Army veteran allegedly threatened to kill soldiers in California
Christian Ernest Beyer, 41, threatened to kill Soldiers. (Mendocino County Jail)
Christian Ernest Beyer, 41, was court martialed in 2021 for assault. In a separate incident, Beyer threatened a group of elderly people with a knife. After he brandished the knife, he got into his car and drove towards them. The current arrest involves a statement that Beyer made on YouTube under his own name. Beyer is an Army Veteran.
From Fox News:
According to the release, Beyer is a Army veteran and was stationed at Fort Irwin, but he was court-martialed in 2021 for assault. An affidavit revealed that Beyer posted a YouTube video in his own name last month in which he threatened to kill specific soldiers at Fort Irwin.
“I had a great…life and I will…die for what I believe in. If you come to…get me and you have a …uniform on, you’re a[n]…enemy and I will not look at you as anything else. I will…fight you ’til I take you down,” Beyer said in the video, according to the Justice Department.
Beyer was arrested Wednesday at his father’s residence and charged with a felony offense, the Justice Department said.
The release notes that Beyer has had a violent past in addition to the 2021 assault, including an incident in Mendocino County in October that saw the veteran reportedly threaten a group of elderly people with a knife. In that case, the release notes, Beyer was involved in an altercation with the people after leaving his car in the neighborhood in which he did not live. After brandishing the knife at one of the elderly individuals, Beyer allegedly got in his car and “sped toward the group, driving his vehicle approximately 13 feet off the street at them.”
Beyer then sped away to a parking lot and was confronted by local police, leading him to run away. The subsequent manhunt resulted in his arrest, the Justice Department said.
Fox News has additional information here.
Category: Army, Army News, Crime, Veterans in the news
“Beyer joined the service in August 2000 and served as an armor crewman for nearly 23 years, leaving in March 2023 as a sergeant first class. In that time, he deployed to Iraq three times, including during the opening days of Operation Iraqi Freedom in April 2003. He also deployed to Kuwait twice.”
“The Army offered no other details about his service, including awards or the nature of his discharge, but service court records show he faced court-martial in 2022 that, among other punishments, demoted him to sergeant first class from master sergeant.”
“In April 2021, Beyer was arrested by Army officials for assaulting his wife at Fort Irwin. His Facebook profile, which is also cited by prosecutors, has posts of police records from other incidents involving his behavior in late 2021 that alleged he was heavily intoxicated and belligerent.”
“The court documents and Beyer’s own Facebook posts suggest that he was a soldier who spent his last years in the military struggling with alcohol and becoming increasingly violent.”
“Army Court records show that Beyer — then a master sergeant — was found guilty of four violations of the Uniform Code of Military Justice, including assault with the intent to inflict bodily harm and domestic assault, in August 2022.”
“The military judge sentenced the accused to be confined for 45 days, forfeiture of $250 per month for 4 months, and reduction to E-7.”
http://www.military.com/daily-news/2023/11/03/army-veteran-arrested-after-threatening-kill-soldiers-fort-irwin-california.html
Mental Illness Is A Terrible Disease.
A summary of his Court Martial.
Beat me to the punch. A wasted career, 22.5 years in and obviously had some success making it to E-8. I’m curious as to whether he had 1SG time (very possibly, even as a frocked E-7). We NCOs tend to look up to those wearing diamonds and stars between their stripes and rockers.
Without knowing dates-of-rank, assignment history outside of the deployments that were mentioned, and other key info, I’ll speculate that Beyer is an example of promoting beyond one’s potential or actual ability. He looks like a runner…good ACFT/APFT scores, above average NCOERs, the right military and civilian education, and one can make MSG in well under 20 years. Since he was hard-striped until losing that third rocker in 2022, he was probably selected for E-8 in 2020 or earlier.
Familial issues, difficult times in Key Developmental positions, and personal demons like alcohol can combine to bring out the worst in leaders. After I made SFC, I realized that I needed to take time for myself and my family, so I stepped down and spent my last four years chilling with Generals. We had a 1SG in 3ID who’d made the SGM list while serving on a MiTT in Afghanistan and took another company when we had a shortage of E-8s. When I was inprocessing 3-15 IN, he came up asking for help with his retirement packet. The S-1 NCOIC looked at him like he was kidding, but he made it clear he wasn’t. Over the weekend he’d gotten 14 or so calls, and he decided it was time to just hang up the boots rather than continue dealing with the stress.
👍👍👍👌👌👌
Based on a 2007 newspaper article that we posted, looks as if he previously had anger and alcohol issues…🙄
“Over the weekend he’d gotten 14 or so calls,”
Reason number 4071.5 why SFC D made very little effort to become MSG D. I spent just enough time as a 1SG to realize I absolutely did not want it. I’d rather have had a signal platoon, actually gettin’ shit done instead of wet-nursing a bunch of dumbasses and telling QTB lies.
QTB lies? Not sure what sort of QTBs you sat in!! There I was in the QTB: brigade commander asks me why I’m only like 60 percent on the eyeglasses and pro mask inserts. I say “sir, the optometrist only comes here once a month and only has three appointments. It’s impossible to be 100 percent.” Then he glares around the room at the others. Well then, how are y’all all at 100 percent?” Silence ensues.
Had a similar incident. 1992, just after we opened the drawdown floodgates. Our company commander had just come from a stint as the CG’s horse holder. He reports our stats, we’re essentially ineffective as a company because we’re around 60% on personnel. CG asks why we’re so low when other units aren’t. Commander looks him dead in the eye and says “because they’re lying, sir”.
Obviously if this fellow broke the law he has to take responsibility and pay the consequences … but something had to make him flip out … him sticking with the Army over 20 years and making it to E-8 tell me that he must have been squared away for some time before things fell apart
He probably was, but a variety of things can derail a previously promising career. Resiliency is something that can be learned but is handled differently Soldier to Soldier. It seems like a crumbling marriage coupled with turning to the bottle led to some extremely poor decisions.
Sometimes a main breaker just pops with little or no warning.
That “something” is often called alcohol as noted in the story. It sure stopped my dad’s career in it’s tracks after he made E8 in the Marines. He never did the domestic abuse thing but he got arrested for DUI and even back then it was a career killer. He quietly retired after that. He never blamed it on his Vietnam service though.
I’ll bet that haircut figures into this somehow.
Hair today, gone tommoro
Check out this 22 May 2007 article about Christian Ernest Beyer.
Looks as if he had anger issues as well as drinking problems back then.
Article states:
“South Carolina starting right tackle Justin Sorensen has been held out of practice this week after getting injured during a fight at a St Patrick’s Day party.”
Soresen, 20, was hit over the head with a beer bottle at a downtown Columbia restaurant Saturday as he turned to walk away from a fight with 25 year old Christian Ernest Beyer, according to a police report.”
“Beyer was charged with simple assault, drunkenness and disorderly conduct, the report said.”
“Sorensen was not charged in the incident.”
Columbia, South Carolina is the home of Fort Jackson, a US Army Installation that teaches Basic Combat Training to new Soldiers.
Beyer came into the Army in 2000, so we are speculating he was stationed there, possibly Cadre/Drill SGT?
Given the fact he was a 19-series, he was likely either a Drill Sergeant, or attending either Drill Sergeant School (DSS) or Recruiter School. When I attended BNCOC at Benning in Fall 2007, their DSS was in its last cycle, so being Armor, I’d almost bet he went to Knox for DSS, if he ever wore the hat and badge.
I can say that going through Jackson for Recruiter School in Fall 2008, we had some issues with students and college kids downtown at Five Points and elsewhere. The DSS there, like the Academy that consolidated and replaced all of them, wasn’t nearly as conducive to shenanigans, given the schedule and such. It sucked having to do PT twice a week and getting woken up by Drill Sergeant Candidates at 0500 on our mandatory sleep-in days 4-5 times a week. 😂
I was trapped at relaxation jackson
in 2008 for 3 and a half weeks
at the old drill Sargent barracks
to get a super secret squirrel clearance
place was a trip
From the Petaluma Argus-Courier, Petaluma, California, dated 04 October 2000.
“Christian E. Beyer joined the Army under the Delayed Entry Program and has reported to Fort Knox, KY for Basic Training.”
Another newspaper clipping identified him graduating from Basic around 20 May 2001.
United States of America VS Christian Ernest Beyer Indictment.
11 pages.
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24117436-united-states-of-america-v-christian-e-beyer-indictment
From Page 8 of his indictment.
When Beyer was arrested by the MPs on 26 April 2021 at Fort Irwin, CA, he not only spat chewing tobacco on the floor of the patrol car, but also urinated in the police interview room.
Mental Illness Is A Terrible Disease.
Looks stable.
Based on Beyer’s 16 June 2009 marriage license, looks as if he may have been stationed at Fort Carson, CO during that time period.
Other possible duty stations for Beyer besides Fort Carson, CO, Fort Knox, KY, Fort Jackson,, SC include Columbus, GA (home of Fort Benning, GA) as well as El Paso, Texas (home of Fort Bliss, Texas).
Sounds about right for a 19K. Carson (4th ID/3rd ACR), Knox (Home of Armor/Cav for over half his career), Jackson (possible DS School/time or Recruiter School), Benning (Maneuver Center of Excellence post-2011, Infantry/Armor/Cav), and Bliss (1AD), finishing up with 11th ACR at Irwin.
I’m not a shrink, nor have I played one on TV. Nor have I stayed at a local Hotel Chain recently.
But I’m wondering if the changes in the Army (proper pronouns, LGBTQ+, relaxation/removal of standards, etc) was a contributing factor in Beyer’s long downhill slide? (along with everything else mentioned above)
Oh, and that haircut doesn’t look like it came from the PX barbershop, and it ain’t doing him any favors in the “good first impressions” category.
Based on a 2007 newspaper article that we posted, looks as if he previously had anger and alcohol issues…🙄
Hard to keep your hair unmussed when fighting the cops or anyone else.
Nutjobs gonna nutjob?…or instant azzhole…just add al-key-haul?…or both? Some may say that 5 deployments, bad marriage, and even an extended tour as the OpFor @ Irwin could cause anybody to go off the deep end. But, then again, how many here have had similar situations and DID NOT go off the deep end? Only things missing to show that all whyte boy veterans are crazy potential murderers is the scary black rifle and a statement from the fee bee idjits that he was “…on our radar…”
Hope the dood gets the help that he obviously needs. Would probably benefit from some time with our very own OAM.
He needs a 100% complete cranial image and biopsy.
A squared away noncommissioned officer doesn’t just flip this far, this fast, even with alcohol or drugs added.
I suspect:
1 – Traumatic Brain Injury.
2 – Parasites in the brain (yes, look it up).*
3 – Heat Injury to the brain.
4 – More than one of the above.
*In some parts of the world, brain infections may be due to worms or other parasites. These infections are more common in developing countries and rural areas. They are less common in the United States.
Neurocysticercosis is caused by pork tapeworm larvae. Of all the worms that cause brain infections, the pork tapeworm causes by far the most cases of brain infections in the Western Hemisphere.
After people eat food contaminated with the tapeworm’s eggs, secretions in the stomach cause the eggs to hatch into larvae. The larvae enter the bloodstream and are distributed to all parts of the body, including the brain and spinal cord. The larvae form cysts (clusters of larvae enclosed in a protective wall). (The infection caused by cysts is called cysticercosis or, when the cysts form in the brain, neurocysticercosis.) These cysts cause few symptoms until the cysts degenerate and the larvae die, triggering inflammation, swelling, and symptoms such as headaches, seizures, personality changes, and mental impairment.
Doctors suspect neurocysticercosis in people who live in or have come from developing countries and who have typical symptoms.
Parasitic Brain Infections – Brain, Spinal Cord, and Nerve Disorders – Merck Manuals Consumer Version
Charles Whitman had a brain tumor, too:
Yup. I was wondering if he mighta got his bell rung one too many times.
Sucks after a decent career, But the first incident made him a tard. The second one made him a re-tard.
I just found out that I have arthritis in my spine.
I think I’ll wait a few years before I go on any rampages.
By then I should have my mobility scooter that looks like a Harley.
A bully who never got popped in the face.
Saw a ton in my day.
Possibly an oddball sadist, to boot. An NCO who liked to inflict unecessary pain. Knew a few.
Not being odd, just candid.
Looks like they let him retire