GRAND ISLAND, Neb. — It was like a scene from a movie for Randy Knott when he answered a knock at his door to hear that his son had been killed in Iraq.

“You see it in the movies, you hear about it, and then two soldiers come to your door. And you know they’re not there to ask for directions,” Knott said.

Petty Officer 3rd Class Eric Knott, 21, a member of the U.S. Navy and native of Grand Island, was killed Saturday morning in a bomb attack in Iraq, his family said.

The younger Knott was on the Navy’s construction force and was apparently working on building a gate at the time of the attack, his father said.

“He was there to get an education in...