US News

Fugitive wanted for US diplomat’s murder arrested

The feds busted a Malian national wanted since December 2000 for the murder of a US diplomat and wounding of one of his Marine guards during a robbery in Niger, prosecutors said Thursday.
Alhassane Ould Mohamed, also known as “Cheibani,” was charged with the murder and attempted murder of United States Embassy personnel stationed in Niamey, Niger and will be arraigned Thursday at 2:00 p.m. in Brooklyn federal court, authorities said.
The accused killer was extradited to the US by the Malian government, and today will be his first appearance on the charges in the United States, according to a statement from US Attorney Loretta E. Lynch, and George Venizelos of the FBI’s New York office.

“The investigation indicates that the defendant and his confederate brazenly shot and killed diplomat William Bultemeier in Niger, and wounded US Marine Christopher McNeely as he bravely risked his life to attempt to save his colleague,” Lynch said about Mohamed, who was extradited from Mali.

“An attack on US Government personnel, whether domestic or abroad, is an attack on the United States,” added Venizelos.
According to the indictment, early on the morning of Dec. 23, 2000, the defendant and a cohort confronted a group of embassy staffers in Niger as they left a restaurant.
Armed with a pistol and an AK-47 assault rifle, the two men approached Department of Defense official William Bultemeier as he was about to enter his car, a white sport-utility vehicle bearing diplomatic license plates clearly indicating that it belonged to the US Embassy, the feds said in a statement.
The defendant demanded the car keys, and then shot Bultemeier with the pistol as McNeely ran to his aid. The defendant’s co-conspirator then fired his AK-47 at Bultemeier and McNeely, hitting them both.
The pair then rifled through the victims’ pockets and took off in the embassy vehicle.
Bultemeier died, but McNeely survived the shooting, and later retired from the Marine Corps as a Master Sergeant.