Soldier dies in shooting
Posted On: Wednesday, Nov. 25 2009 05:10 AM
By Victor O'Brien
Killeen Daily HeraldA killer remained on the loose Tuesday after a 22-year-old Fort Hood soldier was shot to death Monday.
Joshua M. Wyatt, 22, of Fort Hood, was shot at his residence in the 3400 block of Victoria Circle around 11:19 p.m. Monday, according to a Killeen police news release.
Wyatt's death marked the second soldier killed in two days in Killeen. Spc. David L. Middlebrooks, 20, was stabbed to death around 5 a.m. Sunday, according to Killeen police. Another soldier is being held in connection with that slaying.
When Killeen paramedics arrived Monday, Wyatt was on the floor of his apartment suffering from a gunshot wound to the chest. Wyatt died on the way to Skylark Airfield, where he was to be flown by helicopter to Scott & White Hospital in Temple.
Justice of the Peace Bill Cooke, who pronounced Wyatt dead at 12:10 a.m. Tuesday at the airfield, has ordered an autopsy to be performed by the Southwestern Institute of Forensic Sciences in Dallas.
There is no suspect description, a Killeen police news release stated Tuesday.
Neighbors said Wyatt moved into the apartment about two months ago to live with his girlfriend who had been living there for several months.
The couple was quiet and private, except when they hosted occasional parties, according to neighbors.
Krissanne Martinez, Wyatt's neighbor, jumped from her bed Monday when she heard "a big slam." She and her husband thought it was someone breaking into their truck.
By the time Martinez arrived outside, Killeen police and paramedics had swarmed the street, which is lined with two-story four-plexes.
Martinez described Wyatt as "Nice, quiet and polite," a sentiment echoed by other neighbors.
Killeen police have reported three homicides this month, after reporting only two in the first 10 months of the year.
Despite the three recent homicides, Killeen remains on pace to tie its lowest homicide total since 2004, when the city reported five, according to the FBIs Uniform Crime Report.
Anyone with information is urged to contact the Killeen Police Department at 501-8800 or call Crime Stoppers anonymously at 526-TIPS (8477) or go to
www.killeencrimestoppers.com.
Contact Victor O'Brien at
vobrien@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7468.