Army Sergeant Shot to Death at Home

An Army sergeant with the 82nd Airborne Division was shot and killed inside a Fayetteville apartment building early Friday morning, according to an official with the 18th Airborne Corps.

The man's name has not been released by the Fayetteville Police Department or the 18th Airborne Corps.

Neighbors said the man lived in apartment 36-A at the Cambridge Arms apartment complex off North McPherson Church Road.

On Friday afternoon, a clean-up crew dressed in blue jumpsuits and masks was swabbing down the front hallway of apartment 36-B, where the man's body was found. The workers tossed rags into red-tinted biohazard bags sitting on the front sidewalk.

Across the street, Jen O'Connor walked her two dogs. She said she had walked them by the crime scene about 11 p.m. Thursday. A crowd of people, nearly all with white Styrofoam cups in their hands, was gathered then around building 36.

"We thought they were enjoying Thanksgiving," she said. "There was no tension, no fighting out here or anything like that."

The shooting was reported just after midnight, according to a news release.

David Battle said he was clubbing early Friday morning when the man was shot. Battle lives down the street from the crime scene, but had planned to sleep in a friend's apartment in the building across the street from where the shooting took place.

When he came back to the complex at 3:30 a.m., police had blocked access to at least four apartment buildings, Battle said.

"It's crazy," he said about the shootings.

Battle's lease is set to expire in May, but because of the shooting he said he would be leaving the complex in the next month.

Battle's friend, who refused to give his name, said the dead Soldier worked with his cousin on Fort Bragg.

"He was friendly," he said. "Every time he would see me outside he would speak (to me)."

Maribell Benueva suspiciously eyed the clean-up crew from her front stoop Friday afternoon. She said she was sleeping when the shooting occurred.

Benueva speaks limited English and doesn't know many of her neighbors, including the soldier who lived across the street from her.

"I don't like it here," she said as a toddler played behind her.

She darted in the house when another woman dropped off her daughter for Benueva to baby-sit. The woman, who did not give her name, was in shock when she learned about the shooting. She is considering finding another sitter.

"It's not because of her, it's because of the area," she said.