Let the bullshit begin Fort Hood Shooting

[David Guyatt]

An odd and curious snippet. The same playbook?

Fort Hood gunman bought weapon at same store as Nidal Hassan

Ivan Lopez purchased his .45 Smith and Wesson semi-automatic pistol at the same shop as Nidal Hassan, who killed 13 people at the military base in 2009.

Ivan Lopez, the Ford Hood gunman, killed three comrades (Facebook)









By Nick Allen, Fort Hood, Texas

7:33AM BST 04 Apr 2014



Fort Hood gunman Ivan Lopez bought his semi-automatic handgun at the same shop where Nidal Hassan purchased the pistol he used to carry out a previous massacre at the base in 2009.

Lopez, 34, who killed three comrades and wounded 16 on Wednesday before shooting himself dead, bought his Smith & Wesson from Guns Galore, which would have been just a few minutes' drive in his grey Toyota Camry from the gate of Fort Hood.

The simple, warehouse-style store, located next to a strip club, contains around 1,700 weapons including high powered rifles and cases full of pistols.

Lopez bought his .45 Smith & Wesson there legally in March but a manger politely declined to say exactly when. He said the store had turned over all information it had, which is believed to include CCTV, to the US government.

In 2009 Hassan, also legally, bought a semi-automatic Belgian-made FN Herstal Five-Seven tactical pistol for $1,139.99.

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Fort Hood is the largest military base in America. When soldiers working there, families, and civilian contractors are added together it has a daytime population of over 100,000. Senior officers said it would be impossible to check every soldier passing through the gate to see if they were armed.
On his Facebook page Lopez went under the name Ivan Slipknot, a reference to the US heavy metal band Slipknot. He had played drums in a school band in his native Puerto Rico.
Amid photographs of himself brandishing large guns and a shoulder held rocket launcher Lopez had also recently posted on the internet a Spanish comment reflecting his anger at being robbed.
Fox News translated the comment as: "I have just lost my inner peace, full of hatred, I think this time the devil will take me. I was robbed last night and I am sure it was 2 flacos. Green light and finger ready. As easy as that."
Fort Hood base commander Lt Gen Mark Milley said there was a "strong possibility" there had been an altercation with one or more soldiers before the shooting. However, there was no indication that Lopez targeted specific soldiers, he said.
He added: "We have very strong evidence that he has a medical history that indicates an unstable psychiatric or psychological condition.We believe that to be the fundamental underlying causal factor."
Lopez, who served four months in Iraq as a truck driver in 2011, was being evaluated for possible post-traumatic stress disorder, but his superiors said they had seen no sign he posed any danger. He was taking anti-drepressants and Ambien for insomnia.
He had previously been assigned to Fort Bliss, Texas as an infantryman but became a motor transport operator in December 2013 and transferred to Fort Hood.
His mother Carmen, a nurse, died recently and friends said he was upset that he had not been given more time to go to her funeral in Guayanilla, Puerto Rico.
They said he was only allowed to leave the base after five days and given a 24 hour pass.
Edgardo Arlequin, the Mayor of Guayanilla, said: "That was one of the reasons why he was very upset. They only gave him 24 hours. He was very, very close to his mother. His mother was a nice person and everybody in the town knew her."
Near his home on the edge of Fort Hood neighbour Mahogoney Jones, 21, said she last saw Lopez when he came back for lunch a few hours before the shooting,
She said: "He was calm. He petted my dog and then went back to base. They get an hour to come home. He was going to his car and I was like 'Hey, how's your day going?' and he seemed perfectly fine."
She said he replied: "Day's going pretty good. I'll see you whenever I come back home."

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