TOM BEAN, TX -- Sgt. John M. Russell has ties to Tom Bean as well. He is a graduate of Tom Bean High School and spent his formative years in the small Grayson County town. Rita Kotey was there today to talk with people who knew him.

Many Tom Bean residents we spoke to remember John Russell as “a good kid.” They were obviously shocked to hear that he is being charged with the murder of five fellow comrades after Monday’s shooting at a Baghdad military clinic.

Russell was a student at Tom Bean High School in the early 1980s. Some of his former classmates remember him as a fun person to be around. They say the now 44-year-old military veteran was quiet and did not have many problems at school.

“It’s hard to believe. He just wasn’t that type in school you would never think anything like that," former classmate Donna Dudley told First News.

Residents say in spite of what has happened, they wish the best for Russell, his family, and the families of the soldiers who lost their lives.