Allen Breed

An Army veteran tried to stop the gunman from entering a classroom during the deadly rampage at a community college here and was shot at least five times, according to the man's aunt.

Alonzo Lunsford has trouble getting out of chairs and warns his family to wake him gently. Kathy Platoni can't shake the image of the man who died in a pool of blood at her knees. Shawn Manning still has two bullets in his body and gets easily unnerved by crowds.

He is accused of the kind of crime that makes people shiver, the killing of families in their own homes under cover of night, the butchery of defenseless children. Yet in the case of Robert Bales, at least some Americans believe there must be an excuse for his actions.