Slain Fort Hood soldier's family 'completely blindsided'

Slain Fort Hood soldier's family 'completely blindsided'
By Ann O'Neill, CNN
November 6, 2009 2:13 p.m. EST

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
First known Fort Hood fatality is Pfc. Michael Pearson of Bolingbrook, Illinois
Brother says he finds it hard to accept that shooter was fellow soldier
Pearson was set to deploy overseas in January, brother says
Watch a CNN special investigation at Saturday 8 p.m. ET on CNN TV
The CNN Special Investigation Unit drills down on the causes and the impact of the Fort Hood shootings, at 8 p.m. ET Saturday on CNN TV.

(CNN) -- U.S. Army Pfc. Michael Pearson wasn't much with words, his older brother said through tears, but when he picked up a guitar he let his music speak for him.

"He was a genius as far as we were concerned," Kristopher Craig told CNN affiliate WGN-TV in Chicago, Illinois, late Thursday, reeling from the news that his 21-year-old "little kid brother" was among the 12 soldiers and one civilian killed in a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas.

Pearson grew up in Bolingbrook, Illinois, with two brothers and a sister. "He was really living his life playing guitar," Craig said. "When he picked up a guitar, we all understood that he was expressing himself."
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