Iraq vet was in a tailspin before he died in a hail of police bullets

Depressed, Steve Bours lost interest in everything and turned to methamphetamine. (April 2, 2010)

Iraq vet was in a tailspin before he died in a hail of police bullets at home


A woman’s death in combat was a turning point. Depressed after returning home, he lost interest in everything, his marriage dissolved and he turned to drugs. And then things got worse.


By Sam Quinones, Los Angeles Times

May 2, 2010

Gerry Chicorelli was driving north on Paramount Boulevard in Downey in late March when he spotted a man holding a hatchet and walking into southbound traffic.

The man had a glazed look. Drivers braked and yelled at him, peeling away as they spotted the raised hatchet in his hands.


Chicorelli realized he knew the man.

It was Steve Bours, a handsome kid who'd once worked for him in his roofing business.

Bours, 30, had joined the Army Reserve and was sent to Iraq in 2004 with a supply unit based near Fallouja, site of the war's most brutal battle.

Chicorelli was the third or fourth to call 911. As he slowed his car to a crawl, he watched Bours march, hatchet raised, into traffic for what would be the last hundred yards of his life.

The whole time, Chicorelli recalled, "he never said a word."

Athletic and muscular, he was quiet and sweet-natured — a "gentle giant," people called him.

In Iraq, he spoke little, listened a lot and was intensely loyal. "You always knew he had your back," said Jennifer Kramer, a friend from the 208th.

His fellow soldiers say Bours' manner helped them endure the war.

"You have the quiet people like Steve who didn't say much, but when it came time [for missions] they'd volunteer," Danny Rivas said.

Bours' room became the place to hang out.

"You could tell Steve anything," Rivas said, "but I think Steve felt like he was there to listen and he didn't have an outlet, people he could talk to about his problems."

........On Dec. 13, 2004, a unit sergeant, Tina Time, was killed when the supply truck she was driving collided with an oncoming U.S. military vehicle in a sandstorm.

Time, the first Samoan American woman killed in combat, was beloved in the 208th. Her death was "a turning point," Kramer said. "People just lost it. You'd see all these really tough guys breaking down all the time."

Bours told his family he had had to retrieve Time's severed torso when no one else wanted to. It was the one event from the war that he later spoke of, his family recalled.

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Iraq vet was in a tailspin before he died in a hail of police bullets