At least one person was killed and 14 injured in a shooting Wednesday at Fort Hood, and officials at the base said the shooter is believed to be dead.
The details about the number of people hurt came from two U.S. officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the information by name.
U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Texas, told CNN there were four dead, based on a briefing he received as chairman of the House committee on homeland security, but there was no separate confirmation of his statement.
Fort Hood said in a statement posted online that its Directorate of Emergency Services had an initial report that the shooter was dead, but that the report was unconfirmed. Additional details were not immediately available.
A U.S. law enforcement official said reports circulating within the Justice Department indicate the shooter died of what appears to be a self-inflicted wound. The official spoke on the condition of anonymity because the investigation is still ongoing.
The Army said on its official Twitter feed that the Texas Army post was still on lockdown. Injured people were being treated at the post’s Carl R. Darnall Medical Center and other local hospitals.
President Barack Obama said he was following the situation closely and that the government will get to the bottom of what happened.
He said Wednesday’s violence brought back painful memories of a 2009 mass shooting at the Army post. Thirteen people were killed and more than 30 wounded in what was the deadliest attack on a domestic military installation in history.
“We’re heartbroken that something like this might’ve happened again,” Obama said at a restaurant in Chicago where he was holding a previously scheduled fundraiser.
“The folks there have sacrificed so much on behalf of our freedom. Many of the people there have been on multiple tours to Iraq and Afghanistan,” Obama said. “They serve with valor, they serve with distinction and when they’re at their home base, they need to feel safe. We don’t yet know what happened tonight, but obviously that sense of safety has been broken once again.”
The November 2009 attack happened inside a crowded building where soldiers were waiting to get vaccines and routine paperwork after recently returning from deployments or while preparing to go to Afghanistan and Iraq.
Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan was convicted and sentenced to death last year in that mass shooting.
According to testimony during Hasan’s trial last August, Hasan walked into the building carrying two weapons and several loaded magazines, shouted “Allahu Akbar!” — Arabic for “God is great!” — and opened fire with a handgun.
Witnesses said he targeted soldiers as he walked through the building, leaving pools of blood, spent casings and dying soldiers on the floor. Photos of the scene were shown to the 13 officers on the military jury.
The rampage ended when Hasan was shot in the back by Fort Hood police officers outside the building, leaving him paralyzed from the waist down. He is being held at military prison at Fort Leavenworth in Kansas pending his yet-unscheduled execution.
After that shooting, the military tightened security at bases nationwide. Those measures included issuing security personnel long-barreled weapons with greater range than their standard-issue handguns, adding an insider-attack scenario to their training and strengthening ties to local law enforcement, according to Peter Daly, a vice admiral who retired from the Navy in 2011. The military also joined an FBI intelligence-sharing program aimed at identifying terror threats.
In September, a former sailor opened fire at the Washington Navy Yard, leaving at least 13 people dead, including the gunman. After that shooting, Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel — who called Tuesday’s shootings a “terrible tragedy” — ordered the Pentagon to review security at all U.S. defense installations worldwide and examine the granting of security clearances that allow access to them.
About the Author
