http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/scn-sa-hoax1130,0,3231899.story?coll=stam-news-local-headlines
Donna Porstner
Staff Writer
November 30, 2007
STAMFORD -- The U.S. Army is trying to determine whether a report of a Stamford man killed in Iraq was a hoax.
Glenbrook Fire Department officials on Thursday said Gabrielle Costello, 26, a U.S. Army Ranger and member of the volunteer department, was killed in action in Iraq. The story was reported in The Advocate and other area news organizations.
There is no report of a U.S. Army Ranger killed in Iraq last weekend or any record of Gabrielle Costello -- or anyone with a similar name -- serving in the Army, said Shari Lawrence, deputy public affairs officer for the U.S. Army's Human Resources Command.
"I don't have anything in the database that says he's in the Army," she said. "The good thing is, he appears to be alive."
Glenbrook fire Lt. Troy Jones said he got the news from Costello's mother who called the firehouse around 6 a.m. Thursday.
Had there been a solider killed over the weekend his body would have been brought to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware by now, Lawrence said. There is no such body, she said.
The Army is trying to determine whether the story may have been fabricated, Lawrence said.
"Unfortunately, it's happened in the past," she said.
Lawrence said she is trying to contact the mother to find out why she thinks her son was killed in Iraq, but fire department officials so far have not been able to provide her with a name or phone number.
"I haven't been able to speak with her so I don't know how she was notified," Lawrence said.
The Department of Defense on Thursday could not confirm Costello's death. Lt. Colonel Jonathan Withington, a Department of Defense spokesman, said the military cannot release the names of soldiers killed until 24 hours after the family is notified. Asked if he could verify whether there was a Gabrielle Costello serving as an Army Ranger, Withington said he could not give out that information.
Fire officials said Thursday that they were devastated by news of Costello's passing and announced the department's annual Christmas tree lighting on Saturday would be dedicated to his memory.
The fire department notified Mayor Dannel Malloy and the city's Director of Public Safety, Health and Welfare Bill Callion of Costello's death on Thursday.
Jones said Thursday that Costello's mother was driving to North Carolina to retrieve his remains. He said he took notes during the conversation, but he could not remember her name.
Glenbrook Fire Chief Frank Passero said Jones was the only one who spoke to the mother.
"He said the woman called up crying and said that Gabe was killed in Iraq," Passero said.
U.S. Rep. Christopher Shays, R-Bridgeport, initially issued a statement mourning the soldier's passing.
"Gabrielle Costello made the ultimate sacrifice for his country. He is a true American hero," Shays wrote in a news release sent out Friday morning. "Our thoughts and prayers are with his family and friends."
Shays later telephoned The Advocate from Jordan to say he had not been notified of any military personnel from Stamford dying in Iraq. As a congressman, Shays said he would have been notified before the family, and sworn to secrecy, or told soon after they are notified.
"We were envisioning that a distraught mother was driving down to Fort Bragg," Shays said. "It's not an embarrassment; it's not a hoax; it's tragic when a story like this develops."
Shays said his staff is researching whether Costello might have been working as a contractor in Iraq. He said it's rare for people to fabricate stories about war causalties.
There is no record of Costello working for the Department of Defense in any capacity, Lawrence said.
"If he were a DOD contractor, I would have his name," she said.
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