7 killed in shootings at Fort Hood, Pentagon says
November 5, 2009 -- Updated 2119 GMT (0519 HKT)



(CNN) -- Two gunmen opened fire at Fort Hood in Texas on Thursday, killing seven people and wounding between 12 and 15 others, officials said.

One of the shooters has been apprehended, Fort Hood spokesman Sgt. Maj. Jamie Posten told CNN.

"At this point we're looking for the other shooter," Posten said. Asked for a description, he said, "we're trying to develop that information."

President Obama has been informed of the incident, Press Secretary Robert Gibbs told reporters.

Fort Hood was asking people on post to stay away from windows, CNN affiliate KXXV said. The incident took place at the sports dome, now known as the soldier readiness area, the station reported.
Video: Deadly shooting at Army base
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* Fort Hood

FBI agents are headed to the scene to assist, said Erik Vasys, spokesman for the FBI office in San Antonio. He had no other details.

On the Fort Hood Web site, the word "closed" is posted with the statement, "Effective immediately, Fort Hood is closed. Organizations/units are instructed to execute a 100 percent accountability of all personnel."

Fort Hood is the Army's largest U.S. post, with about 40,000 troops. It is home to the Army's 1st Cavalry Division and elements of the 4th Infantry Division, as well as the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and the 13th Corps Support Command. It is located near Killeen, Texas.

In June, Fort Hood's commander, Lt. Gen. Rick Lynch, told CNN that he was trying to ease the kind of stresses soldiers face. He has pushed for soldiers working a day schedule to return home for dinner by 6 p.m., and required his personal authorization for anyone working weekends. At the time, two soldiers stationed there had committed suicide in 2009 -- a rate well below those of other posts.

from CNN

I have been watching this on cnn. Really bad news when we turn on our own. God speed to the soldiers and there families. Our soldiers protect us and they are under alot of stress. That does not excuse these actions. It does not matter what country you are from it hits home when something like this happens.

As I type this, they are announcing that there is a shoot out going on.

I am watching the coverage from the Waco channels, and it is shocking to say the least.

UpDATE..

12 Total Dead.....

31 Wounded

Very Sad indeed !

http://www.weaselzippers.net/.a/6a00e008c6b4e588340120a658098a970b-800wi

With Respect to my Veteran Brothers and Sisters at Fort Hood...

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according to cnn one was a mental heath professional (Physician, heal thyself)

Very sad, my thoughts out to the family and friends

My heart and prayers go out to all the victims and families of this senseless tragedy.

Very sad, I hope the families get through this and the wounded heal well.

The death toll has just risen to thirteen.

They are doing a live update: 39 y/o Major Nidal Malik Hassan, who was to ship out to the war front after Thanksgiving, has been named as the shooter, and was killed in a firefight with Ft Hood Police at the second shooting scene..

He is part of their Medical personnel, specializing in PTSD.

This is beyond belief.

My heart and prayers go out to all the victims and families of this senseless tragedy.

My feeling exactly.......
Tony

so this took place on the military base?
would seem like a big lack of security if it was.

so this took place on the military base?
would seem like a big lack of security if it was.

BREAKING NEWS
NBC News and msnbc.com
updated 5 minutes ago

An Army psychiatrist opened fire Thursday at Fort Hood, Texas, killing 12 people and wounding 30 others before being shot to death, officials told NBC News.

Eleven of the victims died at the scene, military officials said. A 12th died later at a hospital, NBC station KCEN-TV of Waco reported.

NBC News’ Pete Williams reported that 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.

The Associated Press, quoting 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.

http://msnbcmedia.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/091105-hassan.standard.jpg
Image: Nidal Malik Hassan
cstsonline.org
Maj. Nidal Malik Hassan was described as ‘upset’ about his pending deployment to Iraq.
A senior administration official told NBC News 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, Cone said. At least four local SWAT officers were among those wounded, NBC affiliate KCEN-TV of Waco reported.

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 the base, the hospital said.

Reminders of 1991 massacre
Fort Hood, one of the largest military complexes in the world, was on lockdown, as were schools in the area. Dozens of agents of the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives responded to the post, federal officials said.

The base is surrounded by the town of Killeen, where a man shot and killed 23 people in a Luby’s restaurant in October 1991.

“Unfortunately, this is a day we had dreaded,” said Hilary Shine, a spokeswoman for the city of Killeen. “Every time you hear of a mass casualty situation in Killeen, you think of Luby’s. ...

“Here in City Hall, it’s panic,” Shine said. “We all have friends and family members who work or have business on Fort Hood.”

Speaking in Washington, President Barack Obama called the shootings a “horrific incident.”

“It’s difficult enough when we lose these great Americans in battles overseas,” Obama said at the Interior Department. “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 council said in a statement. “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.”


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


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ya i just saw that on the news, why the hell would they allow a terrorist on the base.

UPDATE.......


Shooter NOT Dead,but Wounded and recovering ! ( Bastard !)

The gunman was wounded multiple times at the scene but was captured alive and was in stable condition, Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone, commanding general of the Army’s III Corps, said at a press conference late Thursday.

Cousin Of Ft. Hood Murderer: 'He's Always Been Muslim'...'He's Always Wanted To Get Away From The War'..

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

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This is sad, the scariest part is the Islamic relationship.

Let me clarify why that scares me so much. At a time when the religious and ethnic tension is high to start with we now have more fuel added to the fire of mistrust and suspicion. The extreme majority of Islamic faith in America are Americans. Now if Americans are feared in America or raise an eyebrow how do you treat your fellow countrymen? The public outcry to protect Americans is going to be huge and followers of Islam living in America are American.

Though I wish this never happens again, and wish it never happened to start with I feel all Americans are going to suffer from this. Those with certain descent are going to suffer more then others the extreme majority unjustly so. I dread the idea America might be headed back to scrutinizing or even worse segregating Americans, it has happened before with internment camps.

This is sad, the scariest part is the Islamic relationship.

Let me clarify why that scares me so much. At a time when the religious and ethnic tension is high to start with we now have more fuel added to the fire of mistrust and suspicion. The extreme majority of Islamic faith in America are Americans. Now if Americans are feared in America or raise an eyebrow how do you treat your fellow countrymen? The public outcry to protect Americans is going to be huge and followers of Islam living in America are American.

Though I wish this never happens again, and wish it never happened to start with I feel all Americans are going to suffer from this. Those with certain descent are going to suffer more then others the extreme majority unjustly so. I dread the idea America might be headed back to scrutinizing or even worse segregating Americans, it has happened before with internment camps.
depends on other two involved (if their WASP then nothing will come of it but egg on military face if their Islamic then you might be looking at a new age of McCarthyism )

initial reports had two gunmen later had one but with two other persons of interest than just one with no mention of others anyone hear why the shift

Contrasting images emerge of Fort Hood shooting suspect
12:22 AM CST on Saturday, November 7, 2009

By MATTHEW HAAG, DAVE MICHAELS and BROOKS EGERTON / The Dallas Morning News

KILLEEN, Texas — Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan prepared for war this week the way soldiers often do, by letting go of the things he would no longer need.

The Army psychiatrist went to extremes, though, giving away not just furniture and the broccoli in his freezer, but also money and several copies of the Quran.

“He was so nice to me,” said Patricia Villa, who lived next door to Hasan in an apartment building where units rent for $300 a month.

He told her he was heading to Afghanistan at the end of the week. But the battlefield was just down the street, at Fort Hood, where authorities say Hasan opened fire Thursday on a room full of deploying colleagues.

Stark contrasts appear again and again when retracing the life steps of the 12-year veteran, who was shot four times during the attack but survived.

Some who knew Hasan professionally remember a model employee. Col. Kimberly Kesling, deputy commander of clinical services at Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood, described him Friday as a “hardworking, dedicated young man who gave great care to his patients.”

“I don’t know why” he would do such a thing, she said. “You would hope you would never know someone who had such a demon inside.”

Others describe someone whose Islamic zeal had long driven him to inappropriate behavior.

While studying in Maryland years ago, Hasan was reportedly put on probation for trying to convert patients and colleagues. And “he would become physically upset” if challenged about his opposition to the war on terror, said Dr. Val Finnell, a fellow student at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda.

For a class presentation on environmental health, Hasan insisted on pursuing the topic, “Is the war on terror a war against Islam?” Finnell told The Dallas Morning News.

Hasan described himself as “a Muslim first and an American second,” he added.

U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul of Austin, a senior Republican on the Homeland Security Committee briefed Friday by investigators and military officials, said a picture emerged of a man torn.

“He has this internal conflict between his religious convictions and his opposition to the war in Afghanistan and Iraq, and his official capacity in the U.S. military,” McCaul said. “His deployment to Afghanistan was the final straw that made him snap.”

McCaul said that “in a perfect world,” Hasan would have been released from the Army — something his relatives have said he sought.

“There were flags along the way,” McCaul said. “He told one of his colleagues that Muslims need to unite. And he wasn’t talking about against the enemies we see, but rather against Americans.”

Palestinian roots

Hasan is a U.S. citizen, born in Virginia 39 years ago. But he was acutely aware of his roots: His late parents were Palestinians who immigrated to the U.S. in the early 1960s, when they were not yet adults themselves.

They ran businesses in Roanoke, where Hasan graduated from high school. He attended nearby Virginia Tech, graduating in 1997 with a degree in biochemistry. Virginia records show he obtained a concealed handgun permit a year earlier.

Hasan moved on to suburban Washington, D.C., where he got his medical degree at the Uniformed Services University and did his residency at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. He began to specialize in helping soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder — work that is known to put extraordinary stress on counselors.

He worshipped at the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring, Md., where mosque leaders and members offered a conflicting portrait of him Friday.

Dr. Asif Qadri, director of the center’s medical clinic, said Hasan was proud of his military service. Qadri trained at Walter Reed years before Hasan, and the two occasionally spoke about their common experiences.

“Knowing this particular person, I cannot believe this attack was political or religious,” Qadri said. “Something personally went wrong.”

But Ezeddine Benyedder, who described himself as one of Hasan’s close friends, said Hasan wasn’t keen about some parts of the military.

Benyedder, a 51-year-old from Silver Spring, said Hasan didn’t like the idea of fighting against other Muslims. Once, he said, the psychiatrist showed a group of friends a presentation he made on how religious objectors to war and violence should be allowed to leave the military.

“I am deeply saddened,” said the Muslim Community Center’s imam, Mohamed Abdullahi. “This act is against Islam, and yet Islam is accused because he is Muslim …

“The Quran says that if someone kills one single human being, it is as if he has killed all of humanity.”

A written statement from Hasan’s family sounded a similar note.

“Our family is filled with grief for the victims and their families involved in yesterday’s tragedy,” according to the statement, which was provided by Nader Hasan, a cousin of the suspect in Virginia. “We are mortified and there is no justification, whatsoever, for what happened.

“Everyone is asking why this happened — and the answer is that we simply do not know. We cannot explain, nor do we excuse or understand what happened yesterday.”

Terrorist links?

One clue may lie in an Internet posting made in May by someone using the name Nidal Hasan. It seemed to equate suicide bombers with soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save colleagues.

“To say that this soldier committed suicide is inappropriate,” the posting said. “It’s more appropriate to say he is a brave hero that sacrificed his life for a more noble cause.”

Law enforcement officials say they have not confirmed that Hasan actually posted the comment. McCaul, the congressman from Austin, suggested that they had.

“But do we have any proof that he was talking to a cell in Pakistan or Afghanistan? No,” McCaul said.

Investigators are scrubbing his computer and cellphone records.

“They’re clearly looking for any terrorist links,” McCaul said. “The military said it’s not terrorism-related, and it may not be.

“All the indications are that he operated by himself at Fort Hood, but the broader question is: Is he truly a lone wolf operating on his own, or was he radicalized through external sources either in the United States or overseas?” Hasan came to Fort Hood in July and found a 350-square-foot home at the Casa del Norte apartments.

By August, he told police, he was a crime victim. Someone used a key to scratch up his 2006 Honda Civic and ripped a bumper sticker that praised Allah.

Jose Padilla, who owns the apartments, believed that a tenant named John Van De Walker was responsible and evicted him. Last month, Killeen police arrested the man on a charge of criminal mischief.

Van De Walker was already on probation for aggravated assault of an ex-girlfriend. He was a soldier, too, suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder, said his mother, Brenda Yoder.

He was discharged from the Army on Oct. 21, the same day he was arrested, she said.

He remains jailed in Bell County and could not be reached for comment Friday. His mother said he accused Hasan of harassment: “He got into John’s face and said that Islam is the answer and that Christians suck.”

Final hours

Hasan rose well before dawn Thursday. He spent the first part of the day taking care of business.

Around 5 a.m., he called a neighbor and left a message thanking him for being a good friend.

Then he went to worship at the mosque of the Islamic Community of Greater Killeen, where associates said he had been attending occasionally without becoming a member.

He left about 6:15 a.m., said Abdulkarim Hulwe, who is retired from the U.S. Army and has lived in Killeen for 16 years.

“He was calm when he left,” Hulwe said, speaking after a Friday prayer service. “He was smiling — he was always smiling. He was a very nice man.

“I don’t know what happened. I’m not going to justify it. … I’m still shocked.”

Osman Danquah, who was in the Army for 22 years and co-founded the mosque, said of those who were gunned down Thursday: “Those could have been my soldiers.”

He added: “Islam means peace. Throughout history, Muslims and other faiths have coexisted.”

Sgt. Fahad Kamal, a mosque member who is a medic at Fort Hood, said he hoped the massacre doesn’t lead people to stereotype Muslims.

“Most Muslims,” he said, “join the Army as Americans first.”

By 6:20 a.m., Hasan was at a nearby 7-Eleven for his daily dose of hash browns. Later in the morning, he visited Villa, his next-door neighbor. She was making sweet tamales.

Hasan brought her a clothing steamer, clothing racks and an air mattress, adding to the frozen vegetables and chairs and holy book he’d given her earlier in the week. He asked her to clean his apartment on Friday. But when they looked at his place, it appeared to need little work.

He asked her how much she wanted for the job, and she said $30.

“That’s too little,” he replied, and gave her $60.

By early afternoon, Hasan was on the base. He was carrying a 5.7-millimeter pistol that he had legally purchased at a Killeen store called Guns Galore and another handgun, law enforcement officials told The Associated Press.

He went to a processing center that was full of soldiers who intended to go to Afghanistan. More than a dozen will never make it.

“I cannot comprehend,” Padilla said, “that the enemy was among us.”

Good read Chickenherder. What a shame.

I was listening to a radio station and the guy mentioned that the virginia state massacre guy and the guy from this army base went to the same school. Also the same week as the virginia incident the queen was in the US. At the time of this incident prince charles was in niagra on the lake canada. What are the odds of that. manchurian candidate?

I was listening to a radio station and the guy mentioned that the virginia state massacre guy and the guy from this army base went to the same school. Also the same week as the virginia incident the queen was in the US. At the time of this incident prince charles was in niagra on the lake canada. What are the odds of that. manchurian candidate?

and i was in my garage next to the beer fridge plotting against..... oops.
thats secret :)

sad news indeed, the man just snapped it seems. it's a shame he couldn't have stayed a good soldier. I'm sure there was a void in his life that nothing could fulfill that lead to hatred. appears he was never married, close to 40 and lived alone - variables which are probably common in men that commit these kinds of acts.