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Airman fatally shot outside baby shower

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NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nevada (AP) -- A veteran of three Air Force tours in Iraq and Afghanistan was killed in a double shooting outside a baby shower in a residential neighborhood.

Senior Airman R'Chardrick Markray, 22, and another man were shot outside a house not far from Nellis Air Force Base, where Markray was stationed, police and military officials said.

The second man was treated and released.

No suspects were identified and police did not immediately have a motive for the Saturday night shooting. Police withheld the identification of the wounded man.

A memorial service is planned for Friday at the base chapel.

"For it to happen here in town contributes to the shock," said Lt. Col. Brian Fox, Markray's commanding officer.

Markray was assigned to the 763rd Maintenance Squadron, which maintains helicopters, and was the lead technician for HH60 helicopter gun systems, Fox said.

He was deployed to Afghanistan for 120 days in 2005, and served two 120-day tours at the Balad Air Base in northern Iraq in 2006.

Markray had been awarded an Air Force achievement medal and was named weapons airman maintenance professional of the year in his group, Fox said. He will receive a posthumous medal recognizing his Air Force career.

Markray was from a suburb of Shreveport, Louisiana, officials said, and moved to southern Nevada in 2003. He had a 2-year-old child.

The squadron has not had a wartime casualty in Afghanistan and Iraq, but Markray was the third unit member to die in the past 23 months, including two airmen who died in traffic crashes, Fox said.

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