FORT HOOD, Texas — The Army continues to investigate the shooting death of a Fort Hood soldier after he was shot in the back during a training exercise at a rifle range.
Sgt. Benjamin Franklin Moore II, 25, from Hamilton, Ohio, was shot while conducting M-16 night fire training about 8:30 p.m. Friday, a Fort Hood spokesman said.
Maj. Vic Harris said initial reports indicate that Moore was engaging targets — silhouettes of a head and body that fall when hit — when another soldier’s M16 rifle discharged accidentally in a subsequent firing order, striking Moore in the back.
Moore was airlifted to Fort Hood’s Darnell Army Community Hospital, where he died shortly after arrival Friday night, Harris said.
“This is tragic accident,” Harris, spokesman for the 1st Cavalry Division spokesman, told The Journal-News in Hamilton, Ohio. “It is highly unusual and very seldom do exercises produce any casualties.”
Soldiers have to qualify in day and night training, Harris said.
Moore was assigned to the 1st Cavalry Division’s 1-9 Cav. His 24-year-old wife of about one year, Shauna Moore of Killeen, told The Cincinnati Enquirer for its Monday edition that her husband joined the Army in April 1999 as a way to pay for college, and had been stationed in Germany and Kosovo.
Moore’s family said he had been stationed at Fort Hood in Central Texas since September. Mrs. Moore joined him there in January after giving birth in December to their first child, Hanna Marie.
Mrs. Moore said told The Journal-News that she expected her husband to come home around 10 p.m. Friday, but she fell asleep waiting for him and was awakened by a knock on the door after midnight. She opened the door to find a chaplain and casualty officer.
“They told me that he had passed away,” she said. “I was in disbelief. It never occurred to me he would be gone .”
The investigation is expected to take one to three months to complete, Harris told The Journal-News. The Criminal Investigation Division has started initial questioning that will continue for about a day or so, then the U.S. Army Safety Court from Fort Rucker, Ala., will begin conduct an on-scene investigation for about two weeks, Harris said.
“We will have a full accounting that will take a couple of week then we’ll issue a full report,” he said.
The Journal-News reported Moore was a 1996 graduate of Hamilton High, where he participated in football, wrestling and track. He was named co-Most Valuable Player in wrestling and was named first team Greater Miami Conference in the 171-pound weight class in 1996, according to the school’s yearbook. In addition, he was voted the football team’s most efficient running back.