Shooting at Fort Hood

Sharon - posted on 11/07/2009

This is seriously going to screw up a lot of those who were there and a lot of those whose hearts are there but their bodies are elsewhere.



Military bases are sacred. Military personel do not kill their brothers' and sisters in wholesale massacres.



From what I've read, his religion is going to factor into this. Its bizarre to me that he was a psychiatrist and he went nuts. I just can't wrap my head around that little factoid. He wasn't some insecure pfc who had never been vetted - he was a major and a doctor and a psychiatrist.....



I was devastated when 9/11 happened. Those sorts of attacks weren't supposed to happen HERE. Military people feel the same way - a little more so because they are THERE on the base to protect us and each other.



That man was either completely insane or indeed this was his personal little war against the americans. From what his brother or brother in law said, he had very little love for his fellow soldiers. He was strongly against this war on terrororism, and once said it was really war against Islam. But that is all hearsay and not fact at this point.



I just know the remaining soldiers are going to be terribly affected by this and my heart hurts for them.

?? - posted on 11/06/2009

I was just reading this article -- http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national...



Its long, but there's quite a bit of information about some of the people involved. Sad that nearly everyone involved was under 30 years old :(



Silence reigned at U.S. military bases around the world at 2:34 p.m. Friday - one day to the minute after a deranged Army shrink massacred 13 people at Fort Hood.



"This was a kick in the gut," said Gen. George Casey, the Army Chief of of Staff.



The moment of silence in memory of the victims came as a fresh tragedy added to the horror with the revelation that one of the victims was a pregnant soldier.



Francheska Velez, who returned to the U.S. just three days earlier from a foreign posting, was filling out paperwork when Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan embarked on a bloody rampage that left her and a dozen others dead.



A 21-year-old Chicagoan, Velez was six-weeks pregnant when she was cut down Thursday, Fox Chicago News reported.



Hasan might have claimed even more victims were it not for Officer Kimberly Munley, a courageous civilian cop who shot Hasan four times - even after she was hit, officials said.



"She walked up and basically engaged him," Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the base commander at Fort Hood, said on "Good Morning America."



"I think, certainly, this could've been far worse."



Hasan was unconscious but in stable condition, breathing with the aid of a ventilator. Munley was also in stable condition, officials said.



At least one witness said Hasan - who once posted a comment sympathetic to suicide bombers on the Internet - hollered "Allahu Akbar!" before firing.



Army officials could not confirm he shouted the slogan - Arabic for "God is great" - and other witnesses said he was silent.



Witnesses described Hasan, who was wearing an Army uniform during the assault, as steely calm. He paused only to reload one of his handguns. When it was over, Hasan lay motionless, leading officials to mistakenly assume he was dead.



Battle-hardened Sgt. Howard Appleby of the Bronx said "it looked like a war zone."



"There was blood everywhere," said Appleby, 31. "It was unbelievable. Guys were screaming and yelling. People were rushing to help. I took my shirt off and began assisting the wounded."



The death toll from the murderous attack rose from 12 to 13 early Friday after a woman died from gunshot wounds. It was not clear if Velez was that woman, or if she died earlier.



Some 28 people were recovering from their injuries, officials said.



Velez is the second Chicago-area massacre victim. Earlier, the Army confirmed that Pfc. Michael Pearson of suburban Bolingbrook, Il. was among the dead.



While security remained tight on the nation's largest military base, the emergency lockdown at Fort Hood was lifted.



President Obama ordered that flags be flown at half staff on all federal buildings until Veteran's Day, which is next Wednesday, as "a modest tribute" to the victims.



"We don't know all the answers yet," said Obama, who intends to attend the memorial service at the base. "What we do know there are families, friends, and an entire nation grieving right now."



Hasan, who specialized in combat stress, was about to be deployed to Afghanistan. Sources close to him said he objected to going to battle against other Muslims.



After the shooting, soldiers on the sprawling base scurried to help the wounded. Some tore off pieces of their uniforms to make bandages to treat the injured.



Cone praised the soldiers for their quick reaction.



"God bless these soldiers," Cone said. "As horrible as this was it could have been worse."



Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison (R-Tex.) said Hasan - who had worked with the wounded for years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center - was angry about being sent to war and tried to get his orders changed.



The people in the building Hasan shot up were mostly soldiers preparing for deployment.



In what should have been one of the most secure places in the country, frightened military families huddled behind locked doors - in some cases comforted by soldiers calling from faraway war zones.



"Here I am in Iraq, worried my wife and son are in danger in their own backyard," blogged Army Spec. Naveed Ali Shah, a public affairs specialist in Iraq.



The FBI, which was assisting the Army in investigating the massacre, seized Hasan's computer and searched his off-base apartment in Killeen, Tex.



There was apparently little left to find. A neighbor told the Associated Press that Hasan told her he was being deployed and emptied out his pad before the rampage.



Patricia Villa said Hasan gave her some of his frozen vegetables, furniture, a few T-shirts - and a new copy of the Koran, the Muslim holy book. He also offered her $60 to clean up his pad.



Hasan's defense of Islamic suicide bombers in a comment he posted on the Internet was being scrutinized.



Co-workers came forward to say that the Muslim doctor, the American-born son of Jordanian immigrants, opposed the war in Iraq.



Still, Cone said the shooting did not appear to be political.



"Evidence does not suggest this was a terrorist event," the general said.



It was the worst mass shooting ever at an American military base.



The shooting spread mass chaos and confusion on the military installation. Sirens wailed for five hours as the public address system crackled with urgent calls for blood donations.



Officials told the base population of nearly 34,000 to take cover as they hunted for accomplices.



Despite initial reports of multiple shooters - and the detention of two suspects who were later freed - officials said only Hasan opened fire at the Soldiers Readiness Processing Center.



Retired Army Col. Greg Schannep was heading for a 2 p.m. graduation ceremony on the base when he heard three or four volleys of shots and saw a wounded soldier run by.



"Initially, I thought it was a training exercise," he said.



"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. He has since been treated and should be okay," he said.



csiemaszko@nydailynews.com



Here's a look at some of the 13 dead and 31 wounded when a military doctor unleashed his rage with a hail of bullets:



Pfc. Francheska Velez, 21, had finished a tour of duty disarming bombs in Iraq and was pregnant and preparing to go home to Chicago when she was killed. "She was a very happy girl and sweet," her father, Juan Guillermo Velez, said.



Pfc. Aaron Thomas Nemelka, 19, was a Utah native who chose the Army over a mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. "As a person, Aaron was as soft and kind and as gentle as they come, a sweetheart," uncle Christopher Nemelka said of the slain G.I.



Pfc. Michael Pearson, 21, of Bolingbrook, Ill., quit a furniture company job to join the military about a year before he lost his life to a comrade's gun.

"He felt he was in a rut. He wanted to travel, see the world," his mother, Sheryll Pearson, told the Chicago Tribune. "He also wanted an opportunity to serve the country."



Sgt. Amy Krueger, 29, of Kiel, Wis., joined the Army after 9/11, vowing to take on Osama bin Laden, said her grieving mother, Jeri Krueger.

She recalled telling her daughter she could not capture the terror boss herself. "Watch me," her daughter replied.



Slain Pfc. Kham Xiong, 23, of St. Paul, Minn., graduated from Community of Peace Academy in 2004. "The sad part is that he had been taught and been trained to protect and to fight. Yet it's such a tragedy that he did not have the opportunity to protect himself and the base," said his dad, Chor Xiong.



Spc. Matthew Cooke, of upstate Afton, N.Y., was shot three times in the back and spent 10 hours in surgery but survived the massacre.

"He was trying to help another soldier that was shot in the head," his mother, Dianemarie Frappier, told the Daily News.



"When Matthew leaned over to help, the shooter shot him three time in the back. The bullets bounced around his insides.



"I'm not surprised he stopped to help - that's Matthew," she continued. "If he would have run for cover, that would have surprised me."



Cpl. Nathan Hewitt, 27, of West Lafayette, Ind., was shot in the leg and hip while waiting for pre-deployment immunizations, said an uncle, Elmo Robledo.

"He is shocked that it happened. He's upset," Robledo said. "[But] he's ready to get back to work."



Alan Carroll, 20, of Bridgewater, N.J., was shot four times - in the chest, once in each arm and once in the thigh.

Carroll was a volunteer firefighter in Branchburg, where deputy chief David Hickson said the young soldier was in good spirits.



"He said it just happened so quick," Hickson told the Newark Star-Ledger. "He got hit up pretty good and was on the ground for quite a while when this was all going on."





Compiled by Jill Colvin, Jeff Wilkins, Katie Nelson and with News Wire Services



With Robert F. Moore and Kenneth R. Bazinet

Iris - posted on 11/06/2009

Not just that Joy. On Larry King yesterday a JAG officer kept on saying that the the man must have been an Islamic terrorist because he was a Major and Majors don't go crazy and shoot people. He was practically saying that only the enlisted people are capable of snapping like that......That's as ridiculous as it gets.

JL - posted on 11/06/2009

The sad thing about this is how people are reacting. We have bigots running around yelling at the top of their lungs..HE WAS MUSLIM.. as if they alone explains the evil act that was committed. A man did this not a religion or a nationality..a sick fucked up man with hate in his heart. I don't get why in tragic events instead of coming together expressing love and kindness people turn toward hateful stereotypes and just spread more hate around.

Sara - posted on 11/06/2009

I heard on NPR this morning that the shooter is s devout Muslim. My first thought was "Oh Great, there's a group of people that need more bad press in the US". I'm sure that many people will turn this into another Muslims hate the US thing, when in actuality it probably has more to do with the fact that he was going to be deployed to Afghanistan again in a few weeks and he probably just had a mental breakdown. I really feel sorry for everyone in this situation, the shooter, his family, the killed an injured soilders and their families...just another reason why this whole Iraq/Afghanistan situation needs to be remedied as fast as possible and we need a decisive plan on when we're getting out of there.

Charlie - posted on 11/05/2009

That is so sad we have been hearing about this on the news all day .

Isobel - posted on 11/05/2009

I'm so sorry to hear of all of those losses, my heart goes out to all of those affected by this terrible turn of events.

Iris - posted on 11/05/2009

Horrible.... I have no words over it, I'm shocked...

Diana - posted on 11/05/2009

It's awful. I saw it on the news while I was at work this afternoon. You'd think...Well, I'd like to think anyway, that things like this just don't happen.

JL - posted on 11/05/2009

The shooter...as of now they are not sure it there was more than one, well he was a Major around 39 years old about to be deployed to Iraq and sources are saying he worked as a mental health professional. WTF!

Sharon - posted on 11/05/2009

Damn Joy.

Our soldiers do deserve better treatment.

JL - posted on 11/05/2009

12 dead including one of the shooters, 31 injured and the shooters were soldiers. This just emphasizes how the constant deployments and the pressure to suck it up and not talk about the stress has resulted in a rise in suicides, abuse, and murder. Our soldiers deserve more and need more from us so this does not happen.