One of the soldiers killed by fellow soldier in Iraq was Missouri native

By Casey Nolen

KSDK -- NewsChannel 5 has learned that one of the five soldiers shot and killed by a fellow soldier in Iraq was a native of Rolla, Missouri.

Army Specialist Jacob Barton, 20, graduated from high school just last year, but his teachers said he was set on serving in the military.

They said they could always find Barton in the library reading and always knew he would make good on his goal of joining the army.

Even before finishing high school, Barton had completed his basic training.

Teachers at Rolla High School where Barton went to school are trying to make sense of his death and how he died.

"He worked so hard to get out of school to get on with his life," said Rod Waldrip, Barton's English teacher. "And to have it cut down like this by one of his own is just a shame, it's just a shame."

What does make sense, they said, is the Army's story to Barton's family that he put himself in the line of fire to protect others during the shooting spree.

"I have seen him step in front of people here at the school when someone was being bullied," Waldrip said. "He was always the hero to whoever needed him at the time."

Barton's family said he had been stationed in Iraq since February and worked in the Army as a mechanic.

Earlier this week, he and four other soldiers were shot and killed when a fellow U.S. soldier allegedly opened fire inside a military clinic in Baghdad. The military has not released specifics about the shooting, but Barton's family said the Army told them the twenty year old stepped in to the line of fire to protect others.