Soldiers plotted fatal attack on colleague who reported their weed use in GA, feds say

A former U.S Army sergeant pleaded guilty in the killing of a fellow soldier who had reported him and another soldier for smoking marijuana, federal authorities said.

Byron Booker, 29, slashed and stabbed Army Spc. Austin J. Hawk “repeatedly with a sharp-edged weapon” in his barracks in June 2020 , according to a news release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Georgia.

Booker pleaded guilty to one count of premeditated murder of a member of the United States Uniformed Services, according to the Oct. 27 release.

Booker’s attorney wrote in an email that he would not publicly comment on pending cases.

In May 2020, Hawk reported to his superior at the Fort Stewart Military Reservation in Hinesville, Georgia, that he thought Booker and another soldier, Spc. Jordan Brown, 21, had been smoking marijuana, according to a plea agreement.

Brown was an active-duty soldier at the time and Booker had completed his service and was honorably discharged on May 8, 2020.

After Hawk’s report, Brown was required to submit to a urinalysis, which came back positive for THC, according to the plea agreement. A commander told him that he would need to leave the Army.

According to text messages and phone calls, Brown and Booker began talking about Hawk and calling him a “snitch,” the plea agreement says.

They discussed “beating Hawk up, damaging his car, or breaking things in Hawk’s barracks room,” the plea agreement says.

When Booker said he wanted to kill Hawk, Brown said he thought that seemed harsh and suggested he break Hawk’s jaw, the plea agreement states.

In an email to McClatchy News, Brown’s attorney wrote that she does not comment on pending cases.

Stabbed or slashed 40 times

On June 13, 2020 they discussed a plan to “silence” Hawk and while Brown though killing Hawk was going too far — saying “the punishment should fit the crime” — Booker said that Hawk had to be “silenced,” the agreement reads.

Just after midnight on June 17, Booker drove to a lot outside of the gate of Fort Stewart, illegally entered the gate and climbed up to the barracks where Hawk was sleeping, the agreement says.

Hawk opened the door and Booker went inside and attacked him, according to the plea agreement. A person living in the barracks room directly below Hawk’s later reported hearing “prolonged” noises at the time of the attack that sounded “like furniture moving.”

FBI agents and police officers later found Booker behind a shopping plaza in Richmond Hill, about 25 miles northeast of the Army base, on the morning of June 18, the plea agreement says.

An autopsy showed that Hawk had been stabbed or slashed 40 times, and he had wounds in his lungs, a kidney and his brain, as well as a 3-inch gash across his throat.

Booker faces life in prison

“Byron Booker murdered a former fellow soldier in cold blood in retaliation for that soldier performing his duties as a service member,” U.S. Attorney David Estes, who is a retired U.S. Army Colonel, said in the news release.

Booker, who is awaiting sentencing, faces a minimum of life in prison without parole, according to the Department of Justice. Brown, who is charged with multiple counts, including conspiracy, retaliation against a witness with killing and murder of a member of the United States Uniformed Services, is awaiting court proceedings.

Citing a victim impact statement filed in court, Hawk’s grandmother called him her “hero,” according to Military.com.

“I am haunted by the horrible attack that took his life. His pain, his suffering must have been beyond belief,” she wrote in the statement, the outlet reported. “He was such a strong, amazing young man and had so much to look forward to.”

Military.com reported that Hawk had planned to finish an electrical engineering degree at Arizona State University.

Hawk was part of the Army’s 92nd Chemical Company in a unit that was trained to deal with hazardous-material and chemical threats in war, according to the Washington Post, which cited Army officials.

This story was originally published October 27, 2022 at 1:33 PM with the headline "Soldiers plotted fatal attack on colleague who reported their weed use in GA, feds say."