Sequence of events in
the shooting
By United Press International
March 27, 1985
The State Department
sequence of events Sunday surrounding the death of Maj. Arthur D. Nicholson
Jr. of the U.S. Military Liaison Mission to East Germany:
March
25:
-
3:30 p.m. German
time: Nicholson and his driver, Sgt. Jessie G. Schatz, arrive
at a point near Highway 191 just north of a restricted military zone near
Schwerin in the northwestern part of the German Democratic Republic.
No Soviet troops are visible. The two men are "monitoring Soviet
military activities."
-
3:50 p.m.: A
single Soviet soldier appears from the forest, fires one shot at the marked
U.S. Army sedan and then fires two or three other shots. Nicholson
is hit in the chest by one of the shots. As he falls, he says to
Schatz, "Jess, I've been shot."
When the shots are
fired, Nicholson is some distance from the car and Schatz is in or near
the vehicle and ducks when he hears the shots.
The Soviet soldier
is joined by several others, who keep Schatz from going to Nicholson's
aid. Schatz is ordered back to his vehicle.
-
4:50 p.m.:
One hour after Nicholson is shot,
a Soviet medical aid team arrives, but the major is dead.
Schatz is ordered
by the Soviet soldiers to stay in his car.
-
6:30 p.m.:
The U.S. Military Liaison Mission in Potsdam is informed by the Soviets
of the shooting. The first Americans arrive on the scene at 9:30
p.m. Schatz is unable to leave his car until just before the other
Americans arrive.
Nicholson's body
is taken to West Berlin late Sunday and flown to Rhein-Main AB late Monday.
-
6 a.m. EST:
President Reagan is awakened and briefed, about 16 hours after the shooting,
by National Security Adviser Robert McFarlane.
-
11 a.m. EST:
Oleg Sokolov, the second-ranking diplomat in the Soviet Embassy in Washington,
arrives at the State Department to express regrets to assistant Secretary
of State Richard Burt about the death.
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