People at Ft. Bragg Try Making Sense of Sniper Attack

FT. BRAGG, N.C. —  Still stunned by a sniper’s attack that left one dead and 18 wounded, paratroopers of the Army’s 82nd Airborne Division tried to shake off their shock and get back to work Saturday.

Investigators, soldiers and the victims’ families wondered how it could have happened.

“My heart goes out to the person because he was obviously distraught,” said Diane Badger, whose husband, Maj. Stephen Mark Badger, was killed. “What drives a man to do that? To turn on his fellow man? I don’t know. . . . I can only have compassion for him and hope he gets the help he needs.”

The suspect, who was tackled by a group of soldiers exercising nearby, is a member of the unit that was fired on early Friday--the 2nd Brigade Task Force. Late Friday night, Sgt. William J. Kreutzer, 26, was sent to the military jail at Camp Lejeune Marine Corps Base in Jacksonville, N.C.

Kreutzer, an infantry squad leader assigned to Company A of the 4th Battalion of the 325th Airborne Infantry Regiment, might not be formally charged for several days, said Maj. Rivers Johnson, the division spokesman.

No information on his military record, including disciplinary problems, has been released.

The gunman opened fire on the 1,300 paratroopers as they set out in the fog and dark on a four-mile run. The sniper hid in a stand of pine trees overlooking the exercise field, which was lit by floodlights.

On Saturday, soldiers returned to their routine along Ardennes Street near the site of the attack. Some got their hair cut at the division barber shop and others bought cigarettes and soft drinks at the PX.

A wedding party, including some soldiers in dress blue uniforms, gathered at a nearby chapel. A jogger in red pants ran on the outdoor track where the wounded were being tended the day before.

“It still hasn’t set in yet,” said Sgt. 1st Class Robert Shively, who stopped to look at two bouquets placed on the name plaque of the field. “I can’t believe anyone would do it. . . .”

Diane Badger, 49, said she and her husband, 36, had been married 2 1/2 years. Between them, they had eight children, ages 8 to 21, from previous marriages. His four children live with his ex-wife.

Badger’s mother, Maurine Badger, said her son’s death has been hardest on his wife, whose oldest son was killed a few years ago during a Marine training exercise at Camp Pendleton.

“She was almost over her own son when this happened,” Maurine Badger told reporters at her home in Salt Lake City.