Fort Hood Shooting - 12 dead; 31 injured

[joseephuss]

http://today.msnbc.msn.com/id/33678801/ns/us_news-crime_and_courts/

BREAKING NEWS
NBC News and msnbc.com
updated 4 minutes ago

At least seven people were killed dead and 20 others were wounded in a mass shooting incident Thursday at Fort Hood, Texas, where at least one suspect were believed to be in custody, NBC News and NBC affiliate KCEN-TV reported.

More shots were reported later in the afternoon, reported KCEN of Waco, which said no further details were immediately available.

It was unknown whether the victims were all soldiers or civilians at Fort Hood, one of the largest military complexes in the world. The base was on lockdown, as were schools in the area.

At least one suspect was in custody, reported KCEN, which quoted a source as saying at least one of the shooters had a high-powered rifle. The station reported that at least four SWAT officers were among those wounded.

A spokesman for Fort Hood said the shootings took place at two locations around 1:30 p.m.: the Soldiers Readiness Processing Center and Howze Theater.

The spokesman, Sgt. Major Jamie Posten, said processing center was where soldiers “cycle through as they prepare to deploy.” That complex is on the West side of post, off Battalion Avenue.

Greg Schannep, an aide to Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, who was on the post to attend a graduation service, told the Austin American-Statesman that a soldier with blood on his uniform ran past him and said a man was shooting.

The Temple Independent School District was on a “soft” lockdown. Parents were asked to pick their children up at the normal times, although they could experience delays.

Agents of the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives were on their way to the post, federal officials said.

Fort Hood is adjacent to Killeen, about 60 miles northeast of Austin. The sprawling complex is home to at least 4,929 active-duty officers and 45,414 enlisted. Civilian employees total nearly 9,000.

A spokesman for the Army, Lt. Col. Lee M. Packnett, said he was unaware whether security measures were put in place at other military bases. A spokesman at Fort Lewis, Wash., said the incident was being treated as isolated.

President Barack Obama was briefed on the shootings, press secretary Robert Gibbs said.

Homeland Security spokeswoman Sara Kuban said officials from several federal agencies are still collecting information on the shootings. "Because this is early in this event, we cannot at this time confirm motives behind these shootings," she said.

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Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, said in a statement: “I am shocked and saddened by today’s outburst of violence at Fort Hood that has cost seven of our brave service members their lives and has gravely injured others. My heart goes out to their loved ones.”

Texas Gov. Rick Perry’s campaign spokesperson said the governor was in Denton, scheduled to attend a campaign event, when word of the shooting occurred. There was no word on whether he had left Denton or whether he was headed to Fort Hood.

Milly Land, who works at the base fitness center, said she was headed for the graduation ceremony at 2 p.m. at the Howze Theater when the campus was locked down. She went back to the fitness center. She said she spoke by phone with friends at the soldier processing center, who said a gunman walked in about 1:30, walked to the medical area of the processing center, and started shooting. A second gunman was shooting at the theater next door, she said.

Fort Hood has seen other violence in recent years. In September 2008, a 21-year-old 1st Cavalry Division soldier shot his lieutenant to death and then killed himself. Spc. Jody Michael Wirawan of Eagle River, Alaska, shot himself to death after shooting 1st Lt. Robert Bartlett Fletcher, 24, of Jensen Beach, Fla. to death.

This breaking news story will be updated with more details. You can also follow @msnbc_breaking on Twitter.

 

[MrMom]

The number is now at 12 dead (including one of the gunmen), 31 injured. Two other suspects are in custody.

 

[trickblue]

This is just sickening... and they have two in custody and one dead... all US soldiers...

 

[xWraithx]

CNN: the gunman was Nidal Malik Hasan, a psychiatrist

 

[WoodysGirl]

Army officer opens fire at Fort Hood, killing 12

By April Castro And Devlin Barrett, Associated Press Writers – 14 mins ago

FORT HOOD, Texas – An Army officer opened fire Thursday with two handguns at the Fort Hood military base in an attack that left 12 people dead and 31 wounded. Authorities killed the gunman and apprehended two other soldiers in what appears to be the worst mass shooting at a U.S. military base.

There was no immediate word on a motive. The shooting began around 1:30 p.m., said Lt. Gen. Bob Cone at Fort Hood. 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.

A defense official, also speaking on condition of anonymity, said Hasan was a mental health professional — an Army psychologist or psychiatrist. Officials say it was not clear what Hasan's religion was, but investigators are trying to determine if Hasan was his birth name or if he may have changed his name and converted to Islam at some point.

A graduation ceremony for soldiers who finished college courses while deployed was going on nearby 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.

The base was locked down after the shootings. The wounded were dispersed among hospitals in central Texas, Cone said. Nine were taken to Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple. A hospital spokeswoman says all had been shot and are adults. A Fort Hood spokesman said he could not immediately confirm any identities of the injured.

Lisa Pfund of Random Lake, Wis., says her daughter, 19-year-old Amber Bahr, was shot in the stomach but was in stable condition. "We know nothing, just that she was shot in the belly," Pfund told The Associated Press. She couldn't provide more details and only spoke with emergency personnel.

"I ask that all of you keep these families and these individuals in your prayers today," Texas Gov. Rick Perry 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 coffee house and outreach center, was 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. "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.

___

Associated Press Writers Anne Gearan, Lara Jakes, Suzanne Gamboa and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington, D.C., Jay Root in Temple, Linda Stewart Ball, Anabelle Garay and Andre Coe in Dallas contributed to this report.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_fort_hood_shooting

-------------------

My friend's uncle normally works at the Soldier Readiness Center and just happened to be off today. I'm so thankful he wasn't there today.

My prayers are definitely with the family..

 

[Aikbach]

I left Ft.Hood Sunday, know two reported victims.

 

[arglebargle]

I left Ft.Hood Sunday, know two reported victims.

Dang, that's rough. This is just awful. Used to live on base, many moons ago. Brought back some memories.

We all hope for the injured to pull through. And for the families of all.

 

[Big Dakota]

Now 13 dead.

 

[CF74]

http://www.abcnews.go.com/WN/nadal-...rt-hood-shooter-psychiatrist/story?id=9010466

Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the suspected shooter in the massacre at Fort Hood, is a psychiatrist at Darnall Army Medical Center on the base, according to records uncovered by ABC News.

Hasan, 39, did not die in the crossfire and is hospitalized, contrary to prior reports that he had been killed.

He received his medical degree from the Defense Department's F. Edward Hebert School of Medicine in Bethesda, Md., according to the records.

A military source was quoted by the Air Force Times as saying Hasan had recently been reassigned to Fort Hood from Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington. In 2009, sources tell ABC News, he completed a fellowship in Disaster and Preventative Psychiatry at the Center for Traumatic Stress there.

Military officials told the Associated Press Hasan was at Walter Reed for six years before being transferred to Ft. Hood in July.

The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because military records are confidential, had access to his military record and said he received a poor performance evaluation while at Walter Reed.

Nidal Malik Hasan, Suspected Fort Hood Shooter, Is Army Psychiatrist
Details Emerge: Alleged Gunman Trained in Disaster & Preventive Psychiatry

Hasan Born in Virginia, Never Married
Hasan appears in medical records from the Virginia Board of Medicine, and had a Maryland telephone number in an online file last updated in October.

Hasan had no prior overseas deployments, a Pentagon official told ABC News. An Army release shows he was promoted to the rank of Major in May 2009.

Hasan, born in Virginia, was single with no children. The Austin American-Statesman reported his parents were originally from Jordan.

Nader Hasan, his cousin, told ABC News Maj. Hasan has two brothers, one in the United States, the other in Jerusalem. The cousin described him as a pious lifelong Muslim.

 

[YosemiteSam]

Glad he is dead. It's just a shame he tool people with him.

 

[BigStar]

This is just a shame all the way around. I don't know if they were just crazies or if war had taken them to the next level of psychosis. Threre are so many stories under publicized about ex soldiers killing spouses or others.

 

[FanSince61]

Glad he is dead. It's just a shame he tool people with him.

He is not dead. Just wounded.

The gunman, first said to have been killed, was wounded but alive and in stable condition under military guard, said Lt. Gen. Bob Cone at Fort Hood. "I would say his death is not imminent," Cone said. Col. Ben Danner said the suspect was shot at least four times.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091106/ap_on_re_us/us_fort_hood_shooting

 

[CliffnDallas]

Those darned Amish.

 

[Bob Sacamano]

the armed forces are going to retool their whole background check now

 

[Faerluna]

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/11/05/nidal-hasan-cousin-of-mal_n_347850.html

Nader Hasan, cousin to Nidal Malik Hasan, one of the gunmen in the Fort Hood massacre, spoke to Fox News' Shepard Smith on the phone tonight and went out of his way to stress his family is shocked by Hasan's actions and that Hasan was a "good American":

Both his parents are American, I want to make sure everyone understands, he was a good American, and we are shocked. We just found out from the news that he was being deployed [to Iraq]. He never even told us. We've known for the last five years that that was probably his worst nightmare. He deals with stories, he would tell us how he hears horrific things, but even before, things from before that was probably affecting him psychologically.

Hasan's cousin related that he had "been making requests since sometime after September 11th" not to be deployed to Iraq, and that Hasan had been trying to leave the military:

He was dealing with harassment from some of his colleagues to the extent where he hired a military attorney to have the issue resolved, pay back the government to get out of the military if that was it, but he was at the end of trying everything to make everybody fair and reasonable and him get out the situation, so I'm really shocked and baffled and if anybody wants to try to suggest that it has something else to do with being afraid of wanting to go to war, that's it.

Hasan's cousin said that he joined the military "right out of high school" and "against his parents' wishes."

Contrary to prior reports, Hasan has "always been Muslim" and is not a recent convert.

Hasan's cousin said "our family is feeling sadness, we feel so much sadness for any family who was hurt."

 

[kristie]

this just breaks my heart.

 

[Tass]

The shooting went down about 100 yards away from where I work on Hood.

Was a nasty, messed-up day.

 

[Yeagermeister]

The shooting went down about 100 yards away from where I work on Hood.

Was a nasty, messed-up day.

Good to know you are ok

 

[WV Cowboy]

Why do so many people who decide to take their own life, find it necessary to take others with them?

I feel bad that they reach a point in their lives that they want to take their own life, .. but don't take others with you.

When I was a Sr. in HS, our head cheerleader's Dad killed her and her Mom before killing himself.

I didn't understand it then, .. I still don't.

 

[WoodysGirl]

Fort victims had different reasons for enlisting

By Caryn Rousseau And Robert Imrie, Associated Press Writers – 53 mins ago

The 13 people killed when an Army psychiatrist allegedly opened fire on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, included a pregnant woman who was preparing to return home, a man who quit a furniture company job to join the military about a year ago, a newlywed who had served in Iraq and a woman who had vowed to take on Osama bin Laden after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Here is a look at some of the victims.

___

Francheska Velez

Velez, 21, of Chicago, was pregnant and preparing to return home. A friend of Velez's, Sasha Ramos, described her as a fun-loving person who wrote poetry and loved dancing.

"She was like my sister," Ramos, 21, said. "She was the most fun and happy person you could know. She never did anything wrong to anybody."

Family members said Velez had recently returned from deployment in Iraq and had sought a lifelong career in the Army.

"She was a very happy girl and sweet," said her father, Juan Guillermo Velez, his eyes red from crying. "She had the spirit of a child."

Ramos, who also served briefly in the military, couldn't reconcile that her friend was killed in this country — just after leaving a war zone.

"It makes it a lot harder," she said. "This is not something a soldier expects — to have someone in our uniform go start shooting at us."

___

Pfc. Aaron Thomas Nemelka

Nemelka, 19, of the Salt Lake City suburb of West Jordan, Utah, chose to join the Army instead of going on a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, his uncle Christopher Nemelka said.

"As a person, Aaron was as soft and kind and as gentle as they come, a sweetheart," his uncle said. "What I loved about the kid was his independence of thought."

Aaron Nemelka, the youngest of four children, was scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan in January, his family said in a statement. Nemelka had enlisted in the Army in October 2008, Utah National Guard Lt. Col. Lisa Olsen said.

___

Pfc. Michael Pearson

Pearson, 21, of the Chicago suburb of Bolingbrook, Ill., quit what he figured was a dead-end furniture company job to join the military about a year ago.

"He felt he was in a rut. He wanted to travel, see the world," his mother, Sheryll Pearson, told the Chicago Tribune. "He also wanted an opportunity to serve the country."

At Pearson's family home Friday, a yellow ribbon was tied to a porch light and a sticker stamped with American flags on the front door read, "United we stand."

Neighbor Jessica Koerber, who was with Pearson's parents when they received word Thursday their son had died, described him as a man who clearly loved his family — someone who enjoyed horsing around with his nieces and nephews, and other times playing his guitar.

"That family lost their gem," she told the AP. "He was a great kid, a great guy. ... Mikey was one of a kind."

Sheryll Pearson said she hadn't seen her son for a year because he had been training. She told the Tribune that when she last talked to him on the phone two days ago, they had discussed how he would come home for Christmas.

___

Spc. Jason Dean Hunt

Hunt, 22, of Frederick, Okla., went into the military after graduating from Tipton High School in 2005 and had gotten married just two months ago, his mother, Gale Hunt, said. He had served 3 1/2 years in the Army, including a stint in Iraq.

Gale Hunt said two uniformed soldiers came to her door late Thursday night to notify her of her son's death.

Hunt, known as J.D., was "just kind of a quiet boy and a good kid, very kind," said Kathy Gray, an administrative assistant at Tipton Schools.

His mother said he was family oriented.

"He didn't go in for hunting or sports," Gale Hunt said. "He was a very quiet boy who enjoyed video games."

He had re-enlisted for six years after serving his initial two-year assignment, she said. Jason Hunt was previously stationed at Fort Stewart in Georgia.

___

Sgt. Amy Krueger

Krueger, 29, of Kiel, Wis., joined the Army after the 2001 terrorist attacks and had vowed to take on Osama bin Laden, her mother, Jeri Krueger said.

Amy Krueger arrived at Fort Hood on Tuesday and was scheduled to be sent to Afghanistan in December, the mother told the Herald Times Reporter of Manitowoc.

Jeri Krueger recalled telling her daughter that she could not take on bin Laden by herself.

"Watch me," her daughter replied.

Kiel High School Principal Dario Talerico told The Associated Press that Krueger graduated from the school in 1998 and had spoken at least once to local elementary school students about her career.

"I just remember that Amy was a very good kid, who like most kids in a small town are just looking for what their next step in life was going to be and she chose the military," Talerico said. "Once she got into the military, she really connected with that kind of lifestyle and was really proud to serve her country."

___

Associated Press writers Jennifer Dobner in Salt Lake City, Richard Green in Oklahoma City and Sophia Tareen, Michael Tarm and Amy Shafer in Chicago contributed to this report. Rousseau contributed from Bolingbrook, Ill., and Imrie from Wausau, Wis.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091106/ap_on_re_us/us_fort_hood_victim_vignettes