Associated Press

Cibola High school graduate, Clifford A. Spohn III

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A 2004 Cibola High School graduate who joined the Army five months after receiving his diploma was killed at an Iraqi police station in Karmah.

Spc. Clifford A. Spohn III, 21, a paratrooper assigned to Fort Richardson, Alaska, was hit with indirect fire Monday while working at the Iraqi station with his unit, according to an Army news release.

Three other paratroopers were injured.

Spohn, who went by Adam, lived in Alaska with his wife, Amanda, and their daughter, a spokesman for the family said.

Spohn was assigned to Bravo Company, 3rd Battalion, 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment, 4th Brigade Combat Team, 25th Infantry Division.

He joined the Army in October 2004.

Cibola Principal Grace Brown said Spohn was the eldest of four Spohn children to attend the West Side school.

Two sisters currently attend Cibola, and a brother graduated last year.

Brown remembered Spohn was active in music and drama, and characterized his family as "very strong spiritually," said Rigo Chavez, spokesman for Albuquerque Public Schools.

Chavez said Brown spoke with Spohn's parents after learning of his death.

"They are very proud of him, she said. He died doing something he believed in," Chavez said.

Spohn's parents are Clifford and Sandy Spohn, said the family spokesman, Dever Langholf.

Langholf said the family would release a statement after more details were available.

A service of prayer and remembrance is scheduled at Fort Richardson but funeral information was not available, the Army said in its release.

Meanwhile, a Las Cruces woman and her husband have been grieving over the death of her son, an Army soldier killed in Iraq.

Staff Sgt. Jesse Williams, 25, of Santa Rosa, Calif., died Sunday in Balad of wounds from small arms fire, the U.S. Defense Department said.

Williams was assigned to the 5th Battalion, 20th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division at Fort Lewis, Wash.

He was on his second tour of duty in Iraq. He was awarded a Purple Heart during his first tour when he was hit by shrapnel in his arm while fighting insurgents.

His mother, Janyce Leone, and stepfather, Ron Leone, have lived in Las Cruces since 2003.

"I've raised Jesse since he was 4," Ron Leone said. "He's my only child. He's everything you could ever hope for in a son."

Besides his parents, Williams is survived by his wife, an 11-month-old daughter, a brother and a sister.

"In July, when he was getting ready to go away on his second tour of duty, he put ink on his daughter's hands and pressed them to his chest," Leone said.

"Jesse wanted a tattoo of his daughter's handprints. He wanted them, and put them, close to his heart because that's where he always wanted his daughter - close to his heart," Leone said.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.