Shooting tragedy at Ft. Hood

[Hocky]

ORT HOOD, Texas— A soldier opened fire at a U.S. Army base in Fort Hood, Texas on Thursday, unleashing a stream of gunfire that left 12 people dead and 31 wounded. Authorities killed the gunman, and apprehended two other soldiers suspected in what appears to be the worst mass shooting at a U.S. military base.

The shooting began around 1:30 p.m., Lt. Gen. Bob Cone said at a news conference. He said all the casualties took place at the base's Soldier Readiness Center, where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening.

"It's a terrible tragedy. It's stunning," Cone said.

A law enforcement official identified the shooting suspect as Army Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan. The official said Hasan, believed to be in his late 30s, was killed after opening fire at the base. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

The official says investigators are trying to determine if Hasan was his birth name, or if he changed his name and converted to Islam at some point in his life.

Cone said the soldier used two handguns in the attack. It was not clear if the gunman had stopped to reload.

A graduation ceremony for soldiers who finished college courses while deployed was going on in an auditorium at the Readiness Center at the time of the shooting, said Sgt. Rebekah Lampam, a Fort Hood spokeswoman.

Greg Schanepp, U.S. Rep. John Carter's regional director in Texas, was representing Carter at the graduation, said John Stone, a spokesman for Carter, whose district includes the Army post.

Schanepp was at the ceremony when a soldier who had been shot in the back came running toward him and alerted him of the shooting, Stone said. The soldier told Schanepp not to go in the direction of the shooter, he said. Stone said he believes Schanepp was in the theater.

The base was locked down after the shootings. The wounded were dispersed among hospitals in central Texas, Cone said.

The shootings on the Texas military base stirred memories of other recent mass shootings in the United States, including 13 dead at a New York immigrant center in March, 10 killed during a gunman's rampage across Alabama in March and 32 killed in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history at Virginia Tech in 2007.

Around the country, some bases stepped up security precautions, but no others were locked down.

"The bottom line for us is that we are increasing security at our gates because the threat hasn't yet been defined, and we're reminding our Marines to be vigilant in their areas of responsibility," said Capt. Rob Dolan, public affairs officer for the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Ariz.

In Washington, President Barack Obama called the shooting "a horrific outburst of violence." He said it's a tragedy to lose a soldier overseas and even more horrifying when they come under fire at an Army base on American soil.

"We will make sure that we get answers to every single question about this horrible incident," the commander in chief said. "We are going to stay on this."

Covering 339 square miles, Fort Hood is the largest active duty armored post in the United States. Home to about 52,000 troops as of earlier this year, the sprawling base is located halfway between Austin and Waco.

About a mile from Fort Hood's east gate, Cynthia Thomas, director of Under the Hood Cafe, a local coffee shop and nonprofit military support center, has been calling soldiers and friends on the post to make sure they're OK.

"It's chaotic," Thomas said, as a SWAT team just drove by. "They're just saying that they're under attack they don't know what's going on. ... The phones are jammed. Everybody is calling family members and friends. Soldiers are running around with M-16s."

Fort Hood officially opened on Sept. 18, 1942, and was named in honor of Gen. John Bell Hood. It has been continuously used for armored training and is charged with maintaining readiness for combat missions.

[roadwarrior]

how sad

[jarjar]

So sad. May God Bless America. 

[les]

 First of let me say I was shocked to here this. My heart goes out to the falling and injured soldiers.

My sister in-law lives in Briggs TX its a stones throw away from fort hood. Anyways there paranoid schizophrenics cause they for some reason think there's a killer coming for them now. They freak out is the wind blows.

[Stinkerbell]

Any loss of life in a situation like this is tragic, but it seems even more so to me because here these soldiers were either heading out or returning, probably to or from somewhere where they were risking their lives for others, only to be gunned down by one of their own. Who clearly, isn't one of their own afterall.

My heart, thoughts and prayers go out to them, their families and everyone touched by this horrific event. 

[Sue]

The gunmen did NOT die.

He is alive and looks like he will make it.

[Stinkerbell]

The gunmen did NOT die.

He is alive and looks like he will make it.

That is probably the greatest tragedy to come out of all this.

[disneyland lady]

I am glad he is alive cuz the guy was an MD (thanks to the military) and I want him to suffer for what he did for a long, long time. The guy didn't just take the Hippocratic Oath but also the Armed Forces Oath of Enlistment and he broke both of those. He was a lifetime muslim but until recently didn't even dress as one so I think this has to do with his mental health rather than being gifted by Allah.

[Hocky]

BAH!  He is just a terrorist in sheep's clothing IMO ! 

[Sue]

Lawyer: Accused Fort Hood gunman may be paralyzed

FORT HOOD, Texas – The Army psychiatrist accused in the fatal shootings at Fort Hood may be paralyzed from the waist down after being shot multiple times during the attack, his attorney told The Associated Press on Friday.

Civilian attorney John Galligan said Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan told him that he had no feeling in his legs and extreme pain in his hands. Hasan, who was shot four times by civilian police officers, said doctors told him the condition may never improve.

Galligan said he spoke with Hasan for about an hour in the intensive care unit at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio on Thursday, the same day Hasan was charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder.

The attack at the sprawling Texas post last week injured 43 people, including 34 who suffered gunshot wounds. The military initially said 29 people and Hasan had been wounded, but some of the injuries came to the attention of authorities days later as they pieced together what happened the day of the shooting.

Galligan said that his client's medical condition remains "extremely serious" and that Hasan didn't flinch when Galligan touched his leg. One of Hasan's relatives was able to see him Thursday for the first time since he was hospitalized.

Hospital spokesman Dewey Mitchell said he could not confirm whether Hasan was paralyzed because Hasan told hospital officials not to release any information about his condition or injuries.

Galligan said military prosecutors have not told him whether they plan to seek the death penalty, but he plans to file motions asking for a second military defense attorney and a civilian investigator to help with the case.

Army officials have said they believe Hasan acted alone when he jumped on a table with two handguns, shouted "Allahu akbar" and opened fire inside a building at Fort Hood. The 13 people killed included a pregnant soldier and at least three other mental health professionals.

Army Criminal Investigation Command spokesman Chris Grey has said Hasan could face additional charges.

It had not been decided whether to charge Hasan with the death of the soldier's unborn child, officials told The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak about the case publicly.

Galligan said he wasn't pleased that Hasan was charged in the hospital without his lawyers present.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama has ordered a review of all intelligence related to Hasan and whether the information was properly shared and acted upon within government agencies.

Members of Congress, particularly Michigan Rep. Peter Hoekstra, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, have called for a full examination of what agencies knew about Hasan's contacts with a radical Muslim cleric and others of concern to the U.S. and what they did with the information.

Hoekstra confirmed this week that the government knew about 10 to 20 e-mails between Hasan and a radical imam, beginning in December 2008.