Shooting rampage at Fort Hood

[old medic]

Bolding is mine.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/05/texas.fort.hood.shootings/index.html
November 5, 2009 7:23 p.m. EST

(CNN) -- Eleven people plus a gunman were dead and 31 wounded after a shooting Thursday at a soldier-processing center at Fort Hood, Texas, officials said.

The gunman who was killed was a soldier, Army Lt. Gen. Bob Cone said. Two other soldiers initially detained as suspects have been released, but another person of interest is in custody, said Christopher Haug, chief of public affairs at Fort Hood.

The slain gunman was identified as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, a law enforcement source told CNN. Licensed in Virginia, Hasan was a psychiatrist who previously worked at Walter Reed Army Medical Center but more recently was practicing at Darnall Army Medical Center at Fort Hood, according to professional records.

Hasan was scheduled to be deployed to Iraq, "and appeared to be upset about that," Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said. ..............

continued at link.

 

[KevinB]

Maj Malik Nidal Hasan, has been ID'd as the shooter, and has made comments to other Officers that islam should "rise up" against the US aggressors,, he was shot dead by the KIA DoD Policeman
Former co-worker says Hassan was out spoken against US involvement in Iraq/A'Stan and was getting "highly" aggitated when "The One" didn't pull troops out of theater. Shortly thereafter was transferd to Ft. Hood.

 

[vonGarvin]

Irrespective of who, what, why, where, when or how, I offer my condolences to all the victims of this tragedy in Texas

 

[old medic]

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/11/05/national/main5541916.shtml?tag=stack

FORT HOOD, Texas, Nov. 5, 2009
What was Fort Hood Shooter's Motive?

(CBS/ AP)  Why did the man accused of opening fire at Fort Hood snap? Reports indicate that he was both angry at the U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, and had also been harassed because of his Muslim background.

A man who said he was a first cousin of the shooter told Fox News that his cousin had been harassed by other military due to his Mideastern background.

"Things from the war probably affected him psychologically. He dealt with some harassment from some of his military colleagues … and he hired a military attorney to have it resolved," said the cousin, Nader Hasan.

"It was the harassment that got to him,'' said the cousin, saying other soldiers "referenced for MidEast ethnicity even though he was born and raised here. Went to high school in North Virginia, went to Virginia Tech., never been in trouble, played sports."

A man who work with Hasan at the Fort Hood psychiatric ward said Hasan was angry about the U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.


"He said, first of all, we should not be over there,'' said Col Terry Lee to Fox News. "There were several comments he made." Lee said he told Hasan to "lock it up," and that it was the time to make his views public.

"He said precisely that maybe the Muslims should stand up and fight against the aggressors. And at first, you know, we thought he was talking about that Muslims should stand up and help the armed forces in Iraq and Afghanistan, but, apparently, that was not the case, because there was other times he would make comments to other individuals about how we should not be in the war in the first place," Lee told Fox News.

"He was hoping that President Obama would pull troops out and that things would settle down, and when things were not going that way, he became more agitated and more frustrated with the conflicts over there, and he would just -- he made his views well known about how he felt about the U.S. involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Hasan's anger may have reached boiling point when he found out he was soon to be deployed.

Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said Hasan was about to be deployed overseas. Hutchison says she was told about the upcoming deployment by generals based at Fort Hood. But it was unclear if he was headed to Iraq or Afghanistan and exactly when he was scheduled to leave.

 

[midget-boyd91]

Just saw a press conference where a Lt.Gen at Ft. Hood has said that the shooter is in fact alive and in stable condition.

Speechless, really.

Oddball

 

[old medic]

Muslims brace for backlash after gunman ID'ed
By Lee-Anne Goodman, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Last Updated: 5th November 2009, 7:27pm
http://www.winnipegsun.com/news/world/2009/11/05/11651901-cp.html

WASHINGTON — His name had barely been released, his heritage and history not immediately known, but the reaction was fast and furious.

“Jihad at Fort Hood? Shooter: Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan,” was the headline of a post on the Jihad Watch blog just moments after Hasan was identified as the perpetrator of a mass shooting at the Texas military base that killed 12 people, himself included, and wounded 31 others.

“The name tells us a lot, does it not, senator?” Fox News’s Shep Smith said while interviewing Kay Bailey Hutchison, a Texas senator.

The Arab-American Institute said it received one threatening call from an unidentified male shortly after Hasan’s name was released. The group, which condemned the massacre, said it was expecting more.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations scheduled a Capitol Hill news conference on Thursday night to urge calm.

“No political or religious ideology could ever justify or excuse such wanton and indiscriminate violence,” the group said in a statement.

“The attack was particularly heinous in that it targeted the all-volunteer army that protects our nation. American Muslims stand with our fellow citizens in offering both prayers for the victims and sincere condolences to the families of those killed or injured.”

ABC News reported that Hasan, a psychiatrist who once practised in the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D.C., was reportedly an Islam convert despondent about being deployed to Iraq and upset about the war.

Military officials told the Associated Press that Hasan was a psychiatrist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington for six years before being transferred to Fort Hood in July. The officials, who spoke on condition of anonymity because military records are confidential, said he received a poor performance evaluation at Walter Reed.

Hasan, born in Virginia and in his late 30s, was single with no children. The Austin American-Statesman reported his parents were originally from Jordan.

Robert Spencer, the director of the Jihad Watch blog and the author of nine books on Islam and jihad, chastised the media for failing to point to jihad as a possible explanation for Hasan’s crime.

“No one, no one at all, in the mainstream media is discussing jihad as a motivation,” Spencer wrote. “It’s all about ‘snapping,’ ’not wanting to go to war’ .... If this turns out to be a jihad attack, watch for the president to caution against ‘backlash’ and ’Islamophobia.”’

Elsewhere in the blogosphere, commenters warned of exactly that kind of backlash.

“How long before some idiotic elected official declares Muslims shouldn’t be allowed to serve in the military?” asked Salon’s Mike Madden.

The American Prospect’s Adam Serwer beseeched: “Please, America, remember what kind of country you are right now.”

Josh Marshall, who writes for the TalkingPointsMemo blog, predicted: “This is going to get very dark” upon the identification of the perpetrator’s name.

“The fact that the primary assailant has an Arabic name and is presumably, though we don’t know this yet, of Muslim extraction, if not a practising Muslim, is going to be the focus of attention,” Marshall wrote.

The commenters on Jihad Watch were unforgiving in the hours after the shooting.

“The war on terror is over, and the war on Islam has begun,” one wrote.

 

[old medic]

12 dead in Texas army base rampage
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Last Updated: 5th November 2009, 7:55pm

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — A military mental health doctor facing deployment overseas opened fire at the Fort Hood Army post on Thursday, setting off on a rampage that killed 11 other people and left 31 wounded. Authorities killed the gunman, and 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, said Lt. Gen. Bob Cone at Fort Hood.

“It’s a terrible tragedy. It’s stunning,” Cone said.

A law enforcement official identified the shooting suspect as Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

Two other soldiers taken into custody following the deadly rampage have been released, Fort Hood spokesman Christopher Haug told The Associated Press. “They’re not believed to be involved in the incident,” Haug said. He said a third person was in custody, however.

It was unclear what the motive was. 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.

Military officials say Hasan, 39, was a psychiatrist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for six years before being transferred to the Texas base in July. The officials, who had access to Hasan’s military record, said he received a poor performance evaluation while at Walter Reed. The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because military records are confidential.

The Virginia-born soldier was single with no children. He graduated from Virginia Tech, 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.

Officials were investigating whether Hasan was his birth name or if he may have changed his name, possibly as part of a conversion to Islam. However, they were not certain of his religion.

The Soldier Readiness Center holds hundreds of people and is one of the most populated parts of the base, said Steve Moore, a spokesman for III Corps at Fort Hood. Nearby there are barracks and a food center where there are fast food chains.

A graduation ceremony for soldiers who finished college courses while deployed was going on nearby at the time of the shooting, said Sgt. Rebekah Lampman, a Fort Hood spokeswoman.

Greg Schanepp, Carter’s regional director in Texas, was at Fort Hood, said John Stone, a spokesman for Carter. Schanepp was at a graduation 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.

The wounded were dispersed among hospitals in central Texas, Cone said.

Lisa Pfund of Random Lake, Wis., says her daughter, 19-year-old Amber Bahr, was shot in the stomach but was in stable condition. “We know nothing, just that she was shot in the belly,” Pfund told The Associated Press. She couldn’t provide more details and only spoke with emergency personnel.

Pfund said Bahr joined the reserves when she was 17 to earn money for school and loved being in the military even though none of her friends were interested in joining the Army.

A Fort Hood spokesman said he could not immediately confirm any identities of the injured.

“I ask that all of you keep these families and these individuals in your prayers today,” Texas Gov. Rick Perry 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 April, 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.

Around the country, some bases stepped up security precautions, but no others were locked down.

“The bottom line for us is that we are increasing security at our gates because the threat hasn’t yet been defined, and we’re reminding our Marines to be vigilant in their areas of responsibility,” said Capt. Rob Dolan, public affairs officer for the Marine Corps Air Station in Yuma, Ariz.

In Washington, President Barack Obama called the shooting “a horrific outburst of violence.” He said it’s a tragedy to lose a soldier overseas and even more horrifying when they come under fire at an Army base on American soil.

“We will make sure that we get answers to every single question about this horrible incident,” the commander in chief said. “We are going to stay on this.”

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.

Fort Hood officially opened on Sept. 18, 1942, and was named in honor of Gen. John Bell Hood.

 

[old medic]

http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/alert/sns-ap-us-fort-hood-shooting,0,4218901.story

Army says Fort Hood shootings suspect is still alive, but death toll from attack remains 12
APRIL CASTRO, DEVLIN BARRETT  Associated Press Writers
8:38 p.m. CST, November 5, 2009

FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) — A military mental health doctor facing deployment overseas opened fire at the Fort Hood Army post on Thursday, setting off on a rampage that killed 12 people and left 31 wounded, Army officials said.

Authorities said immediately after the shootings that they had killed the suspected shooter, but later in the evening they recanted and said that he was alive and in stable condition at a hospital, watched by a guard.

"His death is not imminent," said Lt. Gen. Bob Cone at Fort Hood. He offered little explanation for the mistake, other than to say there was confusion at the hospital.

A law enforcement official identified the shooting suspect as Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

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, Cone said.

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.

 

[The Bread Guy]

First off, condolences to the families, colleagues and friends of the victims, and hopes for a speedy recoverey to the wounded (physically and emotionally).

This, from the Associated Press:

The Army psychiatrist suspected of carrying a shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, had come to the attention of authorities six months ago because of Internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats, law enforcement officials said Thursday.

The postings appeared to have been made by Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who was killed during the shootings at the Army post that left least 11 others dead and 31 wounded. The officials say they are still trying to confirm that he was the author. They said an official investigation was not opened.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.

One of the Web postings that authorities reviewed is a blog that equates suicide bombers with a soldier throwing himself on a grenade to save the lives of his comrades.

"To say that this soldier committed suicide is inappropriate. Its (sic) more appropriate to say he is a brave hero that sacrificed his life for a more noble cause," said the Internet posting. "Scholars have paralled (sic) this to suicide bombers whose intention, by sacrificing their lives, is to help save Muslims by killing enemy soldiers."....

Here's the comment posted to Scribd.com by user calling themselves "NidalHasan", in response to this document also at Scribd.com (PDF of comment page attached in case link doesn't work)

 

[The Bread Guy]

....if you like your updates raw, free form, mixed in reliability, tolerance and editorial content, as well as fire-hose-esque in volume:

Realtime results for  near:"Killeen, TX" within:15mi

Real-time results for Fort Hood OR FortHood OR FtHood OR Ft. Hood

... and if you like short, sweet and facilitated by mainstream media in the backyard of the incident:

News from the Austin American-Statesman

 

[tomahawk6]

Major Hasan has been in CID custody at the hospital. I guess they didnt want to reveal his status earlier in case he had accomplices. Just proof that these types of incidents are chaotic and initial reports always seem to be wrong. Hasan needs to stand trial and pay for his crime just like ex-Sgt Akbar.

 

[1feral1]

Firstly like many one here, my thoughts are with the mates of those who have been murdered and wounded.

In hind sight, when there are issues with a soldier's train of thought, these should be followed up instead of just being noted. By the sound of things, there was alarm bells going off, but no one really did anything, and now 12 patriots have been gunned down, and murdered in cold blood.

He is not the first US 'muslim' soldier who has turned on his own citizens, putting his own 'faith' before his own country.

Some links for one this year who murdered 5 US soldiers in Iraq http://muslihoon.wordpress.com/2009/05/12/us-soldier-working-as-imam-on-iraqi-base-kills-five-us-soldiers/ 

and one from 2005 in Kuwait

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/iraq/article386812.ece

Todays cowardly attack is pathetic, and I hope US courts make an example out of this Maj Hasam.

OWDU

EDITed only for spelling

 

[old medic]

Here is another update from the Killeen Daily Herald.
Note this one says the LEO killed was not the LEO that shot the suspect. They are crediting
a wounded female officer now. The bold is mine.

http://www.kdhnews.com/news/story.aspx?s=36896
Updated On: Thursday, Nov. 5 2009 08:57 PM

Earlier reports of the tragic events that unfolded today at Fort Hood and killed 12 were clarified by an evening press conference by Gen. Robert Cone.

Twelve people were shot and killed today at Fort Hood and another 31 were wounded. Now post officials that the shooter was shot by a civilian Fort Hood officer but was not killed. The shooter, Maj. Malyk Hasan, is currently hospitalized.

The female officer who shot the shooter is also hospitalized currently.

Five-and-a-half hours after the tragic incident, sirens sounding "all clear" are ringing on post.

In a midday press conference and again at 8:15 Gen. Robert Cone confirmed the death toll. One of the confirmed casualties was a Fort Hood civilian police officer.

Both of the shooter's weapons were handguns, Cone said. Two other suspects were taken into custody. All but two civilians are U.S. soldiers .

Fort Hood officials reported the shooting occurred between 1:30 and 1:45 p.m. at the Soldier Readiness Center near Howze Theater on post today. Emergency personnel rushed to the scene.

Scott & White Hospital in Temple shortly began reporting it was receiving victims of the shooting. The hospital originally only closed the emergency
department to the public, but by early evening had closed entirely to the public in order to focus on victims and their families.

The emergency room remained open for those needing emergency care.

Scott & White Hospital requested blood donations of all types. Due to the overwhelming community response, by the evening Scott & White reported it had 10 victims of the shooting, all adults and all suffering gunshot wounds.

Metroplex Adventist Hospital also reported it received seven of the victims from the Fort Hood shootings, one of whom later died.

Two others were taken into surgery – including an EMS – but were later taken to the ICU.

The other four were stabilized – two were transferred to Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple and two have been transferred to Seton in Round Rock.

Killeen Independent School District schools on post were locked down and district officials met to form a plan shortly after the incident began, said Leslie Gilmore, KISD spokesperson.

Killeen ISD: Killeen ISD has received word from Fort Hood that the lock down has been lifted. Students will be dismissed to parents.

All parents must go to the campus and pick up their student. Students will only be dismissed to parents/guardians who sign them out. No student will walk home or ride a bus.

Post officials are now releasing people from Howse Theater, the scene of the shooting, and are slowly releasing other people on the base.

Fort Hood is no longer in a lock down, a new press release states. Fort Hood officials have set up a Family Hotline for information. The Family Hotline is 254-288-7570 or 1-866-836-2751.

KISD officials reported a football game scheduled for tonight between Harker Heights and Copperas Cove High School was canceled.

Post officials say there will be no Physical Training in the morning for soldiers and all unit formations will be at 9 a.m.

Herald reporters are on scene and updates will continue here at kdhnews.com

 

[old medic]

Witness accounts
Full story at link
http://www.smh.com.au/world/twelve-dead-in-texas-military-base-shootings-20091106-i0ne.html

Witness accounts

George Stratton III was just metres from the gunman and was shot in his left shoulder.

The man's father, George, told Fox News: "[My son] said he was there doing medical stuff and all of a sudden someone came through the door, walked behind the desk and just started shooting."

Retired army colonel Greg Schannep, who was on the base to attend a graduation service, said he heard "three or four volleys of shots, with eight to 12 shots in each volley".

"Initially, I thought it was a training exercise," he told the Fort Hood Sentinel.

"A soldier came running past me and said: 'Sir, there is someone shooting.'

"As he ran past me, I saw blood on his back. I don’t think he even knew he had been shot."

Local media had reported that at least one of the locations where the shootings took place was frequented by family members of soldiers.

Lieutenant General Cone said no children were among the dead but one was a civilian policeman.

Gunman's family stunned

The gunman's cousin, Nader Hasan, said Major Malik was opposed to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq after hearing the stories of returning servicemen.

But the shooting had stunned the family, he said.

"We are trying to make sense of all this," Nader Hasan told Fox News. "He wasn't even someone who enjoyed going to the firing range."

"He was dealing with some harassment from his military colleagues," Nader Hasan said.

"I don't think he’s ever been disenchanted with the military," he said of his cousin. "It was the harassment."

Nader Hasan said his cousin was born and raised in Virginia and graduated from Virginia Tech University. He was raised a Muslim and went into the military against his parent's wishes.

Texas senator Kay Bailey Hutchison said the major was about to be deployed to Iraq.

 

[old medic]

Some Wisconsin residents with loved ones at Fort Hood breathe a sigh of relief
http://host.madison.com/wsj/news/local/govt_and_politics/article_7d270f8a-ca67-11de-8c32-001cc4c03286.html
State Journal staff, Associated Press | Posted: Thursday, November 5, 2009 6:00 pm
Bolds added by me.

Some Wisconsin residents with loved ones at Fort Hood, Texas, were receiving reassuring messages on Thursday, while at least one mother reported that her daughter was among those wounded in the shooting rampage at the base.

Military officials late Thursday had released no information about a Madison-based unit, the 467th Combat Stress Control Army Reserve Detachment, which had soldiers training at the base at the time of the shooting, a military source said. A unit of that size would have about 44 soldiers, the source said. It was not known if anyone in that unit was injured in the shooting. The State Journal is not naming the source because that person is not authorized to speak for the military.

The 467th provides mental health and other services to soldiers suffering from combat stress.

At the unit's office, in the Truman Olson U.S. Army Reserve Center, 1402 Park St., a man who answered the door referred questions to the Fort Hood public affairs office, which wouldn't provide information about the unit's status.

The Army identified the shooter as an Army psychiatrist, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who came to Fort Hood in July after six years at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

Lisa Pfund, of Random Lake, said her daughter, 19-year-old Amber Bahr, was shot in the abdomen during the attack and was hospitalized in stable condition, the Associated Press reported.

A Fort Hood public affairs officer would not confirm any identities of the injured.

Pfund said her daughter joined the Army Reserve when she was 17 and she last saw her in May. She was unsure of Bahr's rank or unit.

Pfund said she didn't know anything other than that Bahr had been shot and that she hoped to get more details soon. She talked to emergency room personnel, who filled her in on her daughter's condition. Random Lake is about 35 miles north of Milwaukee.

Col. Bob Evans, director of psychological health for the Wisconsin National Guard, said it was shocking that a psychiatrist was the alleged shooter.

"I think we're all just stunned by it," he said. "Mental health services have been pushed continuously by the military."

Other families were getting relatively good news from soldiers at the base.

Deborah Beers, who lives outside of Footville, near Janesville, said she had heard from her daughter, First Lt. Amanda Beers, 23, who is stationed at Fort Hood in the 467th.

"She called me about 4:30 this afternoon ... saying that she was fine and that was all she could tell me," Deborah Beers said.

Beers said her daughter was "right there" when the shooting happened. "They are in lockdown," she said. Beers said her daughter has been with the Army for four years and had arrived at Fort Hood on Friday.

Angela Rivera Caraveo confirmed that her husband, L. Eduardo Caraveo, was at Fort Hood as part of the 467th. In a brief telephone conversation, Rivera Caraveo, of Virginia, said she'd been trying for hours to reach her husband, who is a psychologist.

"I haven't been able to reach anyone at the unit," she said late Thursday night.

Army Capt. Scott Sweeney, an Edgewood High School graduate, also arrived Friday. He's starting a stint with the 3rd Battalion, 4th Combat Aviation Brigade.

"We're all kind of shook," his mother, Kathy McCarty Sweeney of Madison, said Thursday, a few hours after receiving a phone call from her son. "We feel real fortunate. We're counting our blessings tonight."

Scott Sweeney said he found out about the shooting when a buddy called to make sure he was OK. He kept busy the rest of the day checking on other friends and letting family members and others know that he was unhurt.

Jon Zech, 23, originally of Fort Atkinson, has been at Fort Hood with the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment for about three years, according to his father, Ed Zech, of Fort Atkinson.

Ed Zech said he had been watching news coverage of the shootings all day and was concerned about his son's safety until his son was able to make a very brief call to him at about 2:30 or 3 p.m.

"Fortunately, he was out in the field doing some training," Zech said. "If he's out in the field, he could have been 30 miles away" and still on the base because of its size.

Amber Hayes Kunz, 25, from Baraboo, said she and her husband, Christopher, were in lockdown in military housing outside of Fort Hood.

She said Christopher, who is in the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment, got a call shortly after 1:30 p.m. letting him know there was a shooting and telling him to stay home. He had been working nights and was at home sleeping.

"It's been nerve-wracking," she said. "But we're in our home. We know at this point and time that we're safe."

 

[old medic]

http://www.todaystmj4.com/news/local/69342742.html

MILWAUKEE Channel 4

Milwaukee Mom Worried About Son at Ft. Hood
By Heather Shannon

MILWAUKEE - Families all across America are worried about their loved ones stationed at Ft. Hood. That's true for Milwaukee mom Janet Moslavac, whose son Daniel Kachelmeier is an Army Reservist stationed at Ft. Hood. For her, only one thing mattered... getting the call that her son wasn't hurt in the mass shooting.

"He called and he said 'I'm OK, I wasn't one that got hit,'" Moslavac said.

Daniel Kachelmeier is an Army Reservist from Milwaukee who was assisting the Madison based 467th Medical Detachment Unit at Fort Hood. Members of the 467th specialize in combat stress control. They are specially trained in treating soldiers with signs of depression, combat fatigue, and post traumatic stress disorder.

They're at Fort Hood helping soldiers prepare to deploy for Iraq. Kachelmeier was working with them, but in a twist of fate wasn't there at the time of the shooting.

"He would have been right there but he was off today, so because he was off he wasn't there otherwise he would have been right in with the guys who got injured and killed," Moslavac said.

When TMJ4 spoke with Daniel, he was at a hotel outside the base, still stunned by what happened. But he wants everyone to know, he's OK.

Sources tell TODAY'S TMJ4 that two members of the 467th were shot during the mass shooting, but the 467th will not confirm that.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Thanks, old medic, for keeping us up to date!

Associated Press, via Stars & Stripes:

Military officials are starting to piece together what may have pushed an Army psychiatrist trained to help soldiers in distress to allegedly turn on his comrades in a shooting rampage Thursday at Fort Hood, Texas.

Post spokesman Tyler Broadway said early Friday that the toll now stands at 13 dead and 30 wounded.

The suspected shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was on a ventilator and unconscious in a hospital after being shot four times during the shootings at the Army post, officials said. In the early chaos after the shootings, authorities believed they had killed him, only to discover later that he had survived.

In Washington, a senior U.S. official said authorities at Fort Hood initially thought one of the victims who had been shot and killed was the shooter. The mistake resulted in a delay of several hours in identifying Hasan as the alleged assailant.

Authorities have not ruled out that Hasan was acting on behalf of some unidentified radical group, the official said. He would not say whether any evidence had come to light to support that theory.

The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters that were under investigation....

Agence-France Presse, via Montreal Gazette

An army psychiatrist about to be sent to Iraq gunned down 13 people and wounded 30 in a rampage on a huge Texas military base but survived after being shot four times himself.

Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who his family said had been harrassed because of his Muslim faith and was "mortified" at the prospect of going to Iraq, fought for his life in intensive care at the Fort Hood base as army investigators on Friday pieced together the motives for the massacre.

Fort Hood, one of the biggest military bases in the world, was in lockdown and was to hold a day of mourning a day after the officer trained his guns on his colleagues.

Another officer shot him four times to end the killings and was herself wounded.

Hasan, 39, opened fire with two non-army issue pistols at a medical processing center for troops being deployed from Fort Hood to Iraq and Afghanistan, officials said.

Fort Hood commander Lieutenant General Bob Cone said one of the guns was a semi-automatic weapon, which "might explain the rate of fire that he apparently obtained."

Cone said that Hasan had acted alone. The gunman was blocked from reaching a graduation ceremony attended by some 600 people, close to the scene of carnage ....

Washington Post

He prayed every day at the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring, a devout Muslim who, despite asking to be discharged from the U.S. Army, was on the eve of his first deployment to war. Yesterday, authorities said Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, a 39-year-old Arlington-born psychiatrist, shot and killed 13 people at Fort Hood, Tex.

In an interview, his aunt, Noel Hasan of Falls Church, said he had endured name-calling and harassment about his Muslim faith for years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and had sought for several years to be discharged from the military.

"I know what that is like," she said. "Some people can take it, and some cannot. He had listened to all of that, and he wanted out of the military, and they would not let him leave even after he offered to repay" for his medical training.

An Army spokesman, Lt. Col. George Wright, said he could not confirm that Hasan requested a discharge.

As authorities scrambled to figure out what happened at Fort Hood, a hazy and contradictory picture emerged of a man who received his medical training from the military and spent his career in the Army, yet allegedly turned so violently against his own. Hasan spent nearly all of his professional life at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in the District, caring for the victims of trauma, yet he spoke openly of his deep opposition to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan ....

 

[vonGarvin]

Great.  Just great.  The 13 dead victims of this dude are still warm, and we get this:

In an interview, his aunt, Noel Hasan of Falls Church, said he had endured name-calling and harassment about his Muslim faith for years after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and had sought for several years to be discharged from the military.

So, this guy's the victim?  If someone calls you name, and you're a brown dude, it's ok to go and shoot with the intent to kill?  Where's that thread about barbarism?

This dude's behaviour was, in the mildest of terms, unacceptable.  Period.  No excuses.  I could care less if he were gay, straight, handicapped, able-bodied, tall, short, big nosed, muslim, hindu or any other combination of age, race, religion or lifestyle.  He shot and killed 13 people.  He shot and wounded many more.  It was intentional.  If his excuse is that "I'm a poor, oppressed muslim", well, he can talk to a psychiatrist about that.  Oh, wait, he is one.

I'm sorry, but this grinds my gears!!!!!

 

[Rifleman62]

If you are interested in listening live, try:  http://www.ktsa.com/

There is a press conference now at Fort Hood.

They are asking for blood at Fort Sam, here in San Antonio.

I should have not posted the shooters name yesterday, which I spelled phonetically, thus posted wrong, thus a rumor.

 

[KevinB]

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/U/US_FORT_HOOD_SHOOTING?SITE=PAPIT&SECTION=NATIONAL&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Ft. Hood suspect reportedly shouted `Allahu Akbar'

By JEFF CARLTON
Associated Press Writer


Army: 12 Die in Dual Shootings at Fort Hood



 
 




FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) -- Soldiers who witnessed the shooting rampage at Fort Hood that left 13 people dead reported that the gunman shouted "Allahu Akbar!" before opening fire, the base commander said Friday.

Lt. Gen. Robert Cone said officials had not yet confirmed that the suspected shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, made the comment, which is Arabic for "God is great!" before the rampage Thursday, which left 30 people wounded, including the gunman.

An imam from a mosque Hasan regularly attended said Hasan, a lifelong Muslim, was a committed soldier, gave no sign of extremist beliefs and regularly wore his uniform at prayers.

Cone said Hasan was hospitalized in stable condition and that investigators hope to interrogate him as soon as possible. In the early chaos after the shootings, authorities believed they had killed him, only to discover later that he had survived.

Cone said Hasan was not known to be a threat or risk. He acknowledged that it was "counterintuitive" that a single shooter could kill and injure so many people. But he said the massacre occurred in "close quarters."

"With ricochet fire, he was able to injure that number of people," Cone said. Authorities are investigating whether Hasan's weapons were properly registered with the military.

The motive for the shooting wasn't clear, but Hasan was apparently set to deploy soon and had expressed some anger about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said generals at Fort Hood told her that Hasan was about to deploy overseas.

Lee said Hasan had hoped Obama would pull troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq and got into frequent arguments with others in the military who supported the wars.

Officials are not ruling out the possibility that some of the casualties may have been victims of "friendly fire," that in the mayhem and confusion at the shooting scene some of the responding military officials may have shot some of the victims.

The gunfire broke out around 1:30 p.m. at the Soldier Readiness Center, where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening. Nearby, some soldiers were readying to head into a graduation ceremony for troops and families who had recently earned degrees.

Pastor Greg Schannep had just parked his car along the side of the theater and was about to head into the ceremony when a man in uniform approached him.

"Sir, they are opening fire over there!" the man told him. At first, he thought it was a training exercise - then heard three volleys and saw people running. As the man who warned him about the shots ran away, he could see the man's back was bloodied from a wound.

Schannep said police and medical and other emergency personnel were on the scene in an instant, telling people to get inside the theater. The post went into lockdown while a search began for a suspect and emergency workers began trying to treat the wounded. Some soldiers rushed to treat their injured colleagues by ripping their uniforms into makeshift bandages to treat their wounds.

Video from the scene showed police patrolling the area with handguns and rifles, ducking behind buildings for cover. Sirens could be heard wailing while a woman's voice on a public-address system urged people to take cover. Schools on the base went into lockdown, and family members trying to find out what was happening inside found cell phone lines jammed or busy.

"I was confused and just shocked," said Spc. Jerry Richard, 27, who works at the center but was not on duty during the shooting. "Overseas you are ready for it. But here you can't even defend yourself."

The wounded were dispersed among hospitals in central Texas, Cone said. Their identities and the identities of the dead were not immediately released.

The bodies of the victims would be taken to Dover Air Force Base in Delaware for autopsies and forensic tests, said a U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters that were under investigation.

There also will be a ceremony at the air base to honor the dead.

Jamie and Scotty Casteel stood outside the emergency room at the hospital in Temple waiting for news of their son-in-law Matthew Cooke, who was among the injured.

"He's been shot in the abdomen and that's all we know," Jamie Casteel told The Associated Press. She said Cooke, from New York state, had been home from Iraq for about a year.

Amber Bahr, 19, was shot in the stomach but was in stable condition, said her mother, Lisa Pfund of Random Lake, Wis.

"We know nothing, just that she was shot in the belly," Pfund said. She couldn't provide more details and only spoke with emergency personnel.

Nathan A. Hewitt, 26, of Lafayette, Ind., was shot in the hip and calf, his uncles Elmo Robledo and Rex Deaton told the Journal & Courier.

Ashley Saucedo told WOOD-TV in Michigan that her husband was shot in the arm, but she couldn't discuss specifics. Saucedo said she and the couple's two children weren't permitted to leave their home at Fort Hood during the shootings.

For six years before reporting for duty at Fort Hood in July, Hasan worked at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center pursuing a career in psychiatry, as an intern, a resident and, last year, a fellow in disaster and preventive psychiatry. The 39-year-old Army major received his medical degree from the military's Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., in 2001.

But his record wasn't sterling. At Walter Reed, he received a poor performance evaluation, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly. And while he was an intern, Hasan had some "difficulties" that required counseling and extra supervision, said Dr. Thomas Grieger, who was the training director at the time.

Faizul Khan, a former imam at a mosque Hasan attended in Silver Spring, Md., said "I got the impression that he was a committed soldier." He said Hasan attended prayers regularly at the mosque in Silver Spring, Md., and was a lifelong Muslim. He spoke often with Hasan about Hasan's desire for a wife.

In an interview with The Washington Post, Hasan's aunt, Noel Hasan of Falls Church, Va., said he had been harassed about being a Muslim in the years after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, and he wanted out of the Army.

"Some people can take it and some people cannot," she said. "He had listened to all of that and he wanted out of the military."

At least six months ago, Hasan came to the attention of law enforcement officials because of Internet postings about suicide bombings and other threats, including posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades.

Investigators had not determined for certain whether Hasan was the author of the posting, and a formal investigation had not been opened before the shooting, said law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case.

The FBI, local police and other agencies searched Hasan's apartment Thursday night after evacuating the complex in Killeen, said city spokeswoman Hilary Shine. She referred questions about what was found to the FBI. The FBI in Dallas referred questions to a spokesman who was not immediately available early Friday morning.