The Defense Department has issued a statement saying the Tuesday death of an Iowa soldier serving in Iraq is not related to combat.

The statement from the Department of Defense provides few details about the death of 23-year-old James Musack, a native of Riverside. Musack died in Samarra, about 80 miles north of Baghdad, and the statement from the military says his death is “non-combat related.”

But his brother, Reggie Grandstaff, says a National Guard captain who came to his home in Coralville to notify him of his brother’s death told him Musack had been shot and killed in action.

Musack graduated from Highland High School in 2002. Musak’s family says the soldier was due to be on leave this Thanksgiving, and he’d planned to visit Iowa. Now, plans are being laid for a funeral at Highland High School, or St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Riverside.