(AP) FORT LEAVENWORTH, Kan. - The soldier accused of gunning down 16 Afghan villagers has arrived at a U.S. military prison at Fort Leavenworth, Kan.
Army officials confirmed Friday that Staff Sgt. Robert Bales had arrived at the prison in northeast Kansas after a flight from Kuwait. The 38-year-old had previously been moved to Kuwait from Afghanistan.
Bales is an 11-year veteran who was in the midst of his fourth tour in a war zone. He arrived in Afghanistan in December. He was assigned Feb. 1 to work with a village stability force that pairs special operations troops with villagers to help provide neighborhood security.
He's accused of going on a shooting rampage in villages near his southern Afghanistan base early Sunday, killing nine children and seven other civilians, then burning some of their bodies. He has not yet been charged.
As earlier reported, John Henry Browne, a defense attorney from Seattle, confirmed his client's identity.
Bales, 38, is from Ohio but was stationed at joint base Lewis-McChord in Washington state. Multiple sources familiar with the investigation confirmed the suspect's identity to CBS News, but his name has not officially been released, in part out of fear for the safety of the man's family. The family has been moved from their home off-base to a location within the base.
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 Lewis-McChord and has been dispatched to Iraq three times since 2003.
Reporters swarmed Bales' neighborhood in Washington state on Friday night in the rural community, a wooded area filled with pine trees about 20 miles northeast from the base.
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. 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. He never expressed a lot of emotion toward it."
Beau Britt, who lives across the street, said: "For something like that to be right across the street from us is just amazing."
"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 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."
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