Robert Bales

Robert Bales (born June 30, 1973) is an American mass murderer and former Army sniper who fatally shot or stabbed 16 Afghan civilians in a mass murder in Panjwayi District, Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, on March 11, 2012 – an event known as the Kandahar massacre.

In order to avoid the death penalty, Bales pleaded guilty to 16 counts of murder, six counts of attempted murder, and seven counts of assault in a plea deal.

Bales was born on June 30, 1973, and raised in Norwood, Ohio, near the city of Cincinnati, the youngest of five brothers.

He attended Norwood High School where he played football and was named class president.

After high school Bales briefly enrolled at College of Mount St. Joseph, then transferred to Ohio State University, where he studied economics for three years, but left without graduating in 1996.

After leaving college, Bales worked as a stockbroker at five financial services firms in Columbus, Ohio.

The firms were related, sharing employees and corporate offices.

During that period, while employed with Michael Patterson, Inc., Bales and the firm engaged in fraudulent securities activities.

In May 1999, while still employed with a securities firm in Ohio, Bales, his brother Mark, and Marc Edwards co-founded a financial services firm named Spartina Investments in Doral, Florida.

The state dissolved Spartina in September 2000, after the company failed to file its annual report in a timely manner.

Bales' brother-in-law stated that Bales joined the Army after the September 11 attacks because he "felt it was something he should do because he felt he had to make something right" and that joining the Army was his way of vindicating himself.

Bales enlisted in the U.S. Army in November 2001, shortly after the September 11 attacks.

He was initially assigned to the 2nd Battalion, 3rd Infantry of the 3rd Stryker Brigade, 2nd Infantry Division in Fort Lewis.

In 2002 Bales was charged with assaulting his then girlfriend and ordered to undergo anger-management counseling.

Also in 2002, after a night out at a Tacoma casino, Bales was arrested for assaulting a security guard.

In 2002, he got into a fight with a security guard at a Tacoma area casino and was charged with misdemeanor criminal assault, but the charge was dismissed after he paid a small fine and attended anger management classes.

In 2003, an arbitration panel found both Bales and his employer liable for financial fraud related to the handling of a retirement account and ordered them to pay $1.2 million in civil damages.

Gary Liebschner, the victim, said he "never got paid a penny" of the award.

According to Liebschner's lawyer, they had not pursued legal action against Bales to collect the judgment because they were unable to locate Bales, who had joined the U.S. Army at age 28, just 18 months after the long-running arbitration case was filed.

In 2003, Bales met his later to be wife, Kari Primeau, while she was at a bar supporting her friend's band.

Kari states that Bales was a man "full of enthusiasm, eager to tell her every little thing he was learning about war and how to wage it," until he deployed to Iraq.

Their relationship grew serious while he was overseas.

He completed three tours in the Iraq War: twelve months in 2003 and 2004, fifteen months in 2006 and 2007, and ten months in 2009 and 2010.

During the 2007 tour he reportedly injured his foot in the Battle of Najaf, and during the 2010 tour he was treated for traumatic brain injury after his vehicle was rolled in an accident.

According to public records, Bales had been involved in several incidents while stationed at Fort Lewis which had resulted in the police responding.

In 2008, Bales was briefly detained after fleeing a hit and run.

Another confrontation outside of a bar in 2008 was also reported to police, but no charges were filed.

Bales was promoted to staff sergeant (SSG) on April 1, 2008, which made him responsible for nineteen men, who he believed were insufficiently prepared.

It was also at this time that he became increasingly skeptical about Special Forces superiors, claiming that they were too passive towards the enemy, accompanied by a hostile attitude and a belief that he was not being granted the respect that he had earned.

While in Iraq, Bales was injured twice and sustained 10 IED blasts.

In 2010, it is speculated, he may have sustained a traumatic brain injury when a humvee flipped over.

He received orders of deployment to Afghanistan in December 2011, which were reported to have caused marital conflict and financial strain because his family was not expecting him to be deployed again.

On February 1, 2012, he was assigned to Camp Belambai in the Kandahar Province, Afghanistan, where he was responsible for providing base security for U.S. Army Special Forces and U.S. Navy SEALs who were engaged in village stability operations.

On March 10, Bales was posted to guard duty with a private in his unit, with whom he discussed a promotion that he wanted and thought he deserved, since he had already been passed over for the promotion once before.

While on watch, Bales saw lights flashing on and off in the nearby villages of Naja Bien and Alikozai, and concluded that Taliban insurgents were communicating with light signals.

When he was relieved of guard duty at 9 pm, he claims that he alerted the new guard team of this and that they did not take him seriously, but the Army denies that the conversation ever took place.

He then joined SSG David Godwin and Sergeant (SGT) Jason McLaughlin to drink whiskey mixed with diet soda from a plastic water bottle, although drinking alcohol was prohibited on base.

On August 23, 2013, he was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Before sentencing, Bales expressed his regret by referring to the murders as "an act of cowardice".

While Bales has exhausted all military appeals, his attorney announced in 2019 that he would be seeking a new trial in civilian court due to possible side effects of mefloquine, an anti-malaria drug Bales claims to have been taking at the time of the shooting.