In a tragic incident on April 12, 2019, 21-year-old U.S. Marine Corporal Tyler P. Wallingford, a male from Standish, Maine, was fatally shot in a barracks room at the Marine Corps Air Station in Beaufort, South Carolina. The shooting occurred at approximately 9:30 p.m. Wallingford, an aircraft ordnance technician with Marine Fighter Attack Training Squadron 501, was a fourth-generation firefighter who had served as a volunteer in his hometown and was also active with the Beaufort/Port Royal
Fire Department at the time of his death.
The Naval Criminal Investigative Service immediately began an investigation into the shooting. Shortly after the incident, a fellow Marine, 21-year-old Corporal Spencer T. Daily, also an aircraft ordnance technician with the same squadron, was taken into custody as a suspect. The investigation revealed that the two Marines had been drinking alcohol and playing video games in Daily's barracks room when the shooting occurred. Daily claimed that he pointed his gun at Wallingford and it accidentally discharged. An emergency call made by Daily from the air station recorded him stating, 'I just shot my roommate.'
Following the investigation, Spencer Daily, a native of Youngstown, Ohio, faced a general court-martial. On January 6, 2020, he was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter and willful discharge of a firearm under circumstances to endanger human life. As a result of his conviction, Daily was sentenced to 69 months of confinement. Wallingford was remembered by friends and family as an adventurous and fearless individual with a passion for skydiving, having completed over 100 jumps. His body was returned to Maine, where he received a burial with full military honors.
