JACKSONVILLE, Fla. – Nearly a month after a Jacksonville Army sergeant was slain in Kentucky, a federal grand jury has returned an indictment charging her estranged husband with her murder.
Victor Everette Silvers, 29, is charged with first-degree murder and attempted first-degree murder in the Oct. 14 shooting at Fort Campbell that killed Sgt. Brittney Silvers, 27, and wounded her friend.
The indictment also charges Silvers with domestic violence, violation of a protection order, possession of a firearm by a prohibited person and two counts of using a firearm during a crime of violence.
He could get the death penalty or life in prison if convicted of the murder charge.
According to an arrest affidavit, Sgt. Silvers and a male friend were both shot when her husband showed up uninvited at the sergeant’s on-base housing Oct. 14. She did not survive.
She was buried Nov. 1 at the Jacksonville National Cemetery.
The eight-page document indicated the couple was in the middle of a divorce, and that Brittney Silvers had gotten a restraining order against her husband Oct. 9 – just five days before the shooting.
The court order barred Victor Silvers from possessing a firearm and required him to stay at least 300 feet away from his estranged wife at all times.
Court filings show Victor Silvers has testified that he was not completely aware of what was going on at the time of the shooting, saying he was “blanking” in and out of consciousness.
It’s unclear when Silvers will appear in court next.