CAMP LEJEUNE, N.C. — A 19-year-old Marine who graduated from Riverside High School in Northeast Ohio was killed in a shooting at Camp Lejeune, according to officials.
Austin B. Schwenk, a 2022 Riverside High graduate, died Wednesday in an incident in a barracks room on the base, the base said in a statement. Schwenk enlisted in 2022, and he belonged to the 2nd Battalion, 6th Marine Regiment.
A second Marine was being held Friday on suspicion of being involved in the death, the base said. Officials called the death a homicide and described the other Marine as a suspect.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service will investigate the death.
Schwenk was originally from Onslow County, North Carolina, according to Camp Lejeune officials. He graduated from Riverside in 2022 and signed up to become a marine at a ceremony held at the school in May 2022.
“I chose the Marines because I grew up around a Marine,” Schwenk said in a speech during the ceremony. “My father was a Marine, and he has always given me a reason to look up to him.”
On Monday, Riverside Local Schools posted this statement on Facebook:
"We are deeply saddened to hear about the tragic loss of Lance Cpl. Austin Schwenk.
"Austin was a 2022 Riverside High School graduate who was serving in the military. He was a tremendous young man who will be greatly missed by so many.
"Our heartfelt condolences go out to Austin’s family and friends."
The sprawling Camp Lejeune covers about 240 square miles (621 square kilometers) and is home to the II Marine Expeditionary Force. Its beaches and ranges provide training in amphibious assaults and urban warfare, and it is used both for U.S. Marine training and for exercises involving other military forces from around the world.
The death came two days before the base was scheduled to conduct annual training known as Exercise Urgent Response that “provides an opportunity for tenant commands to develop and exercise emergency security procedures,” according to a press release.
In 2021, a Marine was shot and wounded in a barracks at the base. Authorities later determined that the shooting was accidental.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
