Nov 6, 2009 8:00 am US/Mountain
Suspected Fort Hood Shooter Acted Alone; 13 Killed
Suspect Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan Hospitalized; 30 Others Wounded In Attack
Sources: Hasan Was Against Upcoming Deployment To Iraq; Witnesses Claim He Yelled 'God is Great!' Before Opening Fire
FORT HOOD, Texas (CBS) ―
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Lt. Gen. Robert Cone speaks during a press conference near the main entrance to Fort Hood on Nov. , 2009,in Killeen, Texas.
Ben Sklar/Getty Images
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The suspected shooter was identified as Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan.
CBS
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Soldiers from 3rd Brigade "Grey Wolf" 1st Cavalry division from Fort Hood Texas get ready to return to the US after finishing their tour in Iraq at Warhorse base in Baquba, Diyala province, 27 November 2007.
Gianluigi Guercia/Getty Images
The base commander at Fort Hood says soldiers who witnessed a shooting rampage that left 13 people dead reported that the gunman shouted "Allahu Akbar!" before opening fire at the Texas post.
Lt. Gen. Robert Cone told NBC's "Today" show on Friday that suspected shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, made the comment, which is Arabic for "God is great!" before the rampage Thursday that also left 30 people wounded.
Military officials say they are still piecing together what may have pushed Hasan, an Army psychiatrist trained to help soldiers in distress, to turn on his comrades.
Cone says Hasan was not known to be a threat or risk.
Hasan was shot four times during the rampage. Cone says he is hospitalized in stable condition and that military officials will interrogate him as soon as possible.
Profile Of Alleged Shooter Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan:
- 39-Year-Old Army psychiatrist
- Devout Muslim of Jordanian descent; born in Virginia
- Name reportedly appears on radical Internet postings
- Officials claim he resisted deployment to Iraq
- Earned rank of major in April 2008
- Worked at Walter Reed for 6 years before Fort Hood
- Served 8 years as enlisted soldier in Army
- Graduated from Virginia Tech ('97) with B.S. in Biochemistry
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, officials said.
Haug said Hasan was in "stable but serious" condition at a nearby
hospital, under guard by law enforcement authorities. Army officials,
"don't believe he's in a condition to speak," added Haug.
The violence was believed to be the worst mass shooting in history at a U.S. military base.
The shooting began around 1:30 p.m., when shots were fired at the base's Soldier Readiness Center, where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening.
Haug said Friday that the guns used in the attack were believed to be Hasan's "own private firearms".
It was unclear what the motive was, though it appeared he was upset about a scheduled deployment. U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said the Army major was about to deploy overseas, though it was unclear if he was headed to Iraq or Afghanistan and when he was scheduled to leave. Hutchison said she was told about the upcoming deployment by generals based at Fort Hood.
In a statement released to the media Thursday night, Hasan's family said they were "shocked and saddened by the terrible events at Fort Hood."
The full statement from the unnamed cousin said: "Nidal was an American citizen. He was born in Arlington, Virginia and raised here in America. He attended local high schools and eventually went on to attend Virginia Tech. We are filled with grief for the families of today's victims. Our family loves America. We are proud of our country, and saddened by today's tragedy. Because this situation is still unfolding, we have nothing else that we are able to share with you at this time."
Faizul Khan, a former imam at a mosque Hasan attended in Silver Spring, Maryland, said he spoke often with Hasan about how Hasan wanted to find a wife. Hasan was a lifelong Muslim and attended prayers regularly, often in his Army uniform, Khan said.
CBS News reports that Hasan, 39, is a licensed psychiatrist who has lived in Bethesda and Silver Spring, Md. and Roanoke, Va. A spokesman for Texas Sen. Hutchison said Hasan was upset about an upcoming deployment to Iraq.
The victims of the shooting have not been identified but Lt. Gen. Bob Cone at Fort Hood said that the slain included 12 soldiers and one civilian who reportedly worked at the base. He said that no children had been killed to his knowledge.
"It's a terrible tragedy. It's stunning," Cone said. "Soldiers and family members and many of the great civilians that work here are absolutely devastated."
The wounded are dispersed among several central Texas hospitals and the extent of their injuries varied, Cone said.
President Obama, speaking before a scheduled event in Washington Thursday, 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."
"I would ask all Americans to keep the men and women of Fort Hood in your thoughts and prayers. We will make sure that we get answers to every single question about this horrible incident," Obama said.
The Army post was locked down until at around 8:30 p.m. Thursday, but Cone said that all of the deaths and injuries had taken place during the initial 1:30 p.m. incident and that authorities were simply exercising and abundance of caution in lifting the lockdown.
FBI agents have responded to the base and the military is asking the FBI's help in investigating the backgrounds of the two soldiers held as suspects in the shooting, Cone said.
A law enforcement official says investigators are trying to determine if Hasan was his birth name, or if he changed his name and converted to Islam at some point in his life.
Military officials say Hasan worked at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C. for six years before being transferred to the Texas base in July. The officials had access to Hasan's military record. They said he received a poor performance evaluation while at Walter Reed.
He is a graduate of Virginia Tech University, where he was a member of the ROTC and earned a bachelor's degree in biochemistry in 1997. He received his medical degree from the military's Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., in 2001. At Walter Reed, he did his internship, residency and a fellowship.
During the attack, terrified military families turned to Twitter to find out what was happening, reports CBS News correspondent David Martin.
One tweet read, "locked in my post housing, scared, don't know where the shooters are." Another: "haven't heard warning sirens in about 15 minutes, just waiting to get to my husband. And a third, capturing the shock brought on by today's attack: "i thought i was living in one of the safest places ever."
There has been some confusion about the exact location of the shooting. Cone said that the shooting took place in the Readiness Center but that the two surviving suspects were taken into custody in an "adjacent facility."
At the Soldier Readiness Center, soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening - on average about 300-400 screened a day, said Sgt. Rebekah Lampam, a spokeswoman at Fort Hood.
A graduation ceremony for soldiers who finished college courses while deployed was going on in an auditorium at the Readiness Center at the time of the shooting, said Lampam said.
Greg Schanepp, U.S. Rep. John Carter's regional director in Texas, was representing Carter at the graduation, a Carter spokesman said.
Schanepp was at the ceremony when a soldier who had been shot in the back came running toward him and alerted him of the shooting, Stone said. The soldier told Schanepp not to go in the direction of the shooter, he said. Stone said he believes Schanepp was in the theater.
"I was here for a 2 p.m. graduation," Schannep, a retired Army colonel, told the Temple Daily Telegram. "As I drove up, I heard some shots. A soldier came running past me and said, 'Sir there is someone shooting.'
"I heard three or four volleys of shots with eight to 12 shots in each volley. Initially, I thought it was a training exercise," he said.
The shootings on the Texas military base stirred memories of other recent mass shootings in the United States, including 13 dead at a New York immigrant center in March, 10 killed during a gunman's rampage across Alabama in March and 32 killed in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history at Virginia Tech in 2007.
In May, a U.S. soldier opened fire at a counseling center on a U.S. military base in Iraq, killing five fellow soldiers. An investigation showed that that shooter had shown signs of mental problems for months.
And Fort Hood itself has a history of violent incidents, reports CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian.
Around the country, some bases stepped up security precautions, but no others were locked down.
A woman interviewed by CBS affiliate KWTX in Waco shortly after the shooting said that news of the shooting had reached her husband and other U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq.
At 2 p.m. emergency responders en route to Fort Hood were told that their planned staging area, Soldier's Dome, was not safe to use, the Temple Daily Telegram reports.
Banks said it is too soon to tell whether there is any link to battle stress or repeated deployments. The Army is suffering a record high suicide rate and other signs of stress from fighting two wars.
In a statement, Hutchison said, "I am shocked and saddened by today's outburst of violence at Fort Hood that has cost seven of our brave service members their lives and has gravely injured others. My heart goes out to their loved ones. Our dedicated military personnel have sacrificed so much in service to our country, and it sickens me that the men and women of Fort Hood have been subjected to this senseless, random violence."
Covering 339 square miles, Fort Hood is the largest active duty armored post in the United States. Home to about 52,000 troops as of earlier this year, the sprawling base is located halfway between Austin and Waco.
The base is home to nine schools - seven elementary schools and two middle schools - and all were on lockdown, said Killeen school spokesman Todd Martin.
Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Tela Mange said Texas Rangers and state troopers were en route to Fort Hood to help seal the perimeter of the 108,000 acre base.
Fort Hood officially opened on Sept. 18, 1942, and was named in honor of Gen. John Bell Hood. It has been continuously used for armored training and is charged with maintaining readiness for combat missions.
(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
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