Army Spc. Gil Mercado had a gentle side. The strapping, athletic young man who boxed with the Paterson, N.J., Police Athletic League also loved to draw and cook.

In Isabela, Puerto Rico, where he grew up, Mercado painted a mural depicting a half-man, half-robot character who defeated evil.

On leave from the Army, he would visit family and cook for them, said his sister, Rosa Mercado of Clifton, N.J.

Mercado, a 25-year-old cook assigned to the 101st Airborne Division's 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment out of Fort Campbell, Ky., was killed April 13 by a "non-combat weapon discharge," said the Department of Defense, which is investigating his death.

One of five children, Mercado had a brother, Alnardo, serving in an artillery unit in Baghdad.

"My father is so devastated he cannot speak," Rosa Mercado said.