Four former Blackwater Worldwide security contractors were convicted Wednesday on charges stemming from a deadly 2007 shooting in Iraq, The New York Times reported.
Federal court jurors found one defendant guilty of murder and three others of manslaughter and weapons charges, roundly asserting that the shooting was criminal. The defendants showed little emotion as the lengthy verdict was read.
Seventeen Iraqis died when gunfire erupted on Sept. 16, 2007 in the crowded Nisour Square in Baghdad.
The shooting occurred when four Blackwater armored trucks responded to a car bombing. The Iraqis were killed when Blackwater contractors fired into the crowd using machine guns and grenade launchers.
The shooting inflamed anti-American sentiment abroad and helped solidify the notion that Blackwater, America's largest security contractor in Iraq, was reckless and unaccountable.