The Circle/A Ted Dekker Community
The official online community of New York Times best-selling author Ted Dekker.
Fort Hood, Tx- Man in Military Opens Fire in Base, 12 Dead, 31 wounded
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_fort_hood_shooting
I don't even live that far from there.
FORT HOOD, Texas – An Army psychiatrist set to be shipped overseas opened fire at the Fort Hood Army post Thursday, authorities said, a rampage that killed 12 people and left 31 wounded in the worst mass shooting ever at a military base in the United States.
The gunman, first said to have been killed, was wounded but alive in a hospital under military guard, said Lt. Gen. Bob Cone at Fort Hood. He was shot four times, and was on a ventilator and unconscious, according to military officials. "I would say his death is not imminent," Cone said.
The man was identified as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a 39-year-old from Virginia.
President Barack Obama called the shooting at the Soldier Readiness Center, where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening, "a horrific outburst of violence." Some rushed to treat their injured colleagues by ripping their uniforms into makeshift bandages to treat their wounds.
"It's difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans in battles overseas," the commander in chief said. "It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil."
Hasan had transferred to Fort Hood in July from Walter Reed Medical Center, where he received a poor performance evaluation, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said generals at Fort Hood told her that Hasan was about to deploy overseas. Retired Col. Terry Lee, who said he had worked with Hasan, told Fox News he was being sent to Afghanistan.
Lee said Hasan had hoped Obama would pull troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq and got into frequent arguments with others in the military who supported the wars.
Faizul Khan, a former imam at a mosque Hasan attended in Silver Spring, Md., said he spoke often with Hasan about how Hasan wanted to find a wife. Hasan was a lifelong Muslim and attended prayers regularly, often in his Army uniform, Khan said.
The shooter used two pistols, one of them semiautomatic. Neither were military-issued, Danner said.
Video from the scene showed police patrolling the area with handguns and rifles, ducking behind buildings for cover. Sirens could be heard wailing while a woman's voice on a public-address system urged people to take cover.
"I was confused and just shocked," said Spc. Jerry Richard, 27, who works at the center but was not on duty during the shooting. "Overseas you are ready for it. But here you can't even defend yourself."
Soldiers at Fort Hood don't carry weapons unless they are doing training exercises.
The Rev. Greg Schannep was about to head into a graduation ceremony when a man in uniform approached him, warning him that someone had opened fire. Schannep heard three volleys of gunfire and saw people running.
"There was a burst of shots and more bursts of shots and people running everywhere," said Schannep, who works for local Congressman John Carter.
The uniformed man who had warned him ran to the theater. Schannep said he could see the man's back was bloodied from a wound. The man survived, was treated and will be fine, Schannep said.
Cone said initially three people were held, and all have been interviewed. Authorities believe, however, that there was a single shooter.
In Washington, a senior U.S. official said authorities at Fort Hood initially thought one of the slain victims was the shooter, a mistake that resulted in a delay of several hours in identifying Hasan as the suspect. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters that were under investigation.
The Soldier Readiness Center holds hundreds of people and is one of the most populated parts of the base, said Steve Moore, a spokesman for III Corps at Fort Hood. Nearby there are barracks and a food center where there are fast food chains.
The wounded were dispersed among hospitals in central Texas, Cone said. Their identities, and the identities of the dead, were not immediately released.
Amber Bahr, 19, was shot in the stomach but was in stable condition, said her mother, Lisa Pfund of Random Lake, Wis.
"We know nothing, just that she was shot in the belly," Pfund told The Associated Press. She couldn't provide more details and only spoke with emergency personnel.
Hasan, whose family said he was born in suburban Washington, is single with no children. He graduated from Virginia Tech, where he was a member of the ROTC and earned a bachelor's degree in biochemistry in 1997. He received his medical degree from the military's Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., in 2001 and was at Walter Reed for six years for his internship, residency and a fellowship.
"We are shocked and saddened by the terrible events at Fort Hood today," his cousin, Nadar Hasan, said in a statement issued on behalf of their family. "We send the families of the victims our most heartfelt sympathies."
The attack happened just down the road from one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history. On Oct. 16, 1991, George Hennard smashed his pickup truck through a Luby's Cafeteria window in Killeen, Texas, and fired on the lunchtime crowd with a high-powered pistol, killing 22 people and wounding at least 20 others.
No other shooting at a military base in the U.S. has been anywhere near as deadly as Thursday's. In 1993, a gunman at Fort Knox shot five civilian co-workers, killing three, and then fatally shot himself.
Around the country, some bases stepped up security precautions, but no others were locked down.
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, it is located halfway between Austin and Waco.
___
Barrett reported from Washington. Associated Press Writers Pam Hess, Anne Gearan, Lara Jakes, Suzanne Gamboa and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington, Jeff Carlton at Fort Hood, Jay Root in Temple, Linda Stewart Ball, Anabelle Garay and Andre Coe in Dallas and Colin Fly in Milwaukee and the Associated Press News Research Center in New York contributed to this report.
I don't even live that far from there.
FORT HOOD, Texas – An Army psychiatrist set to be shipped overseas opened fire at the Fort Hood Army post Thursday, authorities said, a rampage that killed 12 people and left 31 wounded in the worst mass shooting ever at a military base in the United States.
The gunman, first said to have been killed, was wounded but alive in a hospital under military guard, said Lt. Gen. Bob Cone at Fort Hood. He was shot four times, and was on a ventilator and unconscious, according to military officials. "I would say his death is not imminent," Cone said.
The man was identified as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a 39-year-old from Virginia.
President Barack Obama called the shooting at the Soldier Readiness Center, where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening, "a horrific outburst of violence." Some rushed to treat their injured colleagues by ripping their uniforms into makeshift bandages to treat their wounds.
"It's difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans in battles overseas," the commander in chief said. "It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil."
Hasan had transferred to Fort Hood in July from Walter Reed Medical Center, where he received a poor performance evaluation, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.
Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said generals at Fort Hood told her that Hasan was about to deploy overseas. Retired Col. Terry Lee, who said he had worked with Hasan, told Fox News he was being sent to Afghanistan.
Lee said Hasan had hoped Obama would pull troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq and got into frequent arguments with others in the military who supported the wars.
Faizul Khan, a former imam at a mosque Hasan attended in Silver Spring, Md., said he spoke often with Hasan about how Hasan wanted to find a wife. Hasan was a lifelong Muslim and attended prayers regularly, often in his Army uniform, Khan said.
The shooter used two pistols, one of them semiautomatic. Neither were military-issued, Danner said.
Video from the scene showed police patrolling the area with handguns and rifles, ducking behind buildings for cover. Sirens could be heard wailing while a woman's voice on a public-address system urged people to take cover.
"I was confused and just shocked," said Spc. Jerry Richard, 27, who works at the center but was not on duty during the shooting. "Overseas you are ready for it. But here you can't even defend yourself."
Soldiers at Fort Hood don't carry weapons unless they are doing training exercises.
The Rev. Greg Schannep was about to head into a graduation ceremony when a man in uniform approached him, warning him that someone had opened fire. Schannep heard three volleys of gunfire and saw people running.
"There was a burst of shots and more bursts of shots and people running everywhere," said Schannep, who works for local Congressman John Carter.
The uniformed man who had warned him ran to the theater. Schannep said he could see the man's back was bloodied from a wound. The man survived, was treated and will be fine, Schannep said.
Cone said initially three people were held, and all have been interviewed. Authorities believe, however, that there was a single shooter.
In Washington, a senior U.S. official said authorities at Fort Hood initially thought one of the slain victims was the shooter, a mistake that resulted in a delay of several hours in identifying Hasan as the suspect. The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters that were under investigation.
The Soldier Readiness Center holds hundreds of people and is one of the most populated parts of the base, said Steve Moore, a spokesman for III Corps at Fort Hood. Nearby there are barracks and a food center where there are fast food chains.
The wounded were dispersed among hospitals in central Texas, Cone said. Their identities, and the identities of the dead, were not immediately released.
Amber Bahr, 19, was shot in the stomach but was in stable condition, said her mother, Lisa Pfund of Random Lake, Wis.
"We know nothing, just that she was shot in the belly," Pfund told The Associated Press. She couldn't provide more details and only spoke with emergency personnel.
Hasan, whose family said he was born in suburban Washington, is single with no children. He graduated from Virginia Tech, where he was a member of the ROTC and earned a bachelor's degree in biochemistry in 1997. He received his medical degree from the military's Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., in 2001 and was at Walter Reed for six years for his internship, residency and a fellowship.
"We are shocked and saddened by the terrible events at Fort Hood today," his cousin, Nadar Hasan, said in a statement issued on behalf of their family. "We send the families of the victims our most heartfelt sympathies."
The attack happened just down the road from one of the worst mass shootings in U.S. history. On Oct. 16, 1991, George Hennard smashed his pickup truck through a Luby's Cafeteria window in Killeen, Texas, and fired on the lunchtime crowd with a high-powered pistol, killing 22 people and wounding at least 20 others.
No other shooting at a military base in the U.S. has been anywhere near as deadly as Thursday's. In 1993, a gunman at Fort Knox shot five civilian co-workers, killing three, and then fatally shot himself.
Around the country, some bases stepped up security precautions, but no others were locked down.
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, it is located halfway between Austin and Waco.
___
Barrett reported from Washington. Associated Press Writers Pam Hess, Anne Gearan, Lara Jakes, Suzanne Gamboa and Lolita C. Baldor in Washington, Jeff Carlton at Fort Hood, Jay Root in Temple, Linda Stewart Ball, Anabelle Garay and Andre Coe in Dallas and Colin Fly in Milwaukee and the Associated Press News Research Center in New York contributed to this report.
Replies to This Discussion
-
Permalink Reply by Spy Hunter on -
I'm just saying. The firing squad was a war-time execution to swiftly deal with traitors. Though we are boots on foreign soil, we technically aren't "at war", so the military probably is not going to let this man off so easily as to just kill him.
-
Permalink Reply by Anomaly on -
I am by no means making any attempt to justify what this man has done. It was a complete tragedy what happened in Texas this week.
However, to any here who claim to be Christians, i would encourage us to focus more on the man's need for Jesus Christ than a firing squad.
It's not in our nature to do so, but we are not called to follow our nature.
At the same time, my prayers go out to the fallen and the family members that were affected by this. They deserved much better.
-
Permalink Reply by Spy Hunter on
-
Of course he needs Jesus. I'm just saying that if he does encounter Him, it will be in a deep, dark hole.
-
Permalink Reply by Zoe on -
Here is some updated info on the shooter. They keep calling him the suspect or alleged shooter, but I'm pretty sure they're pretty sure it's him. http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20091107/ap_on_re_us/us_fort_hood_shooting
-
Permalink Reply by Deb on -
A deacon in a Baptist church murders his family and shoots himself - is there an outcry over this?
Or is a muslim man serving his country going troppo better fodder?
-
Permalink Reply by Loxen on -
Deb said:A deacon in a Baptist church murders his family and shoots himself - is there an outcry over this?
Or is a muslim man serving his country going troppo better fodder?
One reason for the lack of outcry is that there isn’t a radical arm of the Baptist Church that has declared war on America and is committed to killing as many Americans as possible. Another might be that there is no Baptist doctrine or practice of “honor killings”. Another might be that the Baptist Church condemns murder and suicide. All of these “reasons”, put the deacon’s killing of his family and himself in the “whacko” column, as opposed to the “terrorism” column.
While no definitive conclusions have been made in the Fort Hood murders, the evidence that this rampage was politically motivated is mounting. It is unfortunate, but there are many Islamic Americans, serving in the military, and/or holding normal everyday jobs, who are sympathetic to the cause of the radical Muslim extremists. Noone knows at what point they will take that step of committing a terrorist act. This is naturally going to create a certain amount of fear, and when things like this happen, there is going to be a response by those who feel threatened. The “uproar”, (or at least a good part of it), is the result of putting political correctness ahead of protecting American lives. There are a lot of Americans who are tired of it, and I can't blame them.
-
Permalink Reply by Spy Hunter on
-
Deb, it is a terrible tragedy when a man goes crazy and kills his family and himself.
This was a massacre performed on a military base by an officer who killed at least 11 people in cold blood and wounded 31 others. He used two pistols, one of them semi-automatic. Let's say the man had perfect accuracy and didn't miss a single shot. That means he fired at least 42 rounds. The average .45 or 9mm handgun holds about 9 shots. That means he reloaded at least 4 times. Now, take into account the colonel on base said the assailant fired over a hundred rounds. That means this guy didn't just go "troppo". That means he knew what he was doing and had the presence of mind to continue doing it. It means he went out and purchased non-military issue firearms, lots of ammunition and extra clips with which to hold them (I'm going to say at least ten extra clips), pre-loaded them to allow for faster reload, then marched into the processing center, the most populated area of the complex, and opened fire on unarmed and defenseless military personnel.
I'm not sure for what you think this is merely fodder, but I think we're allowed to react to and comment on a pre-meditated and heinous act of cold-blooded slaughter on the largest scale in American history.
-
Permalink Reply by KC on -
I agree with those who say that if he doesn't agree with American values and goals (like fighting certain wars) then he should never have been in the military to begin with. I'm not saying deny any Muslim that wants to join up, but really, someone should have seen this coming long ago and discharged him.
-
Permalink Reply by Cassondra on -
I hesitate to say he was serving his country...I will admit I don't know much about him, or what he's done in the past. But he certainly didn't serve America well in this case...unless, of course, America is not his true country. Unless, of course, in his heart he serves another.
What in the world does troppo mean? Obviously means something along the lines of crazy...but are we sure it's just some crazy soldier who was pushed over the edge by something? PTSD and all, I understand (though that does not excuse murder, necessarily). I mean, the guy was a psych himself. You'd have thought he'd have seen his own warning signs of impending mental breakdown and sought help for himself. Unless, of course, this was a preplanned terrorist act.
Not that we're jumping all over you or anything. :)
Deb said:A deacon in a Baptist church murders his family and shoots himself - is there an outcry over this?
Or is a muslim man serving his country going troppo better fodder?
-
Permalink Reply by Lindis on -
Heh, Spy, those are almost the exact same words I was telling my family last night... though I was using fifteen round clips (any Glock 9mm comes standard with those now), so the math was slightly different.
This is interesting... from the link Zoe provided:
At the start of the attack, Hasan reportedly jumped up on a desk and shouted "Allahu akbar!" — Arabic for "God is great!"
Interesting word choice... obviously important to Muslims (duh) but also a chilling 'catchphrase' to Americans, something we're very used to hearing in conjunction with terrorist. Funny that he allegedly chose those words... he had to have known the implications.
-
Permalink Reply by Zoe on
-
As far as I know, it still hasn't been verified that he really said that, and it would have been easy for somebody who was there to either think he heard him say that, or to believe after the fact that he had. "Allahu akbar" is a very common saying; it's like the Muslim equivalent of "He is risen!" or something like that. During the Iranian election fiasco when people who opposed Ahmadinejad were afraid for their lives but still wanted to express themselves openly, what was it that they shouted? "Allah is great" - "Allahu akbar."
While it's not completely clear what his motivation was for doing this, but I have to say that just writing him off as a conscientious objector who went nuts doesn't really answer all the questions. We're not just talking about a person committing a spontaneous act of violence on a whim; he clearly planned what he was doing some time in advance, and had the presence of mind while doing it to keep it up, as Spy pointed out, enough to reload several times. I think it's been established that he had some serious psychological problems, and I am sure those played a big role in this action. But there is just as much evidence that says he was a radical sympathizer, and I don't at all think it's going too far to consider his religious beliefs as part of his motivation.
-
Permalink Reply by Deb on
-
Ok - I understand a little better now and I ask forgiveness if I came across in a negative way to the issue.
It does appear this may have been a trojan horse incident.
One blog I read said they were dismayed that this man's medical bill will be paid by the US Army - can we call that 'loving our enemies'?
I dunno. I am disturbed by the state of everything lately. And I don't like to think 'I'm saved their not,' either. I am where I am by the grace of God and because other people talked about Jesus.
About
© 2009 Created by Admin (KSK) on Ning. Create Your Own Social Network
