An airman from Hickam Air Force Base has been charged with murder in the July 1 shooting death of another Hickam airman at Camp Bucca in Iraq.

Airman 1st Class Kyle J. Dalton is accused of shooting Airman 1st Class Carl J. Ware Jr. with a 9 mm pistol, according to a military charge sheet.

Ware's death was the first for Hickam in Iraq.

Ware, 22, was married to Senior Airman Christine Ware, who also was at Hickam, and the couple have a 1-year-old daughter, Caitlyn.

More than 300 personnel from Hickam are deployed to Iraq, Afghanistan and other Middle East countries to assist in communications, security, transportation and medical jobs, a base spokeswoman said.

Few details, including a motive, have been revealed about the shooting, which was initially reported by the military as a "noncombat-related incident" but developed into a murder investigation.

An alleged firearms violation points to a previous run-in, however. An assault charge was filed against Dalton for pointing a loaded gun at Ware and another airman between June 1 and June 30, according to the military charge sheet. Dalton also is accused of failure to obey a lawful regulation.

Ware was off-duty and in his quarters about 3 p.m. when he died of a single gunshot wound, Air Force Times reported, citing a Central Command Air Forces statement.

Dalton and Ware were part of the 886th Expeditionary Security Forces Squadron at Camp Bucca near Umm Qasr in southern Iraq. According to the Web site GlobalSecurity .org, Camp Bucca is the coalition's primary facility for enemy prisoners of war.

As of late January 2005, the facility held 5,000 prisoners, who were being supervised by 1,200 Army MPs and Air Force airmen, according to the Web site.

Maj. John Elolf, a spokesman for U.S. Central Command Air Forces at Shaw Air Force Base in South Carolina, said a court-martial date of April 23 has been set at Langley Air Force Base in Virginia.

If convicted of all charges, Dalton faces life in prison, dishonorable discharge and forfeiture of all pay and allowances. Elolf said Dalton is at a base in the Middle East but is not in pre-trial confinement.

"I can't release the actual base itself because of host-nation sensitivities," Elolf said, "but he is still in the (area of operation). He is no longer doing security forces duty."

Christine Ware said in a statement released by the Air Force in July that her husband, who was from Glassboro, N.J., accomplished three major goals in life: He was a husband, a father and a police officer.

The two had been childhood sweethearts. Christine Ware had enlisted in the Air Force in June 2002. Carl followed about two years later. He had always wanted to be a police officer.

Ware said her husband was "nervous" about leaving his family behind to go on his first combat deployment. He had been in Iraq for just over a month.

"When he first left, we spoke on the phone every day, but after the first few weeks, we decided it'd be easier to speak every few days," she said previously. "He would never call when I was at work because he wanted to make sure he could talk to Caity."

Ware's parents in California raised questions shortly after the shooting, saying the shot to the chest that killed their son was fired by someone on base. Military officials told the family at the time they were investigating to see if the shooting was accidental or deliberate.

Reach William Cole at wcole@honoluluadvertiser.com.