Fort Hood fatal shooting rampage claims 12 lives, 31 wounded

November 5, 9:10 PMWhite House ExaminerWamara Mwine

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Soldiers at Ft. Hood in the aftermath of a shooting          Ben Sklar - Getty Images

An Army Medical Dr. Nidal Malik Hasan and licensed psychiatrist has allegedly shot and killed 12 and injured 31 at Fort Hood in Texas today. A federal official says Hasan is a U.S. citizen of Jordanian descent. 

At Fort Hood, U.S. Army spokesman Lt. Gene Bob Cone confirmed that Hasan was shot by military soldiers. Cone also said the wounded were “dispersed in our local hospitals here.” The shooter was killed, he was a soldier.” Hasan reportedly had two pistols and open fired on soldiers at the base’s readiness center where troops are prepared for deployment, according to CNN.

Hasan was reportedly being deployed to Iraq and unhappy about it. Authorities are not sure how or why he was armed with two pistols. Hasan was about one mile away from the Darnell hospital where he worked. It is unclear whether the injured might become fatalities.

President Obama responded to the massacre by encouraging Americans to pray for the victims at Fort Hood. This “shooting was a horrific outburst of violence,” the president said of the shooting at the base that deploys soldiers to Iraq and Afghanistan.

Two suspects were taken into custody, but then released, according to Christopher Huag, Chief Public Affairs Ft. Hood. Hasan is under custody. Fort Hood is the largest active duty army post in the country and supports two whole divisions of soldiers. The Texas post has a total population of some 71,000, with a breakdown of 40,000 soldiers. The remainder are spouses of soldiers and their families.

Hasan trained at the F. Edward Herbert School of Medicine in Bethesda, Maryland.  He attended classes at the Dept. of Psychology, specifically the program of Fellow Disaster and Preventative Psychiatry. Hasan also worked at Walter Reed Medical Center, where he reportedly received a poor performance review. 

Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson (R-Texas) was trying to gather information from her sources at the military base. “If this was a onetime thing, or if this is some kind of other group that is trying to infiltrate our military,” Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson.

Retired Lt. General Russel Honore:  On Fort Hood that is a very tense situation. One of things they are trying to do is get accountability on everybody,” through the phone system. “That continued deployment is having an impact on our soldiers,” Honore said regarding the incident and its implications. We are under a lot of stress trying to support two wars with the army that we have,” Honore noted.