'He's a normal guy,' says neighbour of US sniper accused of Afghan killings [View all]

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http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/mar/18/robert-bales-us-soldier-accused-of-afghan-massacre


Robert Bales, left, in 2011. Photograph: Spc Ryan Hallock/AP

The home of Robert Bales, the US soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians, in Lake Tapps, Washington, stood empty last night.

The family of the 38-year-old sergeant, who has plunged US policy in Afghanistan into one of its worst crises, has been moved to Lewis-McChord army base where Bales's unit, the 3rd Stryker Brigade, has its headquarters. Now his house is up for sale.

The first journalists from a Fox news affiliate – the network that revealed his name after a six-day blackout imposed by the Pentagon – found neighbours surprised and baffled by the revelation that the man they knew as Bob was accused of massacring women and children during a murderous rampage through a village in Afghanistan's Panjwai district.

"Bob's a normal guy," former neighbour Paul Wohlberg told Fox. "Not normal now but, yeah ..." Another neighbour, Kassie Holland, told US media: "He always had a great attitude about being in the service. He seemed just like, yeah, it's my job, it's ... what I do."