Shaw airman who died Aug. 13 is third suicide at Sumter base this year

The airman who was found dead in his Sumter home off Shaw Air Force Base on Tuesday has been identified.
Second Lt. Christopher Rhoton’s death was deemed a suicide by the Sumter County Coroner’s Office, becoming what is now thought to be the fifth death of a Shaw airman this year.
Rhoton joined the Air Force in February 2003 and had been stationed at Shaw since October 2018 as a member of the 20th Aircraft Maintenance Squadron, according to the 20th Fighter Wing Public Affairs Office. The 20th AMS is responsible for preparing Shaw’s 79 F-16 Fighting Falcons, which make up the Air Force’s largest combat F-16 wing, for combat and overseas joint exercises, according to Shaw fact sheets.
Second Lt. Sable Brown, with public affairs, said the wing planned to hold a visitation for unit and family members Friday night on base.
"This is a time for the unit members to cope and express condolences as we deal with our loss with the family," Brown said.
Chaplains and support agency representatives were available at the visitation for unit members.
Col. Derek J. O’Malley, commander of the 20th Fighter Wing at Shaw, posted on Facebook Wednesday morning grieving the loss of “another one of our own.”
“Here we are again. I can’t believe it,” he said.
Rhoton’s name was not released until 24 hours after his family was notified of his death, base representatives said.
All five deaths have happened since May, Sumter County Chief Deputy Coroner Bryan Rogers confirmed.
Senior Airman Jose Llanes, 28, was found dead of an apparent suicide with a gun on May 21 after family members reported him missing a few days earlier. He served in the 20th Logistics Readiness Squadron.
Also in May, another airman was found dead in a hotel room from what the coroner’s officer said was a suicide. This death had not been announced via an official release as the others had.
Two other airmen from the 20th Component Maintenance Squadron died within a week of each other after performing separate official Air Force physical fitness assessments.
Senior Airman Aaron Hall, 30, died on June 1, and Senior Airman Amalia Joseph, 32, died six days earlier.
Compared to five so far this year, the coroner’s office responded to two deaths of military personnel from Shaw in 2018, Rogers told The Sumter Item. He said one was a suicide and the other was a fatal car accident.
As of Aug. 1, 78 airmen had taken their own lives so far in 2019, according to the Air Force Times, 28 more than the same time frame in 2018.
“We lose more airmen to suicide than any other single enemy – even more than combat,” Chief Master Sergeant of the Air Force Kaleth Wright said in a video at the beginning of the month.
Chief of Staff Gen. Dave Goldfein ordered all wings to stand down for a day and focus on resiliency and suicide prevention in the wake of the increase. The Air Force Times reported Goldfein sent a letter to all commanders on Aug. 1 to say they have until Sept. 15 to hold a “resilience tactical pause” to set aside an entire day to “figure out what needs to be done.”
He said the pause will not be a one-day program to solve the problem but the start to a long-term dialogue between airmen and their command teams, families, supporting agencies and the rest of the Air Force, the Air Force Times reported.
Shaw’s O’Malley asked those watching his Facebook video on Wednesday to have a “productive dialogue” in the coming days and to “be kind, truly kind.