WASHINGTON — The five Blackwater security guards indicted in the deaths of unarmed civilians in Baghdad last year were operating in the area in defiance of U.S. government orders and opened fire with automatic weapons and rocket-propelled grenade launchers, killing some people as they tried to surrender or flee, according to a Justice Department investigation made public Monday.
The government's case against the five men was laid out in court documents unsealed by a federal judge. A sixth Blackwater guard, Jeremy P. Ridgeway, has provided information to authorities about the Sept. 16, 2007, shootings at crowded Nisoor Square.
At least 17 Iraqis were killed and 20 others injured in the incident, which severely damaged relations between the U.S. and Iraq and led to calls for more scrutiny of Blackwater Worldwide and other contractors providing security in the destabilized country.
Federal authorities said Ridgeway had cooperated with prosecutors and the FBI -- which conducted one of the most complicated overseas investigations in its history -- as part of his agreement to plead guilty to lesser charges. Assistant Atty. Gen. Patrick Rowan would not comment at a news conference Monday on whether Ridgeway would testify against his former Blackwater colleagues.
The other guards have said they were defending themselves after being fired upon by suspected insurgents. But Ridgeway, who as the turret gunner in the last vehicle had a panoramic view, has provided information that strongly indicates the shootings were unprovoked, authorities said.
The members of Blackwater's Raven 23 convoy were not authorized to leave the fortified Green Zone on the day of the shootings, and "they also understood that they were only authorized to discharge their firearms in self-defense and as a last resort," according to a statement signed by Ridgeway and prosecutors.
But they did so anyway in response to reports that an improvised explosive device had exploded near a Blackwater security detail about a mile from Nisoor Square, Ridgeway said in his statement. The team also refused a subsequent U.S. government order to leave the civilian areas of Baghdad and return to the safety of the Green Zone "as soon as possible," Ridgeway said.
"In contravention of that order, the Raven 23 convoy, under the command of its shift leader, proceeded to set up a blockade at Nisoor Square to stop civilian traffic from flowing through the traffic circle," he said.
