2003 Malibu High Grad Killed in Iraq

By Hans Laetz

   Sgt. Robert T. “Bobby” Ayres III, a 2003 Malibu High School graduate, was killed last Saturday, shot dead by a sniper as he exited a vehicle in Baghdad’s Green Zone. He was 23.
   The Department of Defense official statement said Ayers “died of wounds sustained when insurgents attacked his unit using small arms fire.” He was one of 4000 soldiers in Iraq from the Army’s 3rd Squadron, 2nd Stryker Cavalry Regiment, based in Vilseck, Germany.
   Fellow soldiers reportedly called Malibu High teacher Nancy Schellkopf within an hour of the shooting, and said Ayers had been killed instantly when the sniper’s bullet hit him.
   Ayres was buried Thursday in central California, and a memorial service in the Los Angeles area is planned, friends said.
   Ayres was on his second tour of duty and had spoken at Malibu High about the war and his experiences in the Army, students said.
   During the last years of his high school education, Ayres was “being ushered through his adolescent years” by Schellkopf, who became his guardian and gave him a room in her home, said principal Mark Kelly.
Schellkopf talked about it with some of her students at the school Monday and Tuesday before departing for the funeral, Kelly said.
   Schellkopf has taught in Malibu for more than 35 years, and her students say she has talked with them about Ayres. On occasion, Ayres telephoned her from Iraq during class, owing to the time difference between California and Iraq.
   Kelly had Malibu teachers read a brief statement about Ayres in class Thursday, and called for a moment of silence. The flag was lowered to half-staff at the school Thursday in Ayres’ honor, as well as at the State Capitol on Wednesday by order of the governor.
   Ayres is the first known Malibu High School graduate to die in armed combat, Kelly said. Several Malibu natives were killed in the Vietnam War, but that predates the establishment of the high school.
   The Associated Press reported that as of Wednesday, 3807 United States servicemen and women have died in or supporting the war in Iraq.