Former Schofield soldier among the dead at Fort Hood

One of the three soldiers killed Wednesday by another soldier at Fort Hood, Texas, was a former Schofield Barracks serviceman, a former military police officer told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser Thursday night.

Carlos Lazaney, 38, had served as a supply sergeant with the 57th Military Police Company, 728th Military Police Battalion at Schofield Barracks, said Joshua Adams, who served in the same company.

"He was the epitome of what you would want a leader to be in the Army," Adams said. "He has always taken care of soldiers. He survived all these deployments (including Iraq), just to come back It’s super unfortunate.

"It wouldn’t surprise me if he was trying to evacuate people, because he’s just that kind of guy."

Lazaney left Hawaii in 2011 for his new assignment at Fort Hood, Adams said.

Although he lost touch with his friend, Adams said others remained Facebook friends with Lazaney and shared the news Thursday.

On Wednesday, Spc. Ivan Lopez, 34, a native of Puerto Rico, shot and killed three soldiers and wounded 16 others during a shooting rampage at the military base in Texas. The rampage ended when he fatally shot himself.

The Austin American-Statesman said the families of two of the dead soldiers, including Lazaney, identified them to media outlets.

A Puerto Rican newspaper said Lazaney joined the Army at age 18. He was living in Killeen, Texas, at the time of the shootings.

"He’s one of the most genuine people in the Army that I knew," Adams said. "He was very down to earth. He understood people," and treated soldiers new to the unit "like people, not like subordinates."

Many soldiers, a lot of them brand new to the Army, have fond memories of him as their platoon leader, Adams said.

"If you met him one time in your life, you would remember him," Adams said. "I don’t know many people who would have something bad to say about him."