Accused soldier's neighbors shocked

LAKE TAPPS, Wash. -- The attorney for a soldier accused of killing 16 civilians in Afghanistan said Friday the suspect is 38-year-old Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales from Lake Tapps, Wash.

The military had earlier declined to name the suspect. A senior U.S. official said Friday it was Bales, speaking on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the investigation into an incident that has roiled relations with Afghanistan.

John Henry Browne, a defense attorney from Seattle, confirmed his client's identity.

Bales has not yet been charged. He was being flown Friday from Kuwait to a military detention center at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.

Reporters swarmed Bales' neighborhood in Washington state on Friday night in the rural community, a wooded area filled with pine trees.

Kassie Holland, who lives next door, said she would often see Bales playing with his two kids and the family together at the modern split-level home.

"My reaction is that I'm shocked," she said. "I can't believe it was him. There were no signs. It's really sad. I don't want to believe that he did it."

"He always had a good attitude about being in the service," Holland said. "He was never really angry about it. When I heard him talk, he said, it seemed like, yeah, that's my job. That's what I do."

Military officials say the soldier received sniper training and is assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry Regiment of the 3rd Stryker Brigade Combat Team, of the 2nd Infantry Division, which is based at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington and has been dispatched to Iraq three times since 2003.

Beau Britt, who lives across the street, said: "I kind of sympathize for him, being gone, being sent over there four times. I can understand he's probably quite wracked mentally, so I just hope that things are justified in court. I hope it goes OK."

Browne said his client was injured twice while deployed to Iraq. He suffered a concussion in a vehicle accident caused by an improvised explosive device, and sustained a battle-related injury requiring surgery that removed part of one foot. Browne said his client was "highly decorated."

Browne said when the 11-year veteran heard he was being sent to Afghanistan late last year, he did not want to go.

"He was told he wasn't going back, and then he was told he was going," Browne said

Bales completed 20 hours of anger-management counseling following a 2002 arrest at a Tacoma hotel for investigation of assault. Browne said the case involved a woman who was not his wife. It was not immediately clear how long Bales has been married to his wife.

A Tacoma Municipal Court official provided a copy of the court docket, but said clerks couldn't immediately find the case file, which is either in archives or destroyed. The docket shows Bales pleaded not guilty, underwent the 20 hours of anger management treatment, and the case was dismissed.

The staff sergeant arrived in Afghanistan in December. On Feb. 1 he was assigned to a base in the Panjwai District, near Kandahar, to work with a force that pairs special operations troops with villagers to help provide neighborhood security.

On March 10, the day before the shooting spree, Browne said, the soldier saw his friend's leg blown off. Browne said his client's family provided him with that information, which has not been independently verified.