The shooting started at dusk, a solid half hour of bullets zinging into the U.S. Army outpost, probably from AK-47 rifles firing from abandoned houses nearby, AP reported. Soldiers returned fire, shaking the heavily fortified mansion where they live to its foundation as they ran through hundreds of rounds. Things got quiet again for a while, but it didn't last. Bursts of gunfire erupted sporadically, and then, shortly before 11 p.m., a soldier manning a machine gun on the roof radioed downstairs to say something wasn't right on the street below. Seconds later, a single bullet tore through his chin. Blood coated the gunner's nest. The bulletproof glass ringing its bottom had not been hit, suggesting the soldier had gotten to his feet just before the shot came.
