BOSSIER CITY, La. — An airman assigned to a northwest Louisiana Air Force base is charged with stabbing a fellow airman to death on March 26 while both were in Guam.
Officials at Barksdale Air Force Base say Airman 1st Class Isaiah Edwards is in custody there, charged with the murder of Airman 1st Class Bradley Hale. Both Hale and Edwards were assigned to the 2nd Aircraft Maintenance Squadron as electronic warfare journeymen.
Hale was found in his quarters at Andersen Air Force Base in Guam with three cuts to his neck. The 20-year-old from Montgomery County, Texas, had joined the Air Force in 2016.
Rodney Hale, Bradley Hale’s father, told The Times of Shreveport that Edwards was his son’s roommate in Guam. The two had known each other for a year in Louisiana before being sent to Guam for a temporary deployment.
“They didn’t choose to be together,” Rodney Hale said. “The Air Force put them together.”
The Air Force said a preliminary hearing was held May 11, establishing that there was probable cause to proceed to trial. The Air Force had withheld Edwards’ name pending the filing of charges.
Rodney Hale said a 911 call was played at the hearing and videos and pictures of the scene were shown.
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“My son had no quarrels with anybody,” Hale said Thursday. “My son was friendly to everybody. I don’t understand how this happened. … I don’t know the reason. I don’t know if I’ll ever know that.”
Col. Ty Neuman, 2nd Bomb Wing commander at Barksdale, will review the preliminary hearing officer’s report and determine the next step in the trial process.
