The man who died after a 17-hour standoff at Aberdeen Proving Ground, Maryland, has been identified as Staff Sgt. James Aaron Carpenter.
Carpenter, 27, was a combat medic who had served in the Army since June 2010.
Nearly 500 members of the Aberdeen community gathered March 29 to honor and remember Carpenter. A private funeral service is scheduled for later this week.
“Losing a soldier is extremely difficult,” said Maj. Gen. Randy Taylor, senior commander of Aberdeen Proving Ground, in a statement. “The fact that so many of us knew and admired him makes it all the more challenging; the Army has lost a leader, a wife has lost a husband, and three young children have lost a father.”
On March 23, Carpenter locked himself in a home on post. He was found dead shortly after midnight after an almost 17-hour standoff.
Authorities were first notified of the situation at approximately 8 a.m., when a concerned family member called Aberdeen’s emergency dispatch. Authorities quickly responded to the residence on APG-North and remained on scene monitoring the situation, according to a press release.
Carpenter, of Tega Cay, South Carolina, served at duty stations such as Fort Hood, Texas, and Fort Stewart, Georgia. He deployed to Afghanistan from September 2011 to September 2012 with the 1st Cavalry Division.
He most recently served as the interim noncommissioned officer in charge of the Primary Care Team at the Kirk U.S. Army Health Clinic on Aberdeen.
Carpenter is survived by his wife and three children, ages 8, 6 and 15 months.
Michelle Tan is the editor of Army Times and Air Force Times. She has covered the military for Military Times since 2005, and has embedded with U.S. troops in Iraq, Afghanistan, Kuwait, Haiti, Gabon and the Horn of Africa.
