Stress leads soldier to shooting death
By Chris Roberts \ EL PASO TIMES
Posted: 09/11/2011 12:00:00 AM MDT
The death of an 18-year-old Chapin High School student on his way to class in 2009 provided a tragic reminder of the unseen wounds suffered by many men and women returning from combat zones
On the morning that Spc. Gerald Polanco allegedly shot and killed Ezra Gerald Smith, his wife and his mother pleaded with post leaders to do something about the soldier's erratic behavior.
The details came to light in documents obtained through a Freedom of Information Act request filed by the El Paso Times.
After the shootings -- an unidentified Fort Bliss soldier also was wounded -- Army psychiatrists determined that Polanco, who served a 15-month tour of duty in Iraq, suffers from a combat-stress disorder.
They said he could not participate in his defense, and he was sent to a Bureau of Prisons psychiatric hospital, where he has been periodically evaluated to see whether he has recovered enough to face court-martial on murder and attempted-murder charges.
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