Funeral planned for soldier

CHICAGO (AP) – Funeral services will be held later in the day for a 21-year-old Chicago soldier who was killed during the shooting rampage at Fort Hood.

Services for Pvt. Francheska Velez are scheduled for Thursday at Montclair Lucania Funeral Home. A burial will follow at Mount Olive Cemetery.

Her body arrived in Chicago earlier this week. A patriot guard escorted a procession past Kelvyn Park High School, where she was a 2006 graduate.

Velez and 22-year-old Pfc. Michael Pearson of Bolingbrook were among the 13 people killed on Nov. 5 when a fellow soldier at the Texas Army base allegedly opened fire.

Velez had recently returned from deployment in Iraq because she was pregnant. Friends and family say she was excited to start her own family.