That is very good amidst this horrible attack.
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Officials gave no immediate word on a motive in the shootings at Fort Hood, Texas. Killeen Daily Herald Published: November 5, 2009 Updated: November 5, 2009
The Army major identified as a suspect in the shootings at Fort Hood, Texas, is a Virginia Tech graduate who formerly lived in Vinton in Roanoke County, according to reports tonight.
Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, is a U.S. citizen and was registered to vote in 2001 and 2004 with an address in Vinton, in Roanoke County, The Washington Post reported on its Web site.
Military officials quoted by The Associated Press said he was a psychiatrist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center 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.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because military records are confidential.
The Virginia-born soldier was single with no children, the AP reported. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said he was about to deploy 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.
He was 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. The attacker opened fire with two handguns in an attack that left 12 people dead and 31 wounded. Authorities killed the gunman and apprehended two other soldiers in what appears to be the worst mass shooting at a U.S. military base.
There was no immediate word on a motive. The shooting began around 1:30 p.m., said Lt. Gen. Bob Cone at Fort Hood. He said all the casualties took place at the base’s Soldier Readiness Center, where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening.
A law enforcement official identified the shooting suspect as Hasan. The official said Hasan was killed after opening fire at the base. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.
Officials say it was not clear what Hasan’s religion was, but investigators are trying to determine if Hasan was his birth name or if he may have changed his name and converted to Islam at some point.
A graduation ceremony for soldiers who finished college courses while deployed was going on nearby at the time of the shooting, said Sgt. Rebekah Lampam, a Fort Hood spokeswoman.
Greg Schanepp, U.S. Rep. John Carter’s regional director in Texas, was representing the congressman at the graduation, said John Stone, a spokesman for Carter, whose district includes the Army post.
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.
The base was locked down after the shootings. The wounded were dispersed among hospitals in central Texas, Cone said. Nine were taken to Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple. A hospital spokeswoman says all had been shot and are adults. A Fort Hood spokesman said he could not immediately confirm any identities of the injured. Lisa Pfund 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. 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.