Northwestern Pa. soldier killed in Afghanistan

ERIE, Pa. (AP) — Defense officials say a northwestern Pennsylvania soldier was among three killed by an improvised explosive device while serving in Afghanistan.

The Department of Defense says 20-year-old Army Spc. Jarrid L. King, of Erie, was killed Wednesday by a roadside bomb in the Ghazni province.

Family friend Jeff Meade tells the Erie Times-News that King aspired to a career in the military. Meade says King was polite, popular and the first to help anyone who needed it.”

Two other members of King’s Fort Drum, N.Y.-based engineering battalion were killed in the blast. They were identified as 30-year-old Sgt. Omar Aceves, of El Paso, Texas, and 23-year-old Pfc. Benjamin Moore, of Robbinsville, N.J.