Marine Sergeant Charged with Murder in Alleged Shooting Death of Civilian at Camp Lejeune

A Marine Corps noncommissioned officer was charged with murder and involuntary manslaughter for the alleged killing of a civilian on base at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina, earlier this year, service officials confirmed to Military.com on Tuesday.

Sgt. Dakota Honstein, 26 and an active-duty Marine assigned to Lejeune, will face a court-martial between April 21 and May 6, 2025, for allegedly shooting a female civilian in January of this year, according to a charge sheet recently provided by Marine Corps officials to Military.com.

Officials did not identify the alleged victim and the charge sheet refers to her only by the initials "S.S." On Jan. 27, 2024, Honstein allegedly "murder[ed] S.S. by means of intentionally pulling the trigger of a loaded firearm while pointing it at her," according to the charge sheet.

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Honstein was also charged with Article 119 -- involuntary manslaughter -- for allegedly killing the victim "by culpable negligence." He also faces the charge of violating a general order by "wrongfully" possessing a firearm aboard the Marine Corps base.

The circumstances surrounding the alleged murder are unclear. Military.com asked officials this week about the relationship between Honstein and "S.S." and whether the two knew each other prior to the incident, but officials did not have answers to the inquiry at the time.

"These charges are merely an accusation," Staff Sgt. Alexa Hernandez, a spokesperson for II Marine Expeditionary Force, said in a statement to Military.com on Tuesday. "The accused is presumed innocent until proven guilty."

Hernandez said that the incident was investigated by the Naval Criminal Investigative Service and that Honstein was apprehended by law enforcement on the date of the incident, Jan. 27, 2024.

Marine Corps Times and local outlets reported in late January that law enforcement had apprehended an unnamed Marine following the shooting death of a civilian aboard Lejeune the same day that Honstein was alleged to have carried out the killing, according to the charge sheets.

The outlets reported that authorities recovered a weapon after the shooting, characterized the incident as "isolated" and said that no charges were filed at the time.

Military.com attempted to contact members of Honstein's family through contacts listed online, but was unsuccessful. It appears that Honstein has legal counsel, according to online preliminary hearing records. The publication attempted to contact his lawyer through II MEF and the Military Justice Administration on Thursday, but neither responded by publication time.

Honstein remains on active duty, according to officials, and is a fire support Marine assigned to the 2nd Air Naval Gunfire Liaison Company within II MEF. He joined the service in 2018, according to his service record provided by II MEF, and is from Florida.

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