Friday, November 06, 2009
12 killed, 31 hurt at Fort Hood in Texas; Shooter once lived in Vinton
The suspect, a Virginia Tech graduate, was shot but survived at Fort Hood, Texas.
Associated Press
Associated Press
Sgt. Anthony Sills comforts his wife as they wait outside Fort Hood in Texas. The Army base was locked down for about five hours Thursday after a shooting in a soldier readiness facility.
Associated Press
Sgt. 1st Class Noe Figueroa waits to get back on base outside Fort Hood, which was locked down for about five hours Thursday. "I think it's sad for all the soldiers that got hurt, that got killed. It shouldn't have happened," he said.
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Nidal M. Hasan
- From The Roanoke Times: Suspected Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan lived in Vinton, graduated from Virginia Tech: Social awkwardness kept with him into adulthood
Other news organizations
- Austin American-Statesman: After shootings, Fort Hood will have to cope with trauma
- San Antonio Express-News: Stress a big part of life in Fort Hood
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UPDATE (7:55 a.m.: Nov. 6, 2009): Death toll from Fort Hood shooting now at 13
WASHINGTON -- An Army psychiatrist allegedly opened fire Thursday on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, killing at least 12 people and wounding 31 in what is believed to be the deadliest mass shooting on a U.S. military base in history.
The gunman, identified by authorities as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a Virginia Tech graduate who once lived in Vinton, Va., was shot by a civilian police officer and hospitalized in stable condition.
Story: Suspected Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan: Social awkwardness kept with him into adulthood
His motive remains unclear, although various sources reported he is opposed to U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq and was upset about an imminent deployment.
The attack erupted shortly after lunchtime on the sprawling complex, which is the home base for more than 50,000 soldiers and has absorbed more fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan than any other base. The assault targeted a ceremony inside an auditorium of the soldier readiness facility, which provides medical and dental care to troops before they mobilize for overseas duty. Officials said he opened fire on waiting areas as soldiers from across the base waited for appointments.
Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the base commander, said Hasan opened fire with two handguns, killing 12 people -- including a civilian police officer -- before another officer shot him. Hasan originally had been reported dead.
"I would say his death is not imminent," Cone said. Col. Ben Danner said the suspect was shot at least four times.
The wounded were dispersed among hospitals in central Texas, Cone said. Their identities, and the identities of the dead, were not immediately released.
Warning sirens typically used when tornadoes sweep across the plains alerted base residents and visitors to stay indoors, said Caitlin Johnson, an Army wife who was off the base when the shootings occurred. She termed the situation "horrible." The base remained locked down for about five hours.
"My husband's in Iraq," Johnson said. "I'm glad he's not on Fort Hood right now."
"I was confused and just shocked," said Spc. Jerry Richard, 27, who works at the center but was not on duty during the shooting. "Overseas you are ready for it. But here you can't even defend yourself."
Soldiers at Fort Hood don't carry weapons unless they are doing training exercises.
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, it is located halfway between Austin and Waco.
Two other suspects were arrested nearby but were later released without being charged. Cone said he believes only one shooter was involved.
Agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrived on Thursday evening and worked alongside Army investigators who were reconstructing the crime scene, interviewing witnesses and seeking a motive.
At least six months ago, Hasan came to the attention of law enforcement officials because of Internet postings about suicide bombings and other threats, including posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades.
They had not determined for certain whether Hasan was the author of the posting, and a formal investigation had not been opened before the shooting, said law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.
One of the officials said late Thursday that federal search warrants were being drawn up to authorize the seizure of Hasan's computer.
Military authorities said ambulances carried the wounded to hospitals as Fort Hood residents struggled to understand a violent attack on friendly soil.
"It's a terrible tragedy. It's stunning," Cone, the base commander, told reporters gathered outside the vast facility northeast of Austin. "Soldiers and family members and many of the great civilians who work here are absolutely devastated."
Hasan, 39, graduated from Virginia Tech in 1995 and earned a doctorate in psychiatry from the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. He spent at least five years at Walter Reed before moving to Fort Hood.
He was a "very devout" worshipper at the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring, Md., attending prayers at least once a day, often in his Army fatigues, said Faizul Khan, a former imam there.
"To know something like this happened, I don't know what got into his mind," Khan said. "There was nothing extremist in his questions."
On a form filled out by those seeking spouses through a program at the mosque, Hasan listed his birthplace as Arlington, Va., but his nationality as Palestinian, Khan said.
"I don't know why he listed Palestinian," Khan said, "He was not born in Palestine."
A co-worker identified as Col. Terry Lee told Fox News that Hasan opposed the U.S. role in Iraq and Afghanistan and told others that "we should not be in the war in the first place."
He said Hasan acknowledged that soldiers have a duty to follow the commander in chief's orders, but was hoping that President Obama would order a pullout from the conflicts.
"When things weren't going that way," Lee said, "he became more agitated, more frustrated with the conflicts over there."
Obama promised to "get answers to every single question about this horrible incident." He offered his prayers to the wounded and the families of those killed, calling them "men and women who have made the selfless and courageous decision to risk -- and at times give -- their lives to protect the rest of us."
"It's difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans in battles overseas," Obama said. "It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil."
Thousands of soldiers have passed through the gates of Fort Hood on their way to Iraq and Afghanistan, and more than 500 did not come home. Post-combat stress has been an acknowledged problem on the base, and last year alone, nine Fort Hood soldiers committed suicide.
The Council on American-Islamic Relations moved quickly to call the attack "cowardly." The organization, an advocacy group for American Muslims, said it condemned the shooting "in the strongest terms possible."
"No political or religious ideology could ever excuse such wanton and indiscriminate violence," the council said in a statement. "The attack was particularly heinous in that it targeted the all-volunteer army that protects our nation."
The Fort Hood shooting follows a June incident outside a Little Rock, Ark., military recruiting center in which one soldier was killed and another wounded. Authorities said Abdulhakim Mujahid Muhammad, who converted to Islam and changed his name as an adult, acted alone in the incident. He has pleaded not guilty.
The shooting at Fort Hood came 18 years after a massacre in a restaurant in nearby Killeen, where George Hennard used a pair of 9 mm pistols to kill 22 people and wound 17 more before using his last bullet on himself.
At the time, it was the deadliest mass shooting in the country, eclipsed in 2007 when 32 people were shot and killed on the campus at Virginia Tech.
The Associated Press contributed to this report. | washingtonpost.com
