Showing posts with label Killeen Texas. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Killeen Texas. Show all posts

Sunday, June 28, 2015

Fort Hood Soldier Killed In Killeen Accident

Man Struck, Killed After Running Light On Bike At Local Intersection
KWTX News
By: Brandon Marshall

KILLEEN (June 27, 2015)

Michael David Carrasco, 26, who was identified as a Fort Hood soldier, died at a local hospital Saturday after a car struck him as he rode his bicycle through a red light at a Killeen intersection.

The accident happened at around 12:50 a.m. Saturday at the intersection of Veteran’s Memorial Boulevard and W.S. Young Drive.
read more here

Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Killeen, highest percentage of veterans than any city in the US

Killeen turns Army’s reluctant residents into proud neighbors
DVIDS
7th Mobile Public Affairs Detachment
Story by Sgt. Ken Scar
March 17, 2014

KILLEEN, Texas - The Army assigns thousands of soldiers to Fort Hood every year, and chances are many of them are not exactly delighted about it. Army towns don’t always have the best reputations among soldiers.

The complaints are similar for every city next to a major military base: the traffic is terrible, crime is high, it’s in the middle of nowhere, it’s over-priced, it’s too hot, it’s too cold, and so on.

Surprisingly – or maybe not surprisingly – a considerable number of soldiers over the last half-century have grown fond of Killeen during their Army-mandated time here, and decided to make Killen their permanent home. So many, in fact, you’d be hard pressed to find a single city block that didn’t have at least one veteran living on it.

“Killeen has the highest percentage of veterans than any city in the United States,” said Killeen Mayor Dan Corbin, who was transplanted here by the Army himself in 1971. “The population in Killeen increased by 47 percent between 2000 and 2010. The assigned strength on Fort Hood did not increase in that time, but the population did because people like living here.”

Corbin’s initial assignment to Fort Hood came as a bit of a shock.

“I was a lieutenant in Vietnam and I asked to be assigned any place east of the Mississippi river, because I wanted to make sure they had a wide enough area that I could get what I wanted,” he said with a short laugh. “Someone who failed geography sent me to Fort Hood.”

Staff Sgt. Jim Barbour was ordered to Fort Hood in 1974. He was a hardened combat veteran and Purple Heart recipient with more than 3,000 flight hours as a door gunner in Vietnam for the 68th Assault Helicopter Company, 145th Combat Aviation Battalion. He had moved on to being a Russian language linguist for the Army Security Agency in Japan, and was none too thrilled about his new duty station.

“I hated Fort Hood. Everything was either in your building or five miles down the road,” said Barbour from the living room of the home he’s lived in for 38 years, which sits just three blocks away from one of Fort Hood’s main gates.

The city has grown exponentially during his time here, he explained. Now there are four grocery stores, dozens of restaurants, a large mall, and just about anything else he needs within a few minutes’ drive.

“When I moved to this town it was 30,000 people,” he said. “Now it’s 130,000. That’s change. I came from Chicago, and Killeen is more like a city now. It happens so slow you don’t even really notice it.”
read more here

Wednesday, May 15, 2013

Fort Hood soldier dies after crashing motorcycle accident

Fort Hood soldier dies after crashing motorcycle into curb
ABC News 25
Posted: May 14, 2013
By John Elizondo

KILLEEN
A Fort Hood soldier is dead after he rode his motorcycle into a curb and crashed into a drainage ditch over the weekend. Police say 1st Lt. Michael Skylar-Jones Pegues died from his injuries in a wreck that occurred near the intersection of Edgefield and Robinett.

Police responded to the scene at 12:26 a.m. on Sunday after receiving a call from a witness. When officers arrived, they found the 24-year-old Pegues in a drainage ditch on the west side of Robinett.
read more here

Thursday, April 11, 2013

Fort Hood shooting survivor leads new boot camp

Fort Hood shooting survivor leads new boot camp
Apr 11, 2013
Nick Delgado

Christopher Royal wasn’t much into physical fitness before the fatal shooting Nov. 5, 2009, at Fort Hood. But for Royal, who was injured in the attack, the tragedy was a rude awakening that turned his life around.

Now the director of Royal’s Fitness & Enterprising, he launched a gospel fitness camp Saturday to help spread the benefits of healthy living.

“When I was shot on Fort Hood, I realized that I had the opportunity to possibly take the gunman down,” he said. “However, I wasn’t as fit or fast enough to get to him.”

That motivation has helped Royal boost his endurance to double the number of pushups and sit-ups he knocks out during an Army physical training test. He said his two-mile run time also improved, from 16 to 12 minutes.

“So I believe that has a lot to do with what motivated me to become fit, and now with the motivation to extend good health,” he said.

The boot camp caters specifically to churches, but Royal said everyone is welcome to join.

He and a dozen others performed station workouts to gospel music at the Killeen Community Center gymnasium Saturday in the first set of boot camp classes.
read more here

Monday, March 18, 2013

Fire Leaves Veteran Couple, Five Kids Homeless

Fire Leaves Veteran Couple, Five Kids Homeless
KWTX News

KILLEEN (March 17, 2013)--A house fire leaves a veteran couple and their five kids looking for a new place to live.

Fire officials said the fire started around 4 a.m. on Sunday at a home on Edgewood Dr., near Highway 190 and Stan Schlueter Loop.

It all started in the kitchen where fried chicken was left unattended on a burning stove, according to the fire chief.
read more here and see video report

Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Fort Hood Soldier, one of three killed in Texas shooting

WNY Soldier Killed in Texas Shooting
Written by
WGRZ Web Staff
Jan 7, 2013

KILLEEN, TX-- Fort Hood officials have released the name of a WNY soldier who was shot and killed last week in Texas.

Specialist Austin James Sampson, 25, of Bliss, NY in Wyoming County was one of three men shot outside a convenient store in Killeen, Texas January 3rd.

Witnesses told police that a black male with dreads got out of a white Lincoln Towncar, approached a vehicle with the three men and shot them.

According to Fort Hood, Sampson joined the Army in 2006 as a cavalry scout. He had been stationed out of Fort Hood since 2010.

Sampson served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and Operation New Dawn.
read more here

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

Man shoots wife, self in west Killeen

Police: Man shoots wife, self in west Killeen
Jan 1, 2013
Brandon Janes
Herald staff writer

A Killeen man is dead and his wife seriously wounded after what police are calling an attempted murder-suicide.

Just before noon Monday, Killeen police received a 911 call from a woman who had been shot multiple times by her husband during a domestic dispute, police said.

Police believe that, after shooting his wife, a 65-year-old man turned the gun on himself in the bedroom of their southwest Killeen home in the 2800 block of Lavender Drive, Killeen Police Department spokeswoman Carroll Smith said.

read more here

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Female Fort Hood Soldier arrested after rooftop rescue

Fort Hood soldier found on top of roof
ABC News Waco
Posted: Dec 12, 2012
By John Elizondo

Killeen police arrested a Fort Hood soldier after helping her down from a roof.

Courtney Allen is facing burglary charges after allegedly stealing from the Smoke Shop
read more here

Thursday, December 6, 2012

Fort Hood soldier saves another after seizure while driving

"Brave Rifle" Saves Fellow Soldier On Killeen Roadway
KCEN News
Posted: Dec 05, 2012
By Sophia Stamas

A Fort Hood soldier risks his life to save a fellow soldier, and in this case, it wasn't in a war zone, but in a traffic zone.

It happened on TJ Mills, just outside of Fort Hood's main gate on November 14, around 10 a.m.

That's when an apparent seizure caused SPC Christopher Sweeney to lose control of his car in traffic.

"As he started going to this lane in front of me is when my wife was like, 'He's having a seizure,'" explains SSG Mark Walls, as he drives up the place where the accident happened.

Without a second thought, he threw himself in harm's way, using his own vehicle, a large Hummer, to stop Sweeney's car.

"I didn't want him to go into traffic," says Walls.

Now two weeks later, the two soldiers meet for the first time.

"Hey, sergeant, nice to meet you. Thank you for everything," Sweeney says to Walls, as they shake hands and hug.

After exchanging greetings, they exchange accounts of that frightening morning

"I prayed asked God to make sure you were ok," Walls tells Sweeney.
read more here

Friday, October 12, 2012

Fort Hood soldier sought in Texas killing caught

Fort Hood soldier sought in Texas killing caught
Sacramento Bee
The Associated Press
Published: Friday, Oct. 12, 2012

KILLEEN, Texas -- A Central Texas soldier suspected in the stabbing death of his ex-girlfriend has been caught in California.

Killeen police late Thursday announced the arrest of Fort Hood Spec. David Michael Vega at a motel in Turlock, Calif. Vega was being held Friday without bond in the Stanislaus County jail in Modesto, Calif., on a murder warrant.
read more here

Friday, August 6, 2010

Fort Hood IDs soldier found dead in apartment

Fort Hood IDs soldier found dead in apartment

Posted On: Monday, Aug. 2 2010 10:51 PM
From staff reports

Fort Hood officials confirmed Monday the soldier found dead in his Killeen apartment Thursday was Sgt. Bradley Dale Penman, 34, of Punxsutawney, Pa.

Fort Hood officials also said that Penman's duty status and the circumstances surrounding his death are under investigation.

The Herald reported Saturday that Killeen police were investigating the death of a man whose body was found in the 4800 block of Norton Drive in south Killeen. Dave Penman said Friday that he was notified his brother, Bradley Penman, was found dead.

Friends of Bradley Penman said Friday they went to his home out of concern because they had not heard from him for more than a month. Killeen police spokeswoman Carroll Smith said Friday the cause of death is pending an autopsy at the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences in Dallas.
read more here
http://www.kdhnews.com/news/story.aspx?s=43342

Saturday, July 25, 2009

Remembering Korean War veterans in Kileen Texas

Remembering Korean War veterans; celebrating their sacrifice
Amid the clink-clang and clamoring drums during dinner entertainment, the people who gathered at the Killeen Civic and Conference Center Friday night made every effort to establish one message: Let there never be another forgotten war.

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Killeen Police officer shoots, kills Fort Hood soldier

Police officer shoots, kills Hood soldier

The Associated Press
Posted : Saturday Mar 21, 2009 16:34:55 EDT

KILLEEN, Texas — A Killeen police officer early Saturday morning fatally shot a Fort Hood soldier driving an sport utility vehicle after authorities said the officer was dragged through a parking lot as he tried to detain a man while others inside the vehicle were trying to pull the man inside.

The name of the 21-year-old soldier was being withheld until his family was notified, authorities said.

The officer, whose name also was not disclosed, was able to free himself from the SUV and fell to the ground. He was treated at a hospital and released and was placed on administrative leave.
go here for more
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/03/ap_hood_soldier_shot_032109/