In April of 2022, a sense of profound loss rippled through the community of sailors aboard the USS George Washington, docked in Newport News, Virginia. It was on the 15th of that month that 19-year-old Xavier Hunter Mitchell-Sandor, a male Master-at-Arms Seaman Recruit, was found unresponsive on the aircraft carrier. The ship's medical team rendered aid before he was rushed to Riverside Regional Medical Center, but their efforts were in vain, and he was pronounced dead.
The Office of the
Chief Medical Examiner of Virginia later determined that Xavier's death was the result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. This tragic event was not an isolated incident aboard the USS George Washington. In the same month, two other sailors assigned to the carrier also died by suicide, prompting a wider investigation by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service into the circumstances and potential contributing factors. In the year leading up to Xavier's death, a total of seven sailors assigned to the ship had died, raising serious concerns about the well-being of the crew.
Xavier, who had enlisted in the Navy in August of 2021, had been described by his family as a 'happy, proud person.' He had graduated from boot camp where he was recognized as a leader and a sharpshooter before being assigned to the USS George Washington. He had expressed to his family that life on the ship, which was undergoing a lengthy overhaul, was 'awful.' Sailors had reported 'uninhabitable' living conditions, including a lack of quiet sleeping spaces, forcing some to sleep in their cars, and the absence of basic amenities like heating and hot water.
In the wake of his death, Xavier's family filed a lawsuit against the Navy and Huntington Ingalls Industries, the company responsible for the ship's maintenance. The series of deaths spurred the Navy to take reactive measures, including moving over 200 sailors living aboard the ship to other accommodations and providing additional mental health resources, such as a psychologist and resiliency counselors. The NCIS conducted a thorough investigation into the circumstances of Xavier's death, as is standard for all non-combat, medically unattended fatalities of Department of the Navy service members. The investigation confirmed that he had sent a suicide note to his parents via text message on the evening of his death. His death was ultimately ruled to have occurred in the line of duty and not due to his own misconduct.
