Soldier shot outside nightclub was being 'good buddy' for friends

Fayetteville, N.C. — Fayetteville investigators say they have only vague descriptions of an assailant wanted in the shooting of a Fort Bragg soldier who happened upon a robbery Saturday night.

Sergio Sanchez, 22, a member of the 82nd Airborne's 2nd Brigade Combat Team at Fort Bragg, had stepped out of Sharky's Cabaret at Blue Street and Washington Drive at about 3 a.m. Saturday to make a phone call when he came across several men robbing people.

Police said that one of the robbers shot Sanchez in the neck. It was not clear whether he was trying to stop the robbery.

A computer-repair technician from Anniston, Ala., Sanchez returned to Fort Bragg earlier this year after a 15-month tour of duty in Iraq.

Maj. Tom Earnhardt, a spokesman for the 82nd Airborne, said Sanchez was a designated driver for a group of friends that night.

"He was just being a good buddy," Earnhardt said.

Sanchez is in critical condition at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill.

Investigators ask that anyone with information about the shooting to call police at 910-433-1856 or Crime Stoppers at 910-483-8477.

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"Almost all truck drivers use that term on their CB; few of them use it in that derogatory way that you infer."

REV RB - No they do not! How many years did you drive commercially and communicate with other truck drivers using a CB radio? I had a ten-year career as truck driver before leaving the business. I have been border to border and driven in almost all 50 states. The term "buddy" has for manuy years been a vulgar slang term. Quit using the Disney Channel for keeping up with current events. If you do not know what you are talking about, please do not comment.

As for an agenda, all I was suggesting is that this guy who was shot most likely does not want to be associated with the slang meaning that such a word infers. Would you?

It is a shame that this soldier was shot. My heart goes out to him, but my comments were dircted to the staff of WRAL who does not always show the best of judgement when it comes to the stories they report. Get real people!

ScreenNameNotInUse
April 15, 2008 2:54 p.m.

Last I heard was that the doctors declared him brain dead. He was shot in the neck with a 12 gauge shotgun. He was talking to his girlfriend/fiancee on the phone when he was shot and she heard him laying on the ground and called a buddy inside the club and he came out and found him.

Also the claims by the club's owner that he was off his property are false, he was not 3 football fields away, he was outside in the parking lot making a phone call.

The only people that know why this happened is Sanchez and the "things" that shot him.

I know of what happened b/c my sister-in-law's husband used to be his Sergeant and now his best friend is Sanchez's sergeant.

Also please keep your complaints to yourself about the wording there are more important things at stake than the use of "good buddy"

rsellars1
April 15, 2008 1:58 p.m.

it sets me on fire to hear of a soldier that made it home safely from WAR and becomes victim of crime in their own homeland, which they are defending in battlezone! what the heck! when is congress and lawmakers gonna crack down on the crime HERE?!?! a soldier should receive a thank you and a handshake not to be shot at HOME!!!!