WIDEFIELD, Colo.—A man who died at a Widefield home after an armed standoff with sheriff’s deputies was a Fort Carson soldier assigned to the Warrior Transition Unit.
El Paso County sheriff’s spokeswoman Lari Sevene says 27-year-old Spc. Larry Curtis Applegate died Friday of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. Deputies responded to the house on a report that a man was firing assault rifles inside.
The gunfire continued for about an hour. When it ended, a SWAT team entered the house and found Applegate dead.
Applegate, of Myrtle Beach, S.C., was a twice-deployed Iraq war veteran awarded the Purple Heart and Army Commendation Medal with Valor. He joined the Army in 2004.
Post spokeswoman Julie Lucas on Tuesday said Applegate was assigned to the unit created by the Pentagon in June 2007 to house soldiers injured in war and to help them focus on healing.
One soldier died at a similar unit at Fort Stewart, Ga., earlier this month.
Applegate’s death left Fort Carson officials grieving and seeking answers, the post’s commander, Maj. Gen. Mark Graham, told The Gazette newspaper in Colorado Springs.
Graham has been a proponent of Army suicide-prevention efforts and is hosting a pilot program for prevention training at the post this week.
“We have to let them know that it’s a sign of strength, not weakness, to come forward and seek help,” said Graham, who also planned a rare news conference Wednesday at 8 a.m.
He described Applegate as a “good young soldier.”
“It’s tragic. We’re all taking it hard,” Graham said. “This soldier was dealing with a lot.”
Graham added that he was saddened that outreach efforts didn’t get Applegate to seek help.
Since the 2003 invasion of Iraq, the Army has faced a rising tide of suicides, many of them linked to post-traumatic stress disorder. Last year, the Army launched a service-wide campaign to combat suicide.
Graham praised those efforts, but said more needs to be done.
This week’s training program at the post is aimed at educating spouses of soldiers on signs of suicide and prevention methods. Graham said that by getting families involved, he hopes to stop more tragedies.
“I’m tired of doing investigations into what happened in these cases,” he said. “We have to get ahead of this issue.”
