Times-Picayune -- CLINTON, La. (AP) — A Louisiana solider died last week while serving in Iraq.

Sgt. David J. Murray, 23, died Thursday when a bomb exploded under his armored personnel carrier as he and other soldiers of the 1088th Engineer Battalion patrolled in the Baghdad area, his mother and stepfather said.

Joanne and John Parker said military officers also told them two other 1088th soldiers suffered serious injuries in the explosion.

Murray was an East Feliciana Parish sheriff's deputy who also worked part time for the Norwood Police Department. He lived in the Felixville community northeast of Clinton.

The battalion is part of the 256th Brigade Combat Team, composed primarily of Louisiana Army National Guard soldiers. The Guard issued a news release Friday confirming Murray's death. He was assigned to the engineer battalion's Company B in New Roads.

Murray was born in Pennsylvania, where his father, Gary M. Murray Sr., still lives, but moved to Clinton in 1997, his mother said.

"He was the kind of kid every parent would love to have. He was funny, but he was also quiet. He was voted the class clown, but you would never know it by the way he was at home," his mother said.

Murray graduated from Silliman Institute in 2001 and joined the National Guard in his junior year. The Parkers said he attended monthly drills and summer training while still a student.

"I'm not sure why he wanted to join the National Guard. It started out as a way to get money for college, but he decided not to go to college. I know he liked the uniform. I guess he wanted to serve his country that way," Joanne Parker said.

After finishing high school and his Army training, Murray began working as a jailer in East Feliciana Parish, but got his state certification to become a patrol deputy.

"He started at the jail and worked his way up. He was a super guy," Sheriff Talmadge Bunch said.