Mother says Md. man killed in Iraq shooting

ANNAPOLIS, Md. — A Maryland woman says her son was among the five people shot to death at a military counseling clinic in Baghdad.

Shawna Machlinski says two men from the Army came to her Eastern Shore home at 12:15 a.m. Tuesday to tell her 19-year-old Michael Edward Yates Jr. had been killed by “friendly fire.”

Machlinski says her son had only been at the clinic for about five days when the shooting happened Monday.

Machlinski, who says she last talked to her son on Mother’s Day, says he had talked about the alleged shooter, Sgt. John M. Russell. She says her son got along with him, but she recalled him saying, “this guy’s got issues.”