Photo courtesy of the family
Wendy Latchum, with huband, John Latchum Jr., and
son, Joshua, 8, and daughter, Breanna, 4, in a family
portrait taken this year.
The wife of soldier slain
during vacation calls death
a waste and urges the
killers be punished
By Jaymes Song
Star-BulletinThe wife of a slain soldier is asking the public to help find the men who shot and killed her husband yesterday morning at the Waianae Army Recreation Center.
"When he died, I felt like I died there too," Wendy Latchum told the Star-Bulletin this morning.
She said was watching television at 1 a.m. yesterday when she heard someone trying to open the sliding glass door of their beachfront rental cabin. When she opened the curtains, she saw a group of young men standing on the front porch.
She screamed, awaking her husband, U.S. Army helicopter pilot John Latchum Jr., and alerting him about the "boys trying to break into the cabin."
The Latchums went out to the porch of their two-bedroom cabin and the youths ran away.
Then Wendy Latchum, 32, heard a popping noise like a "firecracker" and watched her husband fall to the ground while grasping his chest.
"I was standing right next to him," she said in tears. "They stopped and just stood there and watched. They started to run when I started screaming."
"And he never spoke after that."
John Latchum, a Delaware native, was a UH-60 Black Hawk pilot at Wheeler Army Airfield. He has been stationed in Hawaii since August 1995. He served in the Army for 14 years.
His wife said the Army and the country lost a soldier who loved to fly, and the family lost a good husband and father.
"He's a very loving and caring person who's dedicated to the family and his career," said Wendy Latchum, who has been married for 11-1/2 years. "He's really wonderful to us. We're going to miss him dearly."
John Latchum leaves behind two young children, 8-year-old Joshua and 4-year-old Breanna.
"He took the kids everywhere," she said. "He worships the ground they walk on. He was very close to his children and they don't know what's going on.
"I'm devastated," she said. "I have to completely start my life over. And I have to be strong for my children, but it's hard because I don't know what the future holds for us."
The Latchums checked into the cabin on Sunday and were scheduled to check out yesterday at noon.
"The Army is deeply saddened by this isolated, tragic act of violence," the U.S. Army said in a statement. "We send our heartfelt condolences to the family of the victim."
Wendy Latchum wants the killer arrested.
"Catch the people that did this, because they could do it again," she said. "It's such a waste. There's nothing gained -- nothing whatsoever."
Wendy Latchum said she will probably have to move back to the mainland to her hometown of Enterprise, Ala., or near her parents in Florida after deciding where to bury her husband.
"We had plans and a future," she said.
"Suddenly it's all gone -- and now I'm all alone."
Wife of slain Army man
decries lack of security
at rec center'It took so long for help to get there,'
By Star-Bulletin staff
says the widow of Chief Warrant Officer
John Russell Latchum, 33An Army man shot to death at the Waianae Army Recreation Center could not alert security about an early-morning disturbance outside his cabin. The wife of slain Army helicopter pilot Chief Warrant Officer John Russell Latchum is upset about the lack of phones in the cabins and the lack of security.
Wendy Latchum, whose husband was shot early yesterday morning when he confronted eight youths who were on the porch of their cabin, told the Star-Bulletin, "It took so long for help to get there."
After seeing her husband shot, she said she screamed, and a neighbor had to use her cellular phone to call for help.
Army spokesman Capt. Rob Rooker confirmed the cabin rented by the Latchums was not equipped with a telephone.
Rooker this morning said all the phones in the recreation center's 42 cabins were taken out "for economic circumstance."
Rooker said the Army believes that "this was an isolated incident," pointing out that there are armed Department of Defense security guards who patrol the beach and the 14-acre recreation facility regularly.
"It is such a close-knit community that the ability for someone to call was not addressed during the economic decision to take the phones out," Rooker said.
He said that the farthest bungalow is 40 to 50 yards from the lobby, where a phone is available for use by all guests.
He said the lack of phones probably will be part of the Army's safety investigation.
Latchum, 33, who was vacationing with his wife and two children, was shot in the chest about 1 a.m. after he confronted a group of young males. His wife said she thinks the youths were trying to break into the cabin. Wendy Latchum said when she heard someone jiggling the doorknob, she woke her husband for help.
Latchum was a UH-60 Black Hawk pilot assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 25th Aviation Regiment.
The Latchums had checked into the cabin Sunday and were to leave yesterday. This was their second stay at the Army recreation camp. "I didn't know it was a high-crime area," Wendy Latchum said. "We had no problems when we stayed there before."
Police arrested three men in the area on outstanding contempt warrants shortly after the shooting.
Two of them, ages 28 and 39, were stopped on Waianae Valley Road at 1:15 a.m., while the third man, a 22-year-old Army Street resident, was picked up on Piliuka Way at 1:55 a.m.
The FBI questioned the three men yesterday, but it's unknown if they were involved in the shooting.
Yesterday's fatal shooting occurred nearly 21 years after Army Spec. 4 James Lee Veal was shot to death while on duty at the front gate at the recreational facility.
Kenneth A. Smith and Tracy Keakealoha Henry Peters were charged with shooting the sentry.
Anyone with information about the Latchum shooting is asked to call police Detective Harold Fitchett (529-3115), CrimeStoppers (955-8300) or the Army's Criminal Investigation Division (655-0401, ext. 25).
Rod Ohira, Jaymes Song and Gregg K. Kakesako
contributed to this story.
