MAY 18. Shock, tragedy, and disbelief. As celebrations from the two-month
anniversary of the ACC began winding down, the scene quickly changed
from one of festivity, to one of horror. Hours after the event that
will surely shake the very foundations of this surging alliance, the
people are still left angered with despair, unable to find the words
to express their emotions.
At 1:32 in the afternoon, the leading officers of the ACC were stepping
down from the float where they had been invited as honored guests at
a local parade here in the capital. But then, the cries of jubilation
were violently interrupted with what felt like one collective shriek,
as the sound of gunfire broke out along the main parade column. In the
aftermath of the chaos that followed, with panicked pedestrians trampling
each other as a desperate mob, there were cries of sorrow over the single
fatality from the incident.
21 year-old Prince Nicholas von Nusseburg, the ACC Operations Commander
and scion of the First House of Nusseburg, was shot in the upper torso
by what appeared to be two high-velocity sniper rounds. He was declared
dead on arrival at St. John's Hospital.
In an investigation and manhunt of driven efficiency, arrests were
made within hours. All of the men involved were associated with several
known nationalist paramilitary groups who were reportedly against the
recent pro-diplomacy, pro-defense movement that Prince Nusseburg championed
in his final days. Rumors have been rampant that the assassination was
carried out with support from Iraq's Freedom Alliance, but these have
been unsubstantiated.
Even still, the arrests have brought little comfort to the Atlantic,
where the people weep over their slain commander. As the sun sets here
tonight, the city is quiet—quiet with the mourning of a future
that could be lost. This is Kerry Pressman, reporting for Atlantic News,
ACC Headquarters.
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