Explosion kills Michigan soldier in Afghanistan

CORUNNA, Mich. (AP) -- A 20-year-old Michigan soldier has been killed during fighting in Afghanistan.

Army Pfc. Shane Cantu's ex-football coach says the Corunna High School graduate died Tuesday after insurgents threw an explosive over a base wall.

Ex-Corunna coach Mark Sullivan tells Mlive.com that Cantu was a three-year starter at the mid-Michigan school.

Cantu's friend Army Spc. Ryan Friedrichs is the husband of Wayne State University law professor and ex-Michigan secretary of state candidate Jocelyn Benson. She tells The Associated Press her husband informed her of Cantu's death from Afghanistan.

Benson says Friedrichs and Cantu "went through basic training, airborne school, flights back and forth from their base in Italy to Michigan, and deployed together."

She calls Cantu's death "a heartbreaking, devastating loss."
The Pentagon hadn't yet announced the death Wednesday afternoon.

Members of the U.S. armed forces with known Michigan ties who died in 2012 supporting military operations in Afghanistan:

• Army Pfc. Shane Cantu, 20, a 2010 Corunna High School graduate, was killed Aug. 28 when insurgents threw an explosive device over the wall of his base in Afghanistan. He was part of an airborne unit and was on his first deployment to Afghanistan.
• Navy Petty Officer David J. Warsen, 27, of Kentwood was among seven Americans and four Afghans killed in a Black Hawk helicopter crash northeast of Kandahar, Afghanistan, on Aug. 16. He was assigned to a West Coast-based naval Special warfare unit.
• Army 1st Lt. Todd Lambka, 25, of Fraser died Aug. 1, in Paktika province from injuries suffered when an improvised explosive device detonated. Lambka was assigned to 1st Battalion, 28th Infantry Regiment, 4th Infantry Brigade Combat Team, 1st Infantry Division at Fort Riley, Kan.
• Army Spc. Kyle McClain, 25, of Macomb County's Shelby Township, died Aug. 1, in Salim Aka. McClain was assigned to 1433rd Engineer Company, 507th Engineer Battalion, 177th Military Police Brigade in Kalamazoo.
• Marine Gunnery Sgt. Daniel J. Price, 27, died July 29 while conducting combat operations in Badghis province. The military listed his hometown as Holland, and his parents live in the Zeeland area nearby. He was assigned to 1st Marine Special Operations Battalion at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
• Marine Sgt. Justin M. Hansen, 26, of Traverse City was killed July 24 in combat operations in Badghis province. He was part of the 2nd Marine Special Operations Battalion from Camp Lejeune, N.C.
• Army Staff Sgt. Matthew J. Leach, 29, of Ferndale died June 26 in Kandahar, Afghanistan. The cause of death wasn't immediately announced. He was part of the 1/334th Regiment, 1st Brigade, 104th Training Division based in Fraser.
• Army Staff Sgt. Robert A. Massarelli, 32, a 1998 graduate of East Kentwood High School in Kentwood, was killed June 24 in an explosion in Kandahar. His parents live in Hamilton, Ohio. He was part of the 96th Transportation Company from Fort Hood, Texas.
• Marine Pfc. Steven P. Stevens II, 23, of Detroit died June 22 while conducting combat operations in Helmand province. He was assigned to the 1st Combat Engineer Battalion, 1st Marine Division, I Marine Expeditionary Force at Camp Pendleton, Calif.
• Army Sgt. Joseph Lilly, 25, of Flint died June 14 from injuries he sustained June 12 when he was hit by an improvised explosive device while on patrol in Afghanistan. He was a combat engineer serving with the 18th Engineer Company from Joint Base Lewis-McChord, Wash.
• Army Spc. Vilmar Galarza Hernandez, 21, of Salinas, Calif., died May 26 in in Kandahar province when enemy forces attacked his unit with an improvised explosive device. His wife is from Muskegon, Mich. He was assigned to the 4th Battalion, 23rd Infantry Regiment of the 2nd Stryker Brigade Combat Team of the 2nd Infantry Division at Joint Base Lewis-McChord in Washington state.
• Army Capt. Bruce Kevin Clark, 43, a former resident of Spencerport, N.Y, and Addison, Mich., died May 1 in Tarin Kowt. He was a nurse assigned to A Company, Troop Command at William Beaumont Army Medical Center in El Paso, Texas. His wife was in Texas chatting with him via Skype when he collapsed.
• Air Force Tech. Sgt. Matthew S. Schwartz, 34, of Traverse City was killed Jan. 5 along with two other airmen when insurgents attacked their vehicle with an improvised explosive device in Helmand province. He was part of the 90th Civil Engineer Squadron from F.E. Warren Air Force Base, Wyo.