps. once at the Pentagon, once at a Marine Corps recruiting sub-station in Chantilly, Va., and once at a U.S. Coast Guard recruiting office in Woodbridge. All of the shootings happened late at night or early in the morning and multiple 9mm rounds were fired at each building.
According to MacBride, repairs at the locations totaled more than $100,000.
Melaku also admitted on Thrusday that he video taped the second shooting at the National Museum of the Marine Corps. He said he set up a video camera inside his car and the video showed Melaku firing a gun out the passenger-side window. He also narrates and at one point says "That's my target. That's the military building. It's going to be attacked."
Melaku also stated in the statement of facts that he attempted to flee officers when he was seen at Ft. Myer in Arlington at approximately 1:30 a.m. on June 17, 2011. During the pursuit, he dropped a backpack containing spent shell casings, four bags that had ammonium nitrate inside, and a spiral notebook with Arabic statements referencing the Taliban, al Qaeda, Osama bin Laden, "The Path to Jihad," and other individuals associated with foreign terrorist organizations.
Melaku admits that when he was caught he was trying to get into the area of Arlington National Cemetery with graves of deceased Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans to spray-paint the grave markers with Arabic statements. He also admitted that he would leave the ammonium nitrate at the sites.
On June 17, 2011, FBI agents found Melaku had stored a list in the bedroom closet of his home called Timer that included nine items that Melaku admitted are consistent with what could be used to make a firing mechanism for an explosive device. Four items had been crossed through, says MacBride.
Melaku joined the Marine Corps in 2007. He was never deployed but he received a number of awards.