Residents in a Lake Tapps neighborhood were stunned when they heard their neighbor was identified as the Joint Base Lewis McChord soldier accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians.

According to a senior U.S. official, it was confirmed the accused soldier is Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales. Military officials said throughout the week that it was policy not to release the name until charges were filed.

After Bales was identified, reporters went to his neighborhood and spoke with residents. They said he was a family man and wondered if the stress of his deployments could have been a factor in the killings.

KIRO 7 spoke with a neighbor, Paul Wohlberg, after he heard Bales was the accused shooter.

“War is never good, a good guy got put in the wrong place at the wrong time,” said Wohlberg.

Jamie Hummell, another neighbor, said he was surprised the accused shooter lived in his neighborhood.

“You know, you never think it’s going to happen in your neighborhood, you see it on the news all the time. It’s weird that he just lives right up the street,” Hummell said. “My heart goes out to everybody he did that to, I’m just in awe right now.”

Another neighbor, Alissa Cinkovich, said she was confused about the killings and how the military investigators said alcohol may have been a factor during the killings. Cinkovich also said Bales refused to drink at past social gatherings.

“I specifically remember him saying he didn’t drink,” Cinkovich said. “It was something he was proud of because everyone was drinking at the party and he was happy to say, ‘Well, I don’t drink.’”

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Bales allegedly went on a shooting spree that killed 16 Afghan civilians last Sunday.

Bales enlisted about two months after the Sept. 11 attacks and had served with the 3rd Stryker Brigade based at JBLM since Sept 11, 2002. He became a staff sergeant in April 2008, following his second deployment in Iraq.

He went to Iraq one more time before his fourth deployment, to Afghanistan.

Officials said during the killings, Bales was wearing a North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) forces uniform when he moved through the nearby villages of Alkozai and Balandi, barging into homes and opening fire on those inside, then burning some of the bodies. Nine of those killed were children, and eleven of the dead were from a single family.

After the killings, Bales’ family was moved onto JBLM, which the Army attributed for safety concerns.

On Friday evening, Bales landed at Kansas City International Airport aboard a military plane, and was taken to the U.S. military prison at Fort Leavenworth.

About 400 people rallied on Saturday in Jalalabad, Afghanistan in protest of Bales’ killings. Bales may not face trial in Afghanistan and the protesters demanded the soldier must be tried, according to Islamic laws.

The Associated Press contributed to this story.