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NCO highly praised prior to alleged killing

SAN ANTONIO — A soldier charged with premeditated murder in the death of an Iraqi told family members in a recent e-mail that a glowing evaluation he received five days before the alleged killing “says it all” about his character.

Sgt. 1st Class Trey A. Corrales of San Antonio, who allegedly fired multiple rounds into a detainee June 23 and ordered a subordinate to do the same, has also told his wife he’s felt isolated since being charged with one count of murder last month.

“He said he doesn’t know anyone,” Lily Corrales told the San Antonio Express-News in a story for its Sunday editions. “No one talks to him and that’s not my husband.”

The military removed Corrales from his unit and shipped him to Northern Iraq but hasn’t put him in jail. Also charged with murder is Spc. Christopher P. Shore of Winder, Ga., who is the soldier Corrales ordered to shoot the detainee, according to a one-paragraph military document called a “charge sheet.”

Less than a week before the alleged killing, Corrales was given near-perfect marks and received a Bronze Star nomination in an evaluation signed by the brigade commander on June 18.

“It says it all,” Corrales, 34, wrote in a-mail to his family last week. “What kind of leader I am and what kind of person I am.

“It also gives a glimpse of the dedication that I continue to give the Army and my country I love so much.”

Albert Corrales Sr., Trey’s father and a Korean War veteran, has said he was told his son was in a firefight with insurgents.

Corrales and Shore are assigned to Headquarters and Headquarters Company, 2nd Battalion, 35th Infantry Regiment, which is part of the 25th Infantry Division based in Hawaii. The unit is attached to Multinational Division - North.

The battalion commander, Lt. Col. Michael Browder, was fired for leadership failure but is not a suspect and has not been charged with any offense, the military said.

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