A U.S. Army sergeant on vacation has been fatally shot in San Antonio, Texas, military officials said Saturday.
Jessica Mitchell, 30, “was the victim of multiple gunshot wounds,” San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston Joint Base said in a statement.
Mitchell was found in a vehicle by firefighters responding to a report of a vehicle collision, the NBC affiliate WOAI in San Antonio reported.
Mitchell, a dentist, was taken to San Antonio University Hospital, where he was pronounced dead.
The military’s criminal investigation department and the San Antonio police station have launched an investigation, military officials said.
Mitchell has been appointed to the U.S. Army Medical Center of Excellence since August 2019 and previously worked at a joint base dental clinic.
Her sister Ashley Mitchell told WOAI that Jessica made at least one social media post about ‘the new year’ hours before her body was discovered.
“Why would anyone want to do that?” Ashley Mitchell said. “Why do people do such heinous acts for no reason?”
Major General Dennis LeMaster, Commanding General at the Medical Center of Excellence, issued a statement saying officials had been “crushed” by her death.
The fatal shooting comes amid investigations into violence and missing persons associated with Fort Hood, a Texas Army installation about 147 miles from San Antonio.
Last year, the severed body of the missing Army Spc. Vanessa Guillén was found near Fort Hood. Spc. Aaron Robinson, 20, was wanted in connection with her disappearance, but he shot himself dead.
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