AFTERMATH

Bales's Wife: Shooting a 'Tragedy'

Husband is accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians.

The wife of Army Staff Sgt. Robert Bales, the man accused of killing 16 Afghan civilians, issued a statement Monday night, in which she called the incident a “heartbreaking tragedy.” “Please respect me when I say I cannot shed any light on what happened that night, so please do not ask,” Karilyn Bales said in a statement. “I too want to know what happened.” Bales and his family have been thrust into the national spotlight after the shooting, with reports surfacing on Tuesday that he joined the Army in 2001 after being found liable for $1.4 million in a financial fraud relating to his handling of a retirement account of an elderly client in Ohio. Bales’s attorney, John Henry Browne, said Monday that Bales has “no memory” of the shooting. The sergeant is being held at Fort Leavenworth, Kan., the Army’s only maximum-security prison.