SLAIN AIRMAN GREW UP IN JUAREZ

EL PASO -- David Booher, a model and actor before becoming a medic in
the Air Force, died at the hands of masked gunmen in a Juarez strip club.

Booher, 26, was raised by his widowed mother in Juarez. He went on to
become a staff sergeant and was stationed at Holloman Air Force Base
near Alamogordo, but he had a keen understanding of the violence in
Juarez, a friend said Thursday.

"A member of his family was kidnapped and murdered" in Mexico, said
John Boyle, who served with Booher in the Air Force and now lives in San Diego.

Booher was one of six men killed when gunmen stormed the Amadeus club
at midnight Wednesday.

A preliminary report released Thursday by the Chihuahua attorney
general said investigators discovered Booher's body in a VIP section
of the club. Somebody shot him in the head after he tried to help one
of the victims.

In addition to Booher, police identified those killed as Omar Osvaldo
Garcia Cabrales, 32; Juan Antonio Hinojosa Maldonado, 29; Alvaro Dean
Marquez, 25; Luis Fabian Carbajal Hernandez, 24; and Luis Davis Tarin
Triana, 30.

Investigators said they recovered nearly 30 shell casings from at
least four weapons.

Details also emerged about one of the wounded, Jaime Alberto
Arguelles. Mexican officials said he is a U.S. resident but did not
have citizenship.

Mexican media reports suggested that Arguelles also was in the U.S.
Air Force, but a military spokesman and Mexican officials said he was
not. No other members of the American military were with Booher in
the club, they said.

Arguelles was being treated at a clinic in Juarez.

Holloman Air Force Base has a policy prohibiting airmen from crossing
into Mexico without permission. Whether Booher was allowed to go to
Mexico to visit his family was unclear Thursday.

He was the first active member of the U.S. military known to have
been killed in Juarez since the drug wars began in January 2008.

Booher was attached to the 49th Fighter Wing at Holloman and worked
on a medical squadron. Before that, he was stationed in Korea for
about a year. His first assignment was at Vandenberg Air Force Base
in California, Boyle said.

Booher lived with his wife, Myrna, at Holloman and had a son from a
previous relationship, Boyle said. Booher hoped to obtain a nursing
degree and become a commissioned officer, Boyle said. Booher's late
father was a U.S. citizen, but his mother lived in Mexico.

Boyle said Booher as a teenager worked as an underwear model.

Later, Booher had parts in several movies, mostly as an extra.

As for the shootings, Boyle said, Booher was caught in an ambush.

"Dave was not one of the targets," Boyle said. "He was not involved
in drug dealing or anything of that sort."

After the gunmen began firing, Booher tried to help one of the
wounded. The assailants then shot Booher.

Another friend of Booher's, Eric Estrada, said the airman's family,
including his wife, were in Juarez on Thursday for a memorial service.

Officials at Holloman plan to hold a memorial service next week, but
no specific date has been announced.