Mike Spann was a Central Intelligence Agency officer assigned to the Counterterrorism Center and the first American killed in combat in Afghanistan after the September 11 attacks. He was killed in the Qala-i-Jangi prison uprising of approximately November 25, 2001. John Kiriakou, who worked roughly ten feet from him in the CTC bullpen, describes him as “a good guy. Nice guy. Good family man.”[1][2]
Death
Spann and a small number of other CIA and military personnel were interrogating recently captured Taliban and al-Qaeda prisoners — including the American John Walker Lindh — at a fortress in northern Afghanistan when the prisoners revolted. Spann and his colleagues were rapidly overwhelmed. “They ended up just opening fire on these guys and they ran out of bullets. And then he was stomped to death. That’s how he died. They stomped him to death.”[1][2][3]