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An Army psychiatrist set to be shipped
overseas opened fire at the Fort Hood Army post Thursday,
authorities said, a rampage that killed 12 people and left 31
wounded in the worst mass shooting ever at a military base in the
United States.


      The gunman, first said to have been killed, was wounded but
alive and in stable condition under military guard, said Lt. Gen.
Bob Cone at Fort Hood. "I would say his death is not imminent,"
Cone said. Col. Ben Danner said the suspect was shot four times and
was in critical condition.

      The man was identified as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a 39-year-old
from Virginia.

      President Barack Obama called the shooting at the Soldier
Readiness Center, where soldiers who are about to be deployed or
who are returning undergo medical screening, "a horrific outburst
of violence."


      "It's difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans in
battles overseas," the commander in chief said. "It is horrifying
that they should come under fire at an Army base on American
soil."


      There was no official word on motive. Hasan had transferred to
Fort Hood in July from Walter Reed Medical Center, where 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.

      Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said generals at Fort Hood
told her that Hasan was about to deploy overseas. Retired Col.
Terry Lee, who said he had worked with Hasan, told Fox News he was
being sent to Afghanistan.

      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.

      Faizul Khan, a former imam at a mosque Hasan attended in Silver
Spring, Md., 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.

      The shooter used two pistols, one of them semiautomatic. Neither
were military-issued, Danner said.


      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.


      "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."


      Soldiers at Fort Hood don't carry weapons unless they are doing
training exercises.


      The Rev. Greg Schannep was about to head into a graduation
ceremony when a man in uniform approached him, warning him that
someone had opened fire. Schannep heard three volleys of gunfire
and saw people running.


      "There was a burst of shots and more bursts of shots and people
running everywhere," said Schannep, who works for local
Congressman John Carter.


      The uniformed man who had warned him ran to the theater.
Schannep said he could see the man's back was bloodied from a
wound. The man survived, was treated and will be fine, Schannep
said.

      Cone said initially three people were held, and all have been
interviewed. Authorities believe, however, that there was a single
shooter.

      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.


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


      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
told The Associated Press. She couldn't provide more details and
only spoke with emergency personnel.


      Hasan, whose family said he was born in suburban Washington, is
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 and was at Walter Reed for six years for his
internship, residency and a fellowship.


      "We are shocked and saddened by the terrible events at Fort
Hood today," his cousin, Nadar Hasan, said in a statement issued
on behalf of their family. "We send the families of the victims
our most heartfelt sympathies."


      The attack happened just down the road from one of the worst
mass shootings in U.S. history. On Oct. 16, 1991, George Hennard
smashed his pickup truck through a Luby's Cafeteria window in
Killeen, Texas, and fired on the lunchtime crowd with a
high-powered pistol, killing 22 people and wounding at least 20
others.


      No other shooting at a military base in the U.S. has been
anywhere near as deadly as Thursday's. In 1993, a gunman at Fort
Knox shot five civilian co-workers, killing three, and then fatally
shot himself.


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


      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, it is located halfway between Austin and
Waco.
      ---

      Barrett reported from Washington, D.C. Associated Press Writers
Pam Hess, Anne Gearan, Lara Jakes, Suzanne Gamboa and Lolita C.
Baldor in Washington, D.C., Jeff Carlton in Fort Hood, Jay Root in
Temple, Linda Stewart Ball, Anabelle Garay and Andre Coe in Dallas
and Colin Fly in Milwaukee and the Associated Press News Research
Center contributed to this report.

Gallery

An Army psychiatrist set to be shipped
overseas opened fire at the Fort Hood Army post Thursday,
authorities said, a rampage that killed 12 people and left 31
wounded in the worst mass shooting ever at a military base in the
United States.


Army: 12 dead, 31 hurt in attack at Fort Hood

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