7 dead, 12 injured in Fort Hood shooting

UPDATED: Twelve people are reported dead and 31 injured at the Army base at Fort Hood, Texas. Three soldiers are suspected in the shooting..

From the Associated Press:

WASHINGTON — 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.

A spokesman for Fort Bragg said they were not taking additional precautions. "It's business as usual," Public Affairs Officer Jackie Thomas told WRAL News.

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.

Copyright MSNBC 2009

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[raybl]

9-11 was a false flag ..planned and carried out by the US Military to popularize plans for the Invasion, Destruction, and Taking of IRAQ .!

The hijackers were Saudis. They were purchased by the US Military. from thier Saudi allies. the day after 9-11, during the grounding of all air traffic,.. many saudis were were allowed to fly home from Washington

The Invasion, Destruction and Taking of Iraq was the main reason the US Military carried out 9-11 + + + + +-

[fal2grace]

you're right; it was not what it seemed to be... thank you for commenting.

[wph1138]

not allegedly. why the fuck are we so afraid to tell the truth? I went to the marine air base today in a van and said i was delivering stuff. They did not even look at my ID. we drove right on and no one even looked in our van. We were really working there but had we been not. We could have had our way with out restriction. I couldnt believe it.

[fal2grace]

that's really slack security.... thanks for the info.

[14ALL41OK]

take notice MORE THAN ONE GUNMEN - MKULTRA BLACK OP just like columbine and VT.... MORE SHOOTERS

[fal2grace]

thank you for commenting.

[krazy45cat]

my first thought was terrorism .Now after seeing the reports of course it was an islamic terrorist murder spree .

[DukeNorwood]

Muslims are inwardly pleased by what has occurred. You will not find a Muslim anywhere publicly denouncing what this terrorist has done to soldiers at Fort Hood.

[billyshearsnot]

Muslim Immigration Moratorium

[USAFFuturePilot]

@raybl AAAAAAAAANNNNNNNNNNNNDDDDDDDDD­D??????? What are you going to do if you really think it is? Heckle the dead? Accuse America of trying to gain money for a very small group of individuals, that seems to be BS because absolutely no-one got that much of a raise? I don't get all this talk about taking over Iraq. I don't see any combat force there anymore, nor do I see Iraq being 100% American controlled. Like you have made us infer, FUCK THE COALITION. THEY DIDN'T DO ANYTHING.

Please go die.

[missantonio09]

my daddy was in there waiting to pick up a package and he got impatient soo he left and looked bak and they closed that gate and people kept looking at me with sad faces and kept askin whos picking my up and i replied my dad and they shooked there head as if it werent true

[animegrl187]

Our world is just getting worse and worse as the years go by. More killers, less kind-hearted people.

[alshareffi]

What Happened at fort hood was a massacre no matter what the cause or the purpose of doing itkilling innocent soldiers and bringing sadness and pain to their families is brutal act just a small note.there is a lot of terrorist trying to hurt this great country not only the fanatic Muslimslike the guy who crushed his plane in Texas too by the way am a proud American Muslim and I wish that this guy got killed before killing any soldier

[zildjiandrummr12]

My school was in lockdown from this. Sad and eerie day.

[DarthVantos]

Why should they?