SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – The body of a U.S. soldier who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in Iraq was flown to Puerto Rico on Monday for burial in his parents' homeland.
Military officials previously said Army Spc. Gil Mercado, 25, died of a non-combat wound on April 13. But on Monday, Army spokesman Maj. Steve Stover said Mercado had died of a self-inflicted wound.
Stover added that an investigation was under way to determine whether Mercado committed suicide or died while cleaning a weapon.
Mercado's body arrived Monday afternoon in this U.S. territory's main airport in the capital of San Juan, Army spokesman Maj. Richard Crusan said. The soldier's body was flown from Dover Air Force Base in Delaware.
A hearse met the flight at the tarmac and was taking the body to the northwestern coastal town of Isabela, where the soldier lived as a teenager.
His parents live in the town, where he is scheduled to be buried with full military honors on Wednesday, Crusan said.
Mercado's wife made the decision to have him buried in Puerto Rico. She is originally from Colombia and lives at Fort Campbell in Kentucky, where Mercado was based.
Mercado, who was born in Paterson, N.J., was a cook assigned to the 101st Airborne Division's 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment.
