Shooting at Texas army base: US major kills 11 in gun rampage

Published on Thursday 5 November 2009 23:27

ELEVEN people were killed and at least 31 wounded when an American soldier went on a shooting rampage at the world's largest military base last night.

The massacre happened at Fort Hood, in Texas, the prime point of deployment for United States operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Police shot dead the gunman, and apprehended two other soldiers suspected of involvement in the attack.

The gunman was named as Major Nidal Malik Hasan, 39. He was a psychiatrist at Walter Reed Army Medical Centre for six years before being transferred to the Texas base in July, according to official sources.

The officials, who had access to Maj Hasan's confidential military record, said he received a poor performance evaluation while at Walter Reed.

Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson told CNN she had been told that Maj Hasan was soon to be sent to Iraq, but had aired grievances about the planned deployment.

The shooting at Fort Hood began at about 1:30pm local time Lieutenant-General Bob Cone said at a news conference. He revealed that all the casualties were at the base's Soldier Readiness Centre, where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening. A civilian police officer was among the dead.

"It's a terrible tragedy. It's stunning," Lt-Col Cone said.

Maj Hasan had used two handguns, he said. It was not clear if he had stopped to reload.

The official said investigators were trying to determine if Maj Hasan was his birth name, or if he changed his name and converted to the Islamic faith at some point in his life.

Virginia-born Maj Hasan was single. He was a graduate of Virginia Tech University, where he earned a bachelor's degree in biochemistry in 1997. He received his medical degree from the military, in 2001. At Walter Reed, he did his internship, residency and a fellowship.

A graduation ceremony for soldiers who finished college courses while deployed was going on in an auditorium at the Readiness Centre at the time of the shooting, said Sergeant Rebekah Lampam, a Fort Hood spokeswoman.

The injured were dispersed among hospitals in central Texas. Lisa Pfund said her daughter, 19-year-old Amber Bahr, had been shot in the stomach but was in stable condition. "We know nothing, just that she was shot in the belly," she said.

The base was locked down after the shootings.

Last night military bases around the US stepped up security precautions, but no others were locked down.

In Washington, US president Barack Obama called the shooting "a horrific outburst of violence". He said: "It is difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans in battles overseas. It is horrifying that they should 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."

Mr Obama is considering whether to send the 40,000 extra US troops to Afghanistan, requested by the US command there.

In March he announced a "comprehensive new strategy" for Afghanistan and promptly dispatched a fresh general to implement it in June. But having received General Stanley McChrystal's grim assessment of the situation on the ground and his request for reinforcements, Mr Obama has spent the past two months – as US deaths in Afghanistan have reached historic highs – weighing the wisdom of both decisions.

Covering 339 square miles, Fort Hood is the largest active duty armoured post in the United States. The massive base can accommodate about 50,000 troops, although US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison said it houses about 35,000 at the moment. There are also almost 18,000 family members living on the base.

It is located between Austin and Waco, the scene of the FBI siege of the Branch Davidian ranch in 1993. It ended in a blaze in which 76 people died, including sect leader David Koresh.

Virginia Tech, where Maj Hasan studied, was where 32 students died in 2007, in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.