Fort Hood Shootings – Three U.S. soldiers opened fire at Fort Hood and in coordinated shootings killed eleven people and wounded 31, with one shooter also killed and two in custody.
The Fort Hood shootings were a pre-meditated attack by three U.S. soldiers believed to have been radicalized by a terror group and occurred in a complex near a theater where a unit’s graduation service was scheduled.
One of the arrested soldiers held the rank of Major.
According to Sgt. Major Jamie Posten from the Fort Hood public affairs office, the shooting happened “near the soldier readiness processing center, where soldiers cycle through as they prepare to deploy.”
He said this is where the soldiers go, up to 60 days before deployment, to begin the process of vaccinations and other preparation. That complex is on the West side of post, off Battalion Avenue.
A nurse at Metroplex Hospital on Fort Hood confirms that those injured in the shooting were being taken there and told reporters that all the injured were all military personnel.
A policeman who tried to stop the attack was reportedly among those killed in the shootings.
And that’s the latest news on the Fort Hood shootings.
Tags: fort hood, fort hood shooting, shooting, terror group, terrorists
November 5th, 2009 at 8:51 pm
The suspected gunman was identified by ABC News as Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist who was scheduled to be deployed to Iraq.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchinson, R-Texas, told Fox News that military sources informed her that the gunman was about to be deployed to Iraq. Sources tell ABC News that this would have been his first deployment.
The shooter was killed and two other suspects, who are also soldiers, have been apprehended, Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone said.
Hasan allegedly opened fire and killed 12 people on the post before he was shot dead, bringing the total number of fatalities to 13.
The general said there were “eyewitness accounts of more than one shooter,” and the others were tracked to an adjacent facility.
November 5th, 2009 at 8:56 pm
Cone said the motive for the attack, which took place just after 1:30 p.m. CT, is unclear.
According to sources, Hasan, who is either 39 or 40, attended the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD. He graduated in 2003 with a degree in Osteopathy and later finished his residency as a psychiatrist.
In 2009, Hasan completed a fellowship in Disaster and Preventive Psychiatry at the Center for Traumatic Stress.
He was promoted to major status in May, according to the Army Times.
Fort Hood, located just 60 miles north from Austin, is the largest U.S. military installation in the world, and has suffered the greatest number of casualities of all American bases in the war on Iraq.
The base is a 340 sq. mile facility located in Killeen, Texas and is home to the 1st Cavalry Division, which was one of the first groups of soldiers deployed to Iraq.
Cone said that a gunman entered a facility known as the Soldier Readiness Facility, where soldiers who are preparing to deploy go for last minute medical check ups and dental treatment. Sources told ABC News that the soldiers gathered there were getting ready to deploy to Iraq.
The gunman used two handguns, Cone said. He wasn’t sure if the shooter reloaded the weapons during the attack.
“The gunman opened fire and essentially due to the quick respond of the police forces was killed,” said Cone.
The shooter was killed by civilian law enforcement and one police officer died in the shootout, Cone said.
The gunman’s suspected accomplices were taken into custody in an adjacent facility known as the old SportsDome Complex.
November 5th, 2009 at 9:00 pm
Photo of Major Malik Nadal Hasan
November 6th, 2009 at 4:55 pm
Sgt. Kimberly Munley, a civilian police officer, has earned the highest praise for taking down the Fort Hood gunman.
She and her partner responded to the scene within 3 minutes, base commander Lt. Gen. Robert Cone reports, and she pumped four bullets into Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, from just a few feet away, while taking a bullet herself.
“Really a pretty amazing and aggressive performance by this police officer,” Cone says.
The Fort Hood Police Department officer was directing traffic when the report of gunfire came in; she confronted Hasan as he was turning a corner, Cone said.
“She walked up and engaged him,” he said, calling her “one of our most impressive young police officers.”
Munley, who’s in stable condition at a local hospital, is a trained first responder.
Her Twitter bio reads “I live a good life … a hard one, but I go to sleep peacefully @ night knowing that I may have made a difference in someone’s life.”