FORT BRAGG, N.C. -- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration and the Army are investigating the shooting death of a contractor at Fort Bragg that happened during a live fire drill in which two others were wounded, officials said Wednesday.
The contractor was killed at Womack Army Medical Center on Tuesday.
A second range control contractor with Tennessee-based Echota Technologies Corp. was shot and wounded and flown to UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill and has been released, the company said.
A third person wounded, a soldier who is a student at the U.S. Army John F. Kennedy Special Warfare Center and School, has been released from the hospital.
The company did not release the contractors' names.
Close to 150 soldiers were at the range, but only 15 were taking part in the live fire exercise, said Maj. David Butler, a spokesman for the Warfare Center.
The soldiers were students in the Special Forces weapons sergeant course.
They were training with M4 rifles and M249 Squad Automatic Weapons. The M249 is a light machine gun capable of firing bursts.
It is unclear how the three men were shot, and officials at Fort Bragg could not release details because of the investigation.
The Army investigation started Tuesday and OSHA's on Wednesday, according to Suzanne Street, the agency's area director in Raleigh.
The agency, which oversees job safety regulations, is looking into the shooting because the contractor was employed by a private company.
"We're going to trying to figure out what happened and if there are any violations and make recommendations to prevent it from happening in the future," Street said.
Echota Chief Operations Officer Mark Boyatt said the company is cooperating with the investigations.
Boyatt says his employees do not carry weapons and only provide range maintenance and support.
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