Carnage reminded soldiers of war

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War veterans say the shooting at a US military base which killed 13 people caused carnage and confusion that rivalled their worst days in Iraq.

[keywords] => gunman, us, hood [content] =>

 

Soldiers and medical personnel at Fort Hood, Texas, one of the nation's busiest posts, recounted a tale of horror following the terrifying rampage here when a lone gunman fired on scores of soldiers.

The troops, all war veterans, told reporters that they saw carnage and confusion rivalling their worst days in Iraq.

But they singled out a petite, tenacious Fort Hood civilian police officer for preventing the toll from being far higher than Thursday's 13 dead and 30 injured.

Kimberly Munley, 34, was directing traffic when the first shots rang out in the early afternoon. She rushed to the scene and challenged the alleged shooter, psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan, by pumping two rounds into him from her handgun.

Hasan charged at the woman, firing back, and both fell in a hail of gunfire that sparked what one witness called "controlled chaos."

Soldiers were ripping off shirts to use them as pressure bandages to stop the bleeding of the wounded.

Army Chief of Staff George Casey told reporters that one soldier dragged four wounded comrades to his pickup truck and drove them to Darnall Army Community Hospital, the post's medical center.

Questions about gunman unanswered

Neither Casey nor Army Secretary John McHugh revealed details about the 39-year-old psychiatrist thought to have been the lone assailant.

Hasan, a Virginia native, was shot multiple times by Munley, a weapons expert and member of the post's SWAT team.

He was in stable condition yesterday at Brooke Army Medical Center, spokesman Dewey Mitchell said, declining to reveal other details of his condition or injuries.

Witnesses at the shooting scene and at the Fort Hood hospital described the attack as a virtual replay of their own experiences in Iraq.

Veterans call the mass casualty events "mas cals," but this one was different in a significant way -- most victims in Iraq suffer burns and trauma as a result of powerful bombs, but the Fort Hood victims all suffered bullet wounds.

Survivors experience flashbacks

One witness, private Marquest Smith, said he saw Hasan walk between hundreds of soldiers standing in rows at Fort Hood's Soldier Readiness Center, firing at them with two handguns.

Soldiers returning from the war zone and preparing to deploy receive medical and mental assessments here, among other things.

"I feel very betrayed," said Smith, 21, from Fort Worth, Texas.

"He was in uniform. He was supposed to be in the fight with us, not against us."

Andrew Hagerman, a 27-year-old military police officer from Lewisville, Texas, was patrolling a residential area on the post when he heard a report of gunshots.

A few moments later he saw Hasan, shirtless and in combat pants, on the ground. Hasan was wounded and unconscious.

"You don't ever expect to see this when you're at home," said Hagerman, a two-tour veteran of Iraq.

Howard Appleby, a 31-year-old Jamaican on his way to see a psychiatrist treating him for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, said he had flashbacks of his two Iraq deployments while taking wounded troops out of ambulances.

When asked to describe the flashbacks, he replied, "I don't even want to talk about it."

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US Defense Secretary Robert Gates and Chairman of Joint Chiefs of Staff Admiral Michael Mullen have expressed deep sorrow over the mass shooting at a military base in Texas that left 12 people dead and 31 wounded.
  
"I am deeply saddened by the tragic events today at Fort Hood. My thoughts and prayers are with the families of the fallen, the wounded, and all those touched by this incident," said Gates.
  
"I can pledge that the Department of Defense will do everything in its power to help the Fort Hood community get through these difficult times," he added.
  
Officials at Fort Hood, the largest US military base in the world, said Thursday that a soldier opened fire in a busy processing center where troops go before being deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan. Twelve people including the shooter were killed.
  
The shooter killed by police was identified as Nidal Malik Hasan, a military psychiatrist.
  
Mullen also said he was "deeply saddened by the news," and added that the Army was investigating what appears to be the deadliest mass shooting at a US military base in modern history.
  
"It is important we let that work complete before we speculate about the circumstances leading to this senseless violence," he added.

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A Muslim army officer about to be deployed to Iraq shot dead 12 people and wounded 31 others at a Texas military base before being gunned down and captured.

Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a US Army psychiatrist, opened fire with two handguns at a processing centre at Fort Hood for troops being deployed on missions to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Initial reports suggested Hasan had been shot and killed in the incident, but they were later withdrawn.

"There was a single shooter that was shot multiple times at the scene," Lieutenant General Bob Cone, commander of the base, said.

"He was not killed as previously reported. He is currently in custody and in stable condition."

 Cone confirmed that Hasan had shot dead 12 people, raising an earlier toll of 11, before being shot himself by a "female civilian officer", thought to be the first responder on scene.

The killing spree began about 1.30pm on Thursday (6.30am AEDT Friday), when at least one soldier opened fire on fellow troops at the base, one of the world's largest military facilities.

Gunman's path blocked

The shooting took place as soldiers were awaiting medical and dental treatment at a processing centre at Fort Hood for troops being deployed on missions to Iraq and Afghanistan, he said.

The "preponderance" of the victims were military personnel, but there were also two civilians involved, Cone added.

Further bloodshed was narrowly prevented when the gunman was apparently blocked from reaching a graduation ceremony attended by some 600 people, just metres away from the scene.

"Thanks to the quick reaction of several soldiers, they were able to close off the doors to that auditorium," Cone said.

After interviewing over 100 people at the scene investigators appear to have ruled out the possibility that Hasan acted with an accomplice.

"There were initially three held. All have been interviewed, and at this time we believe the evidence indicates it was a single shooter," Cone said.

President's tribute to victims

President Barack Obama, who had been kept informed of the shooting as the drama was tracked in the White House situation room, denounced the attack as a "horrific outburst of violence".

"My immediate thoughts and prayers are with the wounded, and with the families of the fallen," Obama said.

"It's difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans in battles overseas. It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an army base on American soil."

The US Senate held a moment of silence late on Thursday in sombre acknowledgement of the shooting rampage.

Fort Hood, a massive base that is more like a small town housing tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians, was locked down after the shooting for several hours.

Cone said he had been stunned by the incident, adding "soldiers and family members and many of the great civilians that work here are absolutely devastated.

Post-traumatic stress disorder

"I want to express my condolences to the soldiers, the families, and the civilians in this great community in central Texas. This is a tragedy, but we will work through it."

Many of the victims were taken to the Scott and White Memorial Hospital, which put out an urgent call for blood donations as streams of wounded poured into its emergency rooms.

"Due to the recent events on Fort Hood, we are in urgent need of all blood types," read a statement from the hospital.

Fort Hood has been working to rehabilitate many soldiers suffering from post-traumatic stress syndrome, local congressman John Carter told MSNBC.

The base in central Texas is the headquarters of the Army 3rd Corps, the 4th Infantry Division and the 1st Cavalry Division. All those units have seen extensive duty in Iraq.

Fatal shootings are rare at US military bases and Thursday's was one of the worst.

In May 2007, five men suspected of being Islamic militants were arrested by the FBI and charged with plotting to attack Fort Dix in New Jersey. Four were sentenced in April to life imprisonment, and the fifth to 30 years.

 

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 US President Barack Obama led his nation in mourning as shocked Americans struggled to understand why an army doctor unleashed a massacre at a US military base, killing 13.

Alleged shooter Major Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, a psychiatrist and specialist in combat stress who had been about to deploy to Afghanistan against his wishes, also wounded 30 people in Thursday's deadly rampage.

Just hours later, Americans were left reeling again when a disgruntled former employee went on the rampage in an office block in Orlando, Florida, killing one and wounding five before being arrested.

Speculation swirled at Fort Hood in Texas as to whether the alleged shooter Hasan had snapped under the pressure of his job counseling thousands of war-wreary troops, or was motivated by deeper convictions.

Flags fly at half-staff

Obama cautioned against making hasty assumptions as an investigation was launched. "We don't know all of the answers yet. I would caution against jumping to conclusions until we have all of the facts," he said.

"What we do know is that their families, friends, and an entire nation is grieving right now for the valued men and women that came under attack," Obama said.

He ordered flags to fly at half-staff at the White House and federal buildings, as troops here and around the world held a minute's silence to mourn the dead. Obama would also attend a memorial service due to be held in the coming days, the White House said.

Army chief of staff General George Casey said: "This was a kick in the gut, not only for the Fort Hood community but for the entire army."

Hassan stopped by police

Hasan was shot and seriously wounded by a female civilian police officer who was being hailed as a heroine for ending his deadly rampage. He remained on a ventilator in a civilian hospital Friday.

Witnesses reportedly heard him shout "Allahu Akbar!" (God is greatest) as he opened fire in a troop processing center with a semiautomatic weapon and a handgun.

"There are first hand accounts here from soldiers here that are similar to that," base commander Lieutenant General Bob Cone said.

A surveillance video aired by CNN showed the major buying breakfast wearing traditional Muslim garb at a base store just hours before the shooting.

US army under strain

The bloodshed dealt a new blow to US forces already under severe strain from repeated combat tours and plagued by a rise in suicides and depression.

Twelve soldiers and one civilian were killed, and 28 victims were still in hospital yesterday.

Fort Hood, by area the world's largest US military base, has borne the brunt of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Troops based here have suffered the highest number of casualties and have undertaken multiple tours of duty.

Religious concerns

Amid the sorrow, the shooting raised delicate questions about Muslim soldiers serving in the US Army, as some Muslim groups feared a huge backlash.

General George Casey, the army chief of staff, said after a visit to the base that he, too, feared that possibility.

"One of the reasons I told our leaders to keep their people informed and not rush to judgment or speculate until the investigation comes out, I do worry slightly about a potential backlash and we have to be all concerned about that," he said.

Hasan was born in the United States to Palestinian parents who had moved from a small town near Jerusalem.

His cousin Nader Hasan, writing on behalf of the family as Hasan's parents are dead, said they were stunned by Thursday's events and stressed they all considered themselves Americans.

"Our family loves America. We are proud of our country, and saddened by today's tragedy," Nader Hasan said in the message posted on The Washington Post website.

Complaints of harassment

Nidal Hasan's aunt, Noel Hasan, told the newspaper that her nephew had been subjected to harassment about his faith since the September 11, 2001 attacks and had repeatedly sought to be discharged.

An unsigned video praising the attack appeared on a Islamic militant website called the Fallujah forum yesterday, and was swiftly picked up by other sites.

The shooter "seemed upset and did not want to participate in this war, and he did not want to be among the ranks of infidels against his Muslim brothers," the video said, offering its congratulations.

Some were convinced Hasan lost control due to the strains of his job.

"The questions many here in Texas would ask are when will this nightmare end? And how will we properly care for the 'walking wounded' we have created?" said Fran Hanlon, a member of a Fort Hood outreach center, in a statement.

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