Editor's note: This story originally ran Dec. 11, 2008.

Manslaughter charges filed this week against a Utah man who took part in a deadly incident in Baghdad last year have come as a shock to friends, colleagues and family members.

They describe accused security contractor Donald Ball - a former U.S. Marine with aims to become a police officer - as a calm, compassionate and honorable man.

The 26-year-old's co-workers at the Salt Lake City Justice Courts, where he works as a security officer, were dumbfounded by the charges of manslaughter and attempted manslaughter levied Monday. They say Ball is a man of unquestionable integrity who could not have intentionally killed an innocent person.

"I'd have him on my side at any time," said Angie Oldham, a security officer at the court who is also a classmate of Ball's at the police academy at Salt Lake Community College.

Deputy Terry Thomas, who trained Ball for his duties at the court, called Ball "an upstanding young man."

Thomas observed Ball on the job and saw him remain calm under stress, never raising his voice. The charges didn't make sense, Thomas said.

"There's no way you take four or five guys, highly trained -- they're not going to open fire unprovoked on a crowd of civilians," said Thomas, who was one of the law enforcement responders at the Trolley Square shootings. "It's sad to see guys like that who sacrificed their time, put their lives on the line every day to fight for the people of Iraq ..." he said.

Oldham finished his sentence.

"They get the shaft," she said.

Ball grew up fishing with his father and was an Eagle Scout. He went to school in Kearns and Holladay, and helped care for his mother and siblings after his father passed away of a heart attack in 1999.

He graduated in 2001 from Cottonwood High School, where he lettered in track and cross country.

Ryan Murrell ran on the boy's cross country team with Ball when they were both juniors. Murrell said his brother sent him a text message on Sunday before church telling him about Ball's legal tangles.

Murrell, who said he hung out with Ball in high school, remembered him as a kind, funny and outgoing student who had a good reputation, but was not overly popular.

"He was always one to crack a joke here and there," Murrell said.

Ball only ran cross country for one year.

"He wasn't that quick," Murrell remembers. "He just did it because a couple of people he hung out with did it. He just didn't have the endurance."

What Ball did have, said his older brother Troy, was an insatiable desire to serve his country.

"All of his really good buddies joined the military at the same time," Troy Ball said.

But Troy Ball said that was not the only reason his brother decided to serve.

"We actually have a long family history of military service," Troy Ball said, noting that their grandfather was a paratrooper in World War II and their great grandfather has served in World War I. "This was my brother's way of honoring my father -- by making a difference."

Ball helped support his family with his military paycheck. After he left the Marine Corps, and shortly after he started with Blackwater, he bought a home for his mother in West Valley City.

Troy Ball said his brother had a great amount of respect for the people of Iraq. "He always said that they were people, just like us. They get up in the morning and they go to work and they worry about their kids," Troy Ball said. "He really felt as though he was helping to bring them freedom and an opportunity to enjoy all the blessings that we as Americans have."

Reporter Matthew D. LaPlante contributed to this report.

military@sltrib.com