OBAMA, VFW HEAD MEET
The White House said President Barack Obama and the national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars on Monday discussed the shootings at Fort Hood and the challenges posed by veterans with emotional problems and post-traumatic stress. Obama and VFW commander William A. Thien also discussed health care for veterans and the effect of budget cuts on the Veterans Affairs Department in the White House meeting. Thien, in a statement, said the issue is, quote, “a national problem with no blanket solution.” Officials said Spc. Ivan Lopez, who killed three people before taking his own life at Fort Hood,was undergoing treatment for depression and anxiety while being evaluated for post-traumatic stress disorder.
Associated Press
Army investigators on Monday released a more detailed timeline of last week’s fatal shootings at Fort Hood, describing an eight-minute rampage in which the suspect fired 35 shots over an area spanning the equivalent of two city blocks.
Three people were killed and 16 others wounded in the shooting spree before the suspect, Spc. Ivan Lopez, killed himself, authorities said.
During a news conference Monday, Army spokesman Chris Grey said the shootings at the Texas post followed an argument related to Lopez’s request for taking leave, but he did not indicate whether the leave was granted or describe the circumstances behind the request.
A spokesman for Lopez’s family said last week that Lopez was upset he was granted only a 24-hour leave to attend his mother’s funeral in November. That leave was then extended to two days.
Gray, providing the most detail yet about the second mass shooting at Fort Hood in five years, mapped out how Lopez, an Army truck driver, left the administrative building where the argument took place, then returned a short time later with a .45-caliber pistol he had recently purchased. Gray said Lopez opened fire, killing one of the soldiers he had argued with and wounding 10 others before getting into his own vehicle and driving away.
At one point, while driving in the wrong lane, Lopez opened fire at two soldiers, wounding one, Grey said. He then parked and entered a building — his workplace — that included his unit’s motor pool office. He shot and killed a soldier in that office and later wounded two more after he began shooting in a vehicle bay, Gray said.
Lopez got back into his car and fired at another vehicle while driving, hitting a passenger who was a soldier.
After he arrived at a medical brigade building, he shot and wounded a soldier who was outside the building, Grey said.
With 17 people already dead or injured, Lopez entered the medical building, where he killed the soldier staffing the reception desk and wounded another, Grey said.
“At this point, we do not know why he entered that building, and we may never know why,” Grey said.
After he drove away from the medical building, Lopez pulled into a parking lot, where he quickly encountered a military police officer, who fired a single round at him. The bullet did not strike Lopez, who then turned his gun on himself, Grey said.
In all, investigators say Lopez fired more than 35 shots.
Authorities said 11 of 16 injured have returned to duty. Three soldiers who remain at nearby Scott & White Hospital, where the most critically injured were taken, were listed in fair condition Monday.
One of them, Sgt. Jonathan Westbrook, who was shot four times, said in a telephone interview with a television station in his home state of Mississippi that as Lopez fired, “The next thing going through my head was my family: my wife, my children, my mom, my dad. Make sure that I can get safe so I can stay alive for them, and that’s what I did. And through the grace of God, I came out of there alive.”
President Barack Obama is scheduled to attend a memorial service Wednesday at Fort Hood. Authorities said transportation arrangements for the three dead are being finalized for their funerals.
Lopez did a short stint in Iraq in 2011 and told medical personnel he had suffered a traumatic brain injury. The 34-year-old was undergoing treatment for depression and anxiety while being evaluated for post-traumatic stress disorder, base officials said. Fort Hood officials on Friday, however, said his mental condition was not a “direct participating factor” in the shooting.
Officials said Lopez did not see any combat in Iraq and had not previously demonstrated a risk of violence. He seemed to have a clean record and Grey said again Monday that Lopez showed no ties to potential terrorists.
About the Author
