Indianapolis Star -- A soldier from West Lafayette was killed by a roadside bomb this week in Iraq.

Army Spc. Andrew Robert Weiss, 28, was one of four soldiers in a military vehicle on patrol in Baghdad that was attacked by what the military calls an improvised explosive device. He died May 3, according to the Department of Defense.

"It was his second tour," Weiss' mother, Judith Weiss, West Lafayette, said Friday night. "He was a building construction major, and jobs weren't too hot."

Weiss was the 85th soldier with Indiana ties to die in Iraq since the start of hostilities.

He was a member of the 1st Battalion, 5th Cavalry Regiment, 2nd Brigade, 1st Cavalry Division, from Fort Hood, Texas.

"He thought that the cavalry was right for him. He was an excellent soldier, quite the hero," his mother said.

Weiss' wife and children live near the base in Texas, but the rest of his family resides in the West Lafayette area.

Margaret Weiss, the soldier's wife, is from Oxford. The two met while they worked at a supermarket, according to Judith Weiss. They have two children: Lillian, 3, and Jacob, 1. After attending West Lafayette High School and Vincennes University, Weiss joined the Army in 2001, just before the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

He re-enlisted this year and was in the early part of his second tour of duty in Iraq. The last time his family in the West Lafayette area saw him was in August, his mother said. "To be told he'll never walk in the door again is surreal," she said.

Funeral arrangements are pending. His remains likely will not arrive at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for 10 more days, but his family is considering services and interment in West Lafayette.