One Marine shot, One Marine Charged, Wife Grieves for Both

Wife of Marine charged with murder defends husband, remembers 'best friend'
July 3, 2009 - 6:02 PM
LINDELL KAY
The wife of a Camp Lejeune Marine charged with murder after police say he shot his roommate Wednesday while playing with a handgun said she is without her best friend who is dead and her husband who is in jail - and hurt by the community's reaction.

Courtney Smith said 19-year-old Bryan Thorkelson was like her little brother. And it was extremely painful to watch police arrest her husband, Michael Everett Smith, shortly after Thorkelson's death.

"What happened was an accident," she told The Daily News on Friday. "They shouldn't have been playing with a gun, but my husband did not mean to shoot (Thorkelson)."

Michael Smith, 21, of Bridgewater Court, was charged by the Jacksonville Police Department with an open count of murder Wednesday after Thorkelson died at Onslow Memorial Hospital of a gunshot wound to the head, according to warrants and police statements.
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