BREAKING NEWS: Sources Identify Suspect in Afghan Massacre

The U.S. soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians has been identified and is being flown to Fort Leavenworth in Kansas, U.S. military sources say. Full story after the jump…

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FOX:

U.S. military sources tell Fox News the American soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians last weekend is Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, who is being flown to a military prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas.

Military officials have declined to identify the suspect publicly, insisting that it is usual procedure to keep a suspect’s identity secret until he is officially charged. They have maintained that stance even after a hearing for the detained soldier Tuesday found probable cause to continue holding him, and he was sent from Afghanistan to a detention facility in Kuwait.

The soldier was being flown Friday to the U.S. military’s only maximum-security prison, at Fort Leavenworth, Kansas, sources said. The move to the U.S. does not necessarily mean an announcement of formal criminal charges is imminent, a defense official told The Associated Press.

Bales is a 38-year-old staff sergeant, husband, father of two young children and a veteran who was in the midst of his fourth tour in a war zone.

His attorney, John Henry Browne, said the sergeant is originally from the Midwest but now lives near Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state. His children are 3 and 4.

The sergeant’s family says they saw no signs of aggression or anger. “They were totally shocked” by accounts of the massacre, Browne said. “He’s never said anything antagonistic about Muslims. He’s in general very mild-mannered.”
Browne, who said he has met with the family and talked with the suspect, cited a need to protect family members in declining to release the soldier’s name.

The soldier, said to have received sniper training, 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 Lewis-McChord and has been dispatched to Iraq three times since 2003, military officials say.

During the suspect’s time in Iraq, Browne said, the soldier was injured twice. A battle-related injury required surgery to remove part of one foot, the lawyer said.

But Browne and government officials differ in their portrayal of a second injury, to the soldier’s head, in a vehicle accident.

A government official said this week that the accident was not related to combat. But Browne said the man suffered a concussion in an accident caused by an improvised explosive device.

Browne also said his client was “highly decorated,” but did not provide any specifics.

When he returned to the Seattle area, the staff sergeant at first thought he would not be required to join his unit when it shipped out for Afghanistan, the lawyer said. His family thought he was done fighting and was counting on him staying home. Until orders came dispatching him to Afghanistan, he was training to be a military recruiter, Browne said.

“He wasn’t thrilled about going on another deployment,” Browne said. “He was told he wasn’t going back, and then he was told he was going.”

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 village stability force that pairs special operations troops with villagers to help provide neighborhood security.

On Saturday, 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 verified.

The other soldier’s “leg was blown off, and my client was standing next to him,” he said.

Browne said he did not know if his client had been suffering from PTSD, but said it could be an issue at trial if experts believe it’s relevant. Experts on PTSD said witnessing the injury of a fellow soldier and the suspect’s own previous injuries put him at risk.