Toll Mounts In Fort Hood Shootings
The Army says at least 12 were killed and 31 people wounded in a pair of shootings at the Fort Hood Army base in Texas. An Army spokesman said three shooters were apparently involved.
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MICHELE NORRIS, host:
From NPR News, this is ALL THINGS CONSIDERED. I'm Michele Norris.
ROBERT SIEGEL, host:
I'm Robert Siegel.
And we begin this hour with a story that is still unfolding. A shooting this afternoon at Fort Hood, Texas. Twelve people have been killed and 31 wounded, maybe more. Lieutenant General Bob Cone just came out at Fort Hood and made a statement about the incident. We're going to play you now a portion of what he had to say.
Lieutenant General BOB CONE (U.S. Army): A shooter entered what we call the Soldier Readiness facility, where soldiers who are preparing to deploy go for last minute medical checkups and dental treatment, et cetera. Shooter opened fire and essentially, due to the quick response of the police forces, was killed. And at this time, the numbers that we're looking at are 12 dead and 31 wounded and they are dispersed among the local hospitals here in the Central Texas area.
Again, the extent of injuries varies significantly. And, again, we're getting great cooperation from the Central Texas medical facilities. As I said, the shooter was killed. He was a soldier. We since then have apprehended two additional soldiers that are suspects. And I would go into the point that there were eyewitness accounts that there may have been more than one shooter. They tracked the suspected individuals to an adjacent facility and they were apprehended. They are soldiers, but, again, they are suspects at this time, and we're looking into that.
SIEGEL: So, Lieutenant General Robert Cone, the commander at Fort Hood, speaking about 10 minutes ago. NPR's Mary Louise is tracking the story, Mary Louise Kelly, excuse me. She joins us now in the studio. Some of the things we don't know, first of all, are the identity of the gunmen or for that matter, of the victims or of the two other people who've been apprehended. What do we know?
MARY LOUISE KELLY: So, what we know is that this situation started to unfold about two and half hours ago. We're talking 2:30 p.m. Eastern Time, 1:30 in the afternoon local time at Fort Hood in Texas. We know, as we just heard, General Cone briefing there that a shooter began firing shots at the soldiers' readiness facility on post at Fort Hood. Police killed him and he is dead. There are two more suspects, as we heard, who are in custody now, all of them are soldiers.
We heard - we were told that two handguns were involved in the incident, at least one police officer, civilian police officer, is apparently among the dead and then these dozens of wounded who are currently being treated in hospitals.
SIEGEL: This question, very significant one, was there more than one shooter?
KELLY: Well, what we're told right now is one shooter, but at least two suspects who were perhaps involved in some way and obviously that is hugely significant because often what happens, sadly, in these mass killings is that one disgruntled person is behind them. Obviously, if more than one is involved, it suggests that there were some sort of plot, some sort of scheme here among multiple people, all of them, again, apparently, soldiers.
SIEGEL: And, again, this is all very vague as to whether there was any such conspiracy.
KELLY: Very early stages and we're told they do not have a confirmation of what the motive may have been at this point - what was behind this attack.
SIEGEL: Mary Louise, tell us a bit about Fort Hood.
KELLY: It is huge sprawling post. It is, in fact, the largest U.S. military installation in the world, so, quite significant to have this attack unfolding there. It's, of course, an Army post. It's where troops are deploying from -one of the places where U.S. troops are deploying to Iraq from and specifically it's in Killeen, Texas, which if you know Texas is about halfway between Austin and Waco. And the situation there still very fluid. We should keep stressing the base is still on lockdown. They are still trying to figure out exactly what's going on. They're telling people at Fort Hood, stay inside. Let us see what's going with the situation, get it under control.
SIEGEL: And today there was actually a college graduation ceremony scheduled for two o'clock. It was to recognize soldiers and their families who hadn't had the opportunity to participate in college commencement exercises during the past year because they'd been deployed for other reasons.
KELLY: That's correct. And we don't know whether this was linked in some way to that or not at this point.
SIEGEL: Mary Louise Kelly, thank you very much.
KELLY: You're welcome.
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Massacre Leaves 13 Dead At Fort Hood
Sgt. Fanuaee Vea (left) embraces Pvt. Savannah Green outside Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, on Thursday.
Sgt. Fanuaee Vea (left) embraces Pvt. Savannah Green outside Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, on Thursday.
A mass shooting rocked one of the nation's largest military posts on Thursday after a U.S. Army psychiatrist allegedly opened fire inside Fort Hood in Texas.
Thirteen people were killed and 30 people were injured according to U.S. military officials. Most of the victims were U.S. military personnel.
Post spokesman Tyler Broadway told the Associated Press early Friday that a 13th person had died.
The shooting occurred at the Soldier Readiness Center, where troops deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan receive last-minute medical checkups.
One U.S. soldier, armed with at least two handguns, including a semiautomatic weapon, started firing around 1:30 p.m. local time before he was eventually shot four times by emergency personnel responding to the incident, Lt. Gen. Robert Cone said.
Military officials said the alleged shooter, identified as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, was unconscious and on a ventilator.
A female civilian officer who shot the suspect was also among the wounded.
"As horrible as this was, I think it could have been much worse," Cone said at a press conference.
Cone initially told reporters that the suspect had been killed, but offered updated information at a second press conference that Hasan, a psychiatrist working at Fort Hood, had survived. The accused shooter, however, is not talking to investigators, according to Cone.
Authorities said they took three other U.S. soldiers into custody in the initial aftermath of the incident, but they were all quickly released.
The motive behind the shootings was not immediately clear, officials said.
"We've had a terrible tragedy here at Fort Hood here today," Cone told reporters outside the gate to Fort Hood a few hours after the shooting. "This is all under investigation."
A senior U.S. officials told The Associated Press that investigators have not ruled out the possibility that some casualties may have been victims of "friendly fire," shot by authorities amid the mayhem and confusion at the scene.
In a statement issued by a public relations firm, Hasan's first cousin, Nader Hasan, said Nidal Hasan was born in Arlington, Va., and went to local high schools before attending Virginia Tech. Nader Hasan said he spoke for the family because Nidal Hasan's parents are no longer alive.
"We are shocked and saddened by the terrible events at Fort Hood today," the statement read, in part. "We send the families of the victims our most heartfelt sympathies ... We are filled with grief for the families of today's victims. Our family loves America. We are proud of our country, and saddened by today's tragedy."
Hasan was a psychiatrist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for six years before being sent to Texas in July. He was apparently upset about being scheduled to deploy overseas, according to Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson of Texas, who told Fox News that she was told he may have been targeting specific individuals.
A source tells NPR's Joseph Shapiro that Hasan was put on probation early in his postgraduate work at the Uniformed Service University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md. He was disciplined for proselytizing about his Muslim faith with patients and colleagues, according to the source, who worked with him at the time.
As the attack unfolded, military officials immediately locked down the sprawling post, which covers some 335 square miles in central Texas. The lockdown was lifted several hours later, but the post continues to operate at a heightened level of security.
The post is a prime deployment point for the conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. Roughly half of Fort Hood's 44,000 soldiers were serving in Iraq or Afghanistan as of August 2009.
More than 520 soldiers from Fort Hood have been killed since the U.S. invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan.
In Washington, President Obama expressed his sympathies to the wounded and the families of the slain soldiers, and he pledged a full inquiry.
"It's difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans in battles overseas," he says. "It is horrifying that they come under fire at a military base on American soil."
Islamic groups were also quick to condemn the killing after it became clear that the suspected shooter was Muslim. The Council of American-Islamic Relations issued a statement calling it a "cowardly" attack.
"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," the group's statement said.
The first shots were fired 30 minutes before a graduation ceremony was scheduled to begin at a nearby theater on the base.
The wounded soldiers were taken to nearby hospitals, which put out an urgent call for blood donations.
Scott & White Memorial Hospital in nearby Temple, Texas, closed completely to outside visitors after taking in 10 gunshot victims from Fort Hood, according to a release from the hospital.
The incident sparked grim memories of an earlier mass shooting in the same area.
Fort Hood is located near Killeen, Texas, which was the site of one of the nation's worst mass shootings in history. On Oct. 16, 1991, George Hennard shot and killed 23 people in a Luby's Cafeteria restaurant before turning the gun on himself. He also wounded 20 people.
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