[Marinir] [cnn.com] Authorities: Marine shot by cousin to avoid Iraq

[Yap Hong Gie]

http://edition.cnn.com/2005/US/07/15/marine.shooting.ap/index.html

Authorities: Marine shot by cousin to avoid Iraq
Friday, July 15, 2005 Posted: 1337 GMT (2137 HKT)
YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS

 CHICAGO, Illinois (AP) -- 
A young Marine who feared returning to Iraq persuaded his cousin to shoot
him in the leg, then told police he was hit by random gang gunfire,
authorities said.
The shooting early Saturday was meant to keep 19-year-old Moises Hernandez
from going back to Iraq, prosecutors said.
He was charged with filing a false police report. His cousin, Juan
Hernandez, 19, faces a felony weapons charge.

Moises Hernandez is back with his unit at Camp Pendleton, California, and
the Marines are investigating the incident.
His unit had returned June 5 from a six-month deployment that included a
month in Iraq.

The man's father, Ray Hernandez, said his son also had been sent to
Indonesia after the devastating tsunami in December. The father said his son
had seen death up close and was troubled by nightmares when he returned
home.

"Whatever he experienced changed him totally," the senior Hernandez said.

Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.