06-11-2009, 04:45 PM
(This post was last modified: 06-11-2009, 05:24 PM by Peter Lemkin.)
Good reportage on this at http://www.democracynow.org/2009/11/6/in...ing_of_its
Army psychiatrist trained to help soldiers in distress to turn on his comrades in a shooting rampage that killed 13 people and wounded 31 in Texas.
Scroll down for the latest news listed chronologically. Live updates via Twitter are HERE.
6:50 AM ET -- (AP) The suspected shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was on a ventilator and unconscious in a hospital after being shot four times during the shootings at the Army's sprawling Fort Hood, post officials said. In the early chaos after the shootings, authorities believed they had killed him, only to discover later that he had survived.
In Washington, a senior U.S. official said authorities at Fort Hood initially thought one of the victims who had been shot and killed was the shooter. The mistake resulted in a delay of several hours in identifying Hasan as the alleged assailant.
Authorities have not ruled out that Hasan was acting on behalf of some unidentified radical group, the official said. He would not say whether any evidence had come to light to support that theory.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters that were under investigation.
Officials are not ruling out the possibility that some of the casualties may have been victims of "friendly fire," that in the mayhem and confusion at the shooting scene some of the responding military officials may have shot some of the victims.
The gunfire broke out around 1:30 p.m. at the Soldier Readiness Center, where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening. Nearby, some soldiers were readying to head into a graduation ceremony for troops who had recently earned degrees and their families.
Story continues below
Pastor Greg Schannep had just parked his car along the side of the theater and was about to head into the ceremony when a man in uniform approached him.
"Sir, they are opening fire over there!" the man told him. At first, he thought it was a training exercise -- then heard three volleys and saw people running. As the man who warned him about the shots ran away, he could see the man's back was bloodied from a wound.
Schannep said police and medical and other emergency personnel were on the scene in an instant, telling people to get inside the theater. The post went into lockdown while a search began for a suspect and emergency workers began trying to treat the wounded. Some soldiers rushed to treat their injured colleagues by ripping their uniforms into makeshift bandages to treat their wounds.
Fort Hood Lt. Gen. Bob Cone praised the soldiers for their quick reaction.
"God bless these soldiers," Cone said. "As horrible as this was it could have been worse."
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. Schools on the base went into lockdown, and family members trying to find out what was happening inside found cell phone lines jammed or busy.
"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."
The wounded were dispersed among hospitals in central Texas, Cone said. Their identities and the identities of the dead were not immediately released.
Jamie and Scotty Casteel stood outside the emergency room at the hospital in Temple waiting for news of their son-in-law Matthew Cooke, who was among the injured.
"He's been shot in the abdomen and that's all we know," Jamie Casteel told The Associated Press. She said Cook, from New York state, had been home from Iraq for about a year.
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 said. She couldn't provide more details and only spoke with emergency personnel.
Ashley Saucedo told WOOD-TV in Michigan that her husband was shot in the arm, but she couldn't discuss specifics. Saucedo said she and the couple's two children weren't permitted to leave their home at Fort Hood during the shootings.
The motive for the shooting wasn't clear, but Hasan was apparently set to deploy soon, and had expressed some anger about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 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.
For six years before reporting for duty at Fort Hood, in July, the 39-year-old Army major worked at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center pursuing a career in psychiatry, as an intern, a resident and, last year, a fellow in disaster and preventive psychiatry. He received his medical degree from the military's Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., in 2001.
But his record wasn't sterling. At Walter Reed, 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. And while he was an intern, Hasan had some "difficulties" that required counseling and extra supervision, said Dr. Thomas Grieger, who was the training director at the time.
At least six months ago, Hasan came to the attention of law enforcement officials because of Internet postings about suicide bombings and other threats, including posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades.
Investigators had not determined for certain whether Hasan was the author of the posting, and a formal investigation had not been opened before the shooting, said law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case.
10:09PM ET -- Col. Ben Danner says Hasan was shot at least 4 times.
9:43PM ET -- Fort Hood commanding officer holds press conference. Watch the press conference given roughly 30 minutes ago by Lt. Gen Bob Cone. Cone reversed earlier reports of the suspected gunman's death, saying Hasan was shot and wounded but is alive and in stable condition.
9:21 PM ET -- Gunman Hasan not dead but wounded. Lt. Gen Bob Cone is holding a press conference right now and he has just confirmed that the gunman Nidal Malik Hasan is not dead, contrary to prior reports. He was shot and wounded and has not been interrogated yet. Hasan is in stable condition. Cone cited confusion at the hospital for the earlier incorrect reports of Hasan's death.
Cone also cannot speak to if Hasan was firing indiscriminately or targeting specific people. Earlier reports had Hasan using two handguns, but Cone said one of the weapons was a semi-automatic weapon. Cone praised the first responders on the scene, saying this could have been much worse than it was.
9:02 PM ET -- Fort Hood families can call 254-288-7570 for information.
8:56 PM ET -- Shootings reportedly not indiscriminate. CNN reports that Senator Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is saying the shootings were not indiscriminate but were targeted at specific people. This has not been confirmed beyond Hutchison.
8:51 PM ET -- Authorities aware of Hasan six months ago. The AP reports that Hasan came to the attention of authorities six months ago due to internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other attacks. It is not confirmed that Hasan was the author of these postings. One of the them can be read here.
8:32 PM ET -- Compounding the tragedy is that Fort Hood has lost more troops in the Iraq war than any U.S. based military facility.
8:29PM ET -- Nadar Hasan, cousin to gunman, speaks to Fox News. Hasan's cousin spoke to Fox News' Shepard Smith and said the family is "shocked" at the news. He said Hasan is a "good American" who joined the military "against his parents' wishes... right out of high school." Being deployed to Iraq was his "worst nightmare." Watch the interview here.
8:09PM ET -- Suspect in custody is suspected second shooter. Ft. Hood spokesman Christopher Haug told Campbell brown that authorities suspect there were two shooters, and the person in authorities have in custody is suspected of being the second shooter.
8:06PM ET -- Authorities report that the lockdown on Fort Hood has been lifted.
7:53PM ET -- Another man detained for questioning. Fort Hood spokesman Christopher Haug confirms reports that another person has been detained for questioning in the shooting.
7:38PM ET -- Fox News' Shepard Smith reports he is hearing that the two men who were arrested and subsequently released were trying to stop the shooting and were detained out of precaution.
7:33 PM ET -- Raw video from Fort Hood.
7:31 PM ET -- NBC News: Another shooting victim has died. The victim was identified as a female by MSNBC.
7:02 PM ET -- AP Newsbreak: "AP source: Suspected Fort Hood shooter got poor performance evaluation for Army hospital work."
6:41 PM ET -- Congressman: Other soldiers detained have been released. "The two suspects arrested shortly after the shooting have been released," the Austin American-Statesman reports, citing the office of Rep. John Carter, whose district includes Fort Hood.
6:26 PM ET -- Senator: Suspect was upset about deployment. Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison told CNN that the Army Major identified as one of the shooters at Fort Hood was upset about his upcoming deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, in a statement, Texas Sen. Jon Cornyn urges patience:
It is imperative that we take the time to gather all the facts, as it would be irresponsible to be the source of rumors or inaccurate information regarding such a horrific event. Once we have ascertained all the facts, working with our military leaders and law enforcement officials on the ground, we can determine what exactly happened at Fort Hood today and how to prevent something like this from ever happening again. We do not yet have these details. My prayers are with the individuals who were killed today, the wounded and their loved ones.
1 2 Next Last » [Huffington Post]
Army psychiatrist trained to help soldiers in distress to turn on his comrades in a shooting rampage that killed 13 people and wounded 31 in Texas.
Scroll down for the latest news listed chronologically. Live updates via Twitter are HERE.
6:50 AM ET -- (AP) The suspected shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was on a ventilator and unconscious in a hospital after being shot four times during the shootings at the Army's sprawling Fort Hood, post officials said. In the early chaos after the shootings, authorities believed they had killed him, only to discover later that he had survived.
In Washington, a senior U.S. official said authorities at Fort Hood initially thought one of the victims who had been shot and killed was the shooter. The mistake resulted in a delay of several hours in identifying Hasan as the alleged assailant.
Authorities have not ruled out that Hasan was acting on behalf of some unidentified radical group, the official said. He would not say whether any evidence had come to light to support that theory.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters that were under investigation.
Officials are not ruling out the possibility that some of the casualties may have been victims of "friendly fire," that in the mayhem and confusion at the shooting scene some of the responding military officials may have shot some of the victims.
The gunfire broke out around 1:30 p.m. at the Soldier Readiness Center, where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening. Nearby, some soldiers were readying to head into a graduation ceremony for troops who had recently earned degrees and their families.
Story continues below
Pastor Greg Schannep had just parked his car along the side of the theater and was about to head into the ceremony when a man in uniform approached him.
"Sir, they are opening fire over there!" the man told him. At first, he thought it was a training exercise -- then heard three volleys and saw people running. As the man who warned him about the shots ran away, he could see the man's back was bloodied from a wound.
Schannep said police and medical and other emergency personnel were on the scene in an instant, telling people to get inside the theater. The post went into lockdown while a search began for a suspect and emergency workers began trying to treat the wounded. Some soldiers rushed to treat their injured colleagues by ripping their uniforms into makeshift bandages to treat their wounds.
Fort Hood Lt. Gen. Bob Cone praised the soldiers for their quick reaction.
"God bless these soldiers," Cone said. "As horrible as this was it could have been worse."
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. Schools on the base went into lockdown, and family members trying to find out what was happening inside found cell phone lines jammed or busy.
"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."
The wounded were dispersed among hospitals in central Texas, Cone said. Their identities and the identities of the dead were not immediately released.
Jamie and Scotty Casteel stood outside the emergency room at the hospital in Temple waiting for news of their son-in-law Matthew Cooke, who was among the injured.
"He's been shot in the abdomen and that's all we know," Jamie Casteel told The Associated Press. She said Cook, from New York state, had been home from Iraq for about a year.
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 said. She couldn't provide more details and only spoke with emergency personnel.
Ashley Saucedo told WOOD-TV in Michigan that her husband was shot in the arm, but she couldn't discuss specifics. Saucedo said she and the couple's two children weren't permitted to leave their home at Fort Hood during the shootings.
The motive for the shooting wasn't clear, but Hasan was apparently set to deploy soon, and had expressed some anger about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. 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.
For six years before reporting for duty at Fort Hood, in July, the 39-year-old Army major worked at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center pursuing a career in psychiatry, as an intern, a resident and, last year, a fellow in disaster and preventive psychiatry. He received his medical degree from the military's Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., in 2001.
But his record wasn't sterling. At Walter Reed, 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. And while he was an intern, Hasan had some "difficulties" that required counseling and extra supervision, said Dr. Thomas Grieger, who was the training director at the time.
At least six months ago, Hasan came to the attention of law enforcement officials because of Internet postings about suicide bombings and other threats, including posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades.
Investigators had not determined for certain whether Hasan was the author of the posting, and a formal investigation had not been opened before the shooting, said law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case.
10:09PM ET -- Col. Ben Danner says Hasan was shot at least 4 times.
9:43PM ET -- Fort Hood commanding officer holds press conference. Watch the press conference given roughly 30 minutes ago by Lt. Gen Bob Cone. Cone reversed earlier reports of the suspected gunman's death, saying Hasan was shot and wounded but is alive and in stable condition.
9:21 PM ET -- Gunman Hasan not dead but wounded. Lt. Gen Bob Cone is holding a press conference right now and he has just confirmed that the gunman Nidal Malik Hasan is not dead, contrary to prior reports. He was shot and wounded and has not been interrogated yet. Hasan is in stable condition. Cone cited confusion at the hospital for the earlier incorrect reports of Hasan's death.
Cone also cannot speak to if Hasan was firing indiscriminately or targeting specific people. Earlier reports had Hasan using two handguns, but Cone said one of the weapons was a semi-automatic weapon. Cone praised the first responders on the scene, saying this could have been much worse than it was.
9:02 PM ET -- Fort Hood families can call 254-288-7570 for information.
8:56 PM ET -- Shootings reportedly not indiscriminate. CNN reports that Senator Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison is saying the shootings were not indiscriminate but were targeted at specific people. This has not been confirmed beyond Hutchison.
8:51 PM ET -- Authorities aware of Hasan six months ago. The AP reports that Hasan came to the attention of authorities six months ago due to internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other attacks. It is not confirmed that Hasan was the author of these postings. One of the them can be read here.
8:32 PM ET -- Compounding the tragedy is that Fort Hood has lost more troops in the Iraq war than any U.S. based military facility.
8:29PM ET -- Nadar Hasan, cousin to gunman, speaks to Fox News. Hasan's cousin spoke to Fox News' Shepard Smith and said the family is "shocked" at the news. He said Hasan is a "good American" who joined the military "against his parents' wishes... right out of high school." Being deployed to Iraq was his "worst nightmare." Watch the interview here.
8:09PM ET -- Suspect in custody is suspected second shooter. Ft. Hood spokesman Christopher Haug told Campbell brown that authorities suspect there were two shooters, and the person in authorities have in custody is suspected of being the second shooter.
8:06PM ET -- Authorities report that the lockdown on Fort Hood has been lifted.
7:53PM ET -- Another man detained for questioning. Fort Hood spokesman Christopher Haug confirms reports that another person has been detained for questioning in the shooting.
7:38PM ET -- Fox News' Shepard Smith reports he is hearing that the two men who were arrested and subsequently released were trying to stop the shooting and were detained out of precaution.
7:33 PM ET -- Raw video from Fort Hood.
7:31 PM ET -- NBC News: Another shooting victim has died. The victim was identified as a female by MSNBC.
7:02 PM ET -- AP Newsbreak: "AP source: Suspected Fort Hood shooter got poor performance evaluation for Army hospital work."
6:41 PM ET -- Congressman: Other soldiers detained have been released. "The two suspects arrested shortly after the shooting have been released," the Austin American-Statesman reports, citing the office of Rep. John Carter, whose district includes Fort Hood.
6:26 PM ET -- Senator: Suspect was upset about deployment. Texas Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison told CNN that the Army Major identified as one of the shooters at Fort Hood was upset about his upcoming deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan.
Meanwhile, in a statement, Texas Sen. Jon Cornyn urges patience:
It is imperative that we take the time to gather all the facts, as it would be irresponsible to be the source of rumors or inaccurate information regarding such a horrific event. Once we have ascertained all the facts, working with our military leaders and law enforcement officials on the ground, we can determine what exactly happened at Fort Hood today and how to prevent something like this from ever happening again. We do not yet have these details. My prayers are with the individuals who were killed today, the wounded and their loved ones.
1 2 Next Last » [Huffington Post]
"Let me issue and control a nation's money and I care not who writes the laws. - Mayer Rothschild
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass
"Civil disobedience is not our problem. Our problem is civil obedience! People are obedient in the face of poverty, starvation, stupidity, war, and cruelty. Our problem is that grand thieves are running the country. That's our problem!" - Howard Zinn
"If there is no struggle there is no progress. Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and never will" - Frederick Douglass