ADAMS-CURTIS

KILLED  EXECUTION  STYLE

Curtis Fitzherbert Adams was born in Brooklyn, New York, on June 27, 1997.  He enlisted in the Navy on March 15, 2016 and as a Seabee became a Steelworker Third Class assigned to Amphibious Construction Battalion One at the Naval Amphibious Base, Coronado, California.

On the evening of October 27, 2018, a man attempted to steal items from a vehicle parked in a residential Logan Heights neighborhood of San Diego.  When the vehicle’s owner observed what the man was doing, the two men engaged in a gun fight but neither man was injured and the culprit was able to speed away.  On reaching a nearby freeway he had to stop because at least one of the tires had been shot out and was flat.  As SW3 Adams approached the scene he saw the disabled car at the side of the freeway and remarked to his girlfriend who was riding with him, “I’m going to be a good Samaritan today,” and he came to a stop behind the disabled vehicle.  As Adams walked toward him, the vehicle driver thought he was being approached by the man with whom he had previously engaged in a gun fight, so he resumed shooting.  Adams was struck in the chest and was pronounced dead when he arrived at a nearby hospital where he was rushed by emergency responders.  The shooter fled to Mexico where he was arrested two months later and turned over to San Diego investigators.  He has since been found guilty of eight felony charges including burglary, robbery and murder, and has been sentenced to life in prison without parole.

SW3 Curtis Fitzherbert Adams is buried at Calverton National Cemetery in Calverton, New York, where his grave marker carries the inscription:  SW3  -  US NAVY  -  PERSIAN GULF.

Submitted by CDR Roy A. Mosteller, USNR (Ret)