Ex-Blackwater contractor found guilty in 2007 Iraq shooting
WASHINGTON — A former Blackwater security contractor was convicted Wednesday of murder at his third trial in the 2007 shooting of unarmed civilians in Iraq.
Nicholas Slatten, 35, of Sparta, Tennessee, was found guilty of first-degree murder in Washington for his role in the shooting, which strained international relations and drew intense scrutiny of the role of American contractors in the Iraq War.
Prosecutors charged that Slatten was the first to fire shots in the September 2007 massacre that killed 14 Iraqi civilians at a crowded traffic circle in Baghdad. They alleged that Slatten was unprovoked when he opened fire, first killing 19-year-old Ahmed Haithem Ahmed Al Rubia’y, who was driving his mother to an appointment, prosecutors said.
In all, 10 men, two women and two boys, ages 9 and 11, were killed. Eighteen others were injured.