Colorado Springs Gazette -- A Fort Carson soldier was shot and killed in Baghdad this week, the Defense Department said today.

Pfc. Justin A. Verdeja, 20, of La Puente, Calif., died Tuesday when his 2nd Brigade Combat Team patrol was ambushed. Verdeja’s page on the social-networking Web site MySpace.com became a memorial as news of his death spread.

"Justin I will miss you and will never forget you. Thanks for fighting for us," one mourner wrote.

"You were my first love and, well, you will always be," another wrote. "You will be truly missed and forever in our hearts."

Verdeja was raised in the east Los Angeles and attended Garfield High School, where a football roster lists him as a 5-foot-9 wide receiver. He enlisted in the infantry after graduation, and arrived at Fort Carson in April 2006.

On his Web page, Verdeja said he found a new team in Colorado Springs.

"I’m in the military, the Army to be exact," he wrote. "Like my familia, it is the most important thing in my life. I believe that in the end, you will always have family." Verdeja was awarded the Bronze Star Medal and the Combat Infantryman’s Badge for his service in Iraq.

Verdeja is the 204th Fort Carson soldier to die since the invasion of Iraq in 2003, including 97 from the 2nd Brigade Combat team.

He’s the second Fort Carson soldier killed in Baghdad fighting in the past two weeks. The brigade is part of a massive American offensive aimed at wresting control of the city from insurgents.

The brigade’s troops are dispersed throughout east Baghdad in combat outposts, neighborhood-based strongpoints designed to keep insurgents at bay.

While bombs are the weapon of choice for insurgents, ambushes with gunfire are common and remain the second leading cause of deaths for Fort Carson soldiers in Iraq.

Bombs have killed 89 Fort Carson soldiers in Iraq, and gunfire has killed 60.