Breaking News: 7 Killed in Fort Hood, TX

Post Reply New Topic

(CNN) -- At least seven people are dead and between 12 and 15 wounded in shootings at Fort Hood in Texas on Thursday, senior Pentagon official told CNN.

At least one person is "neutralized" in connection with the incident, and a second is "cornered," retired Army Lt. Gen. Russel Honore told CNN, citing "unofficial, unconfirmed reports" from two sources.

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 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.

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.

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.

The guy was an f’n psychiatrist and an arab.

Correction: Not an arab but one of those crazy “born again” types.

A military doctor who feared an impending war deployment is believed to be the gunman behind a shooting rampage Thursday afternoon at the Army's Fort Hood in Texas that killed 11 and wounded 31 before the gunman was fatally shot.

Two soldiers were taken into custoy as possible suspects, Lt. Gen. Bob Cone told reporters Thursday evening, though the pair later were released and it isn't clear whether they they were involved in the violence.

Authorities have not identified the gunman publicly, but official sources have named Major Malik Nadal Hasan, a psychiatrist who reportedly didn't believe in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and wanted out of the military before he was set to be deployed overseas.

Hasan was working with soldiers at Darnall Army Medical Center on Fort Hood after being transfered in July from Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he had worked for six years.

Cone said witnesses thought they saw multiple shooters, but that couldn't be confirmed. The primary shooter used two handguns, he said.

The shooting took place 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the post's Soldier Readiness Center, where soldiers undergo medical screening before being deployed or after returning from overseas.

"We have a terrible, tragic situation here," said Cone. "Soldiers, family members and the civilians that work here are absolutely devastated."

Cone said the injuries "vary significantly" among the victims wounded in the shooting. The victims include one civilian police officer.

The shooter's cousin, Nader Hasan, told Fox News that their family is in shock.

"We are trying to make sense of all this," Nader Hasan said. "He wasn't even someone who enjoyed going to the firing range."

He said his cousin, who was born and raised in Virginia and graduated from Virginia Tech University, became against the wars after hearing the stories of those who came back from Afghanistan and Iraq.

Nader Hasan said his cousin, who was raised a Muslim, wanted to go into the military against his parent's wishes and was taunted by others after the terror attacks of Sept. 11.
Related Stories

George Stratton's son George Stratton III was five feet away from the shooter at the Soldier Readiness Center and suffered a gunshot wound to his left shoulder.

"He said he was there doing medical stuff and all of a sudden someone came through the door, walked behind the desk and just started shooting," Stratton told FoxNews.com.

He said about 15 rounds went off and people started dropping to the floor.

"He peaked up over the desk and that's when he was shot in the shoulder, and he just went down again. He said he saw one of his NCOs get badly shot," Stratton told FoxNews.com after talking to his son in the hospital. "After he got shot he told me, 'Dad, I got up, held my arm and took off running.'"

Stratton said his son was expected to be deployed to Afghanistan in January after going to basic training exactly a year ago.

"It's pretty hard to believe something like this happened," Stratton told FoxNews.com. "I think he's probably had his fill of war already."

President Obama called the shooting a "horrific outburst of violence" on members of the nation's armed forces. "It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an army base on American soil."

He said he doesn't yet know all the details but promised the government would get "answers to every single question."

Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said the shooting was a terrible tragedy for all of the military families affected.

The base and area schools were on lockdown after the mass shooting, and all those on the Army post were asked to gather for a head count.

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.

The way I see it is like this:

If you are born (mother and father same religion) then WHY would you convert to something else?
I mean, if God wanted you to be something else then God would have made sure that you were BORN something else.

Coadunate wrote:
The way I see it is like this:

If you are born (mother and father same religion) then WHY would you convert to something else?
I mean, if God wanted you to be something else then God would have made sure that you were BORN something else.


Really? How to you account for Abraham, whose father was a pagan and a maker of idols, becoming the world's first monotheist. He is regarded as the founder of both the Jewish and Muslim religion?

If you are born (mother and father same religion) then WHY would you convert to something else?
I mean, if God wanted you to be something else then God would have made sure that you were BORN something else.

You don’t SERIOUSLY expect me to “account” for God do you?

You don’t SERIOUSLY expect me to “account” for God do you?