The shooting at Fort Hood Army Base
The shooting at Fort Hood Army base left 12 people dead and 31 wounded. The Fort Hood shooter Maj. Nidal Malik Hassan, an army psychiatrist was shot to death. Military officials said eleven of the victims died at the scene while the 12th died later at a hospital.
U.S. officials identified the gunman as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist who had been promoted to major in May. Defense officials said Hasan, 39, arrived at Fort Hood in July after practicing for six years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, which included a fellowship in disaster and preventive psychiatry.
Hasan was scheduled to be deployed to Iraq on Nov. 28, officials said. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said military officials had told her that Hasan was “pretty upset” about his deployment orders.
Military officials said Hasan received a poor performance evaluation at Walter Reed. The officials would reveal no further details, citing the confidentiality of military records. Medical records on file in Virginia, where Hasan was born and was registered to practice, and Maryland, where he received his medical degree at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, revealed no disciplinary actions or formal complaints.
Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone, commanding general of the Army’s III Corps said the gunman used two handguns. Two other soldiers were taken into custody after the shooting, but Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, said they were released.
A senior administration official said that the shootings could have been a criminal matter rather than a terrorism-related attack and that there was no intelligence to suggest a plot against Fort Hood. Military and local hospital officials said the victims were a mixture of men and women, military and civilian. At least one of those killed was a civilian police officer while four local SWAT officers were among those wounded.
Two of the victims remained in surgery late Thursday afternoon at Metroplex Hospital in Killeen. One of them, a woman, is an emergency medical worker at the base, the hospital said.
President Barack Obama called the shootings a “horrific incident.”
“It’s difficult enough when we lose these great Americans in battles overseas. It’s horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil.”
Noting the Arabic nature of the gunman’s name, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington interest group, condemned “this cowardly attack in the strongest terms possible and ask that the perpetrators be punished to the full extent of the law.”
”No political or religious ideology could ever justify or excuse such wanton and indiscriminate violence. The attack was particularly heinous in that it targeted the all-volunteer army that protects our nation. American Muslims stand with our fellow citizens in offering both prayers for the victims and sincere condolences to the families of those killed or injured.”
