By now, most of you will have read about the shootings at Ft Hood. I seem to recall Ironhold living in that area. Iron, I speak for everyone here when I say that our prayers are with you and that we all hope that you and your loved ones are doing well and staying safe.
The first of the shootings took place at around 1:20 PM; most of them occured at an inprocessing / outprocessing facility for soldiers arriving at or leaving from the base.
However, a few of the shootings happened elsewhere on post. One shooting happened at the main PX, which is within walking distance of the college I attend.
At around 2:20 PM, the news broke. I had Fox News on while I was getting ready to go to class, but because I was running late (I normally leave by 2 PM) I couldn't stay to listen. The lockdown order for my college was given around 2:30 PM, but by that time I was already out the door; I didn't know for sure that the campus had been closed until I finally made it up there just before 3 and was turned away at the door by one of the security guards.
As I was leaving the parking lot, the radio station I was listening to interrupted their music feed, mentioned what was going on, and cut into the local ABC affiliate's news feed. News was still rolling in, and so both information and misinformation were being given out. As this was going on, a Life Flight helicopter came in for a landing at the hospital which is right next to campus.
All 9 Killeen ISD schools on base were on lockdown, with parents upset that they couldn't get their kids. Apparently, all the schools that still had kids (some of the schools were on an early-out schedule) moved them all into their gyms and began to cover the windows.
A few minutes ago, the death toll was officially upped to 12, with 31 wounded.
One shooter has been killed, and two more arrested. One of the trio has been identified as Maj. Malik Hassan, a soldier stationed at the base.
I'm fine, and one of the soldiers I know texted me just before 4 to tell me that he's fine as well. Last I heard, however, the base is still on lockdown (I've been playing SimCity 2000 in order to block out the fact that I was so bloody close to where things took place).
Each of the shootings took place at facilities where soldiers are not authorized to carry firearms, yet the guy is arguing that the incident is "proof" that concealed-carry on campuses and the like does bupkiss to stop shooters.
It has been well over a year since I have felt even this remotely angry at someone.
One of the wounded has died, bringing the death toll up to 13.
Also, Hassan had been re-assigned to Hood from Walter Reed Army Medical back in July or so; apparently, he passed his psych screening while still at Reed.
One of the local hospitals and the Red Cross have both - independent of one another - organized impromptu blood drives. Both facilities have been so overwhelmed by would-be donors that they've had to ask people to come back tomorrow.
[1]. The shooter and the female civilian police officer are both still alive. He's currently in CID custody. It is believed that she's the one who shot him.
[2]. The main shooting took place in a waiting area, meaning that you had a lot of soldiers just sitting around and very little cover.
[3]. The shooter used two pistols, one of which was a semi-auto. Neither weapon was military in nature.
[4]. Some of the first soldiers on the scene did first aid then and there, in some instances ripping apart their own uniforms to use the pieces as bandages.
[5]. The base commander re-affirmed that the soldiers who were shot were all unarmed due to soldiers not carrying weapons around.
[6]. The lockdown has been lifted and tomorrow will be a day of mourning, but otherwise everything is going to continue as scheduled.
Hassan had been flagged about six months ago for postings made on a blog relating to suicide bombers. As part of it, he made a post in which he compared suicide bombers to soldiers who leap atop grenades in order to save their fellows.
Well, it's good to hear that you and (hopefully) yours are safe, although trauma-wise most people at that post will of course have much to deal with in weeks, months, and perhaps years to come.
It is aggravating that people would seek to polarize this right off the bat, but perhaps not surprising---it allows people to put something they have a hard time processing into a box ---"this is why guns should/shouldn't be banned; this is why we should/shouldn't send all Arabs back to the Middle East", etc---that is both familiar to them, and which reinforces their worldview. Not much I can say there, except that our efforts here in Iraq would be in even worse shape without the assistance of so many naturalized US-citizen Arabs and Kurds who came back here to support our efforts, often, no doubt, at significant added risk to themselves and their families.
I hope that life is able to go on as normally as it possibly can for you, over the next few weeks. You're about to get a front-row seat at a media circus, unfortunately...don't let them get too far under your skin. You'll see that, in addition to the worst media stereotypes out there, there are actually some decent people in that business as well.
I'm very glad to hear that you and yours are OK, Iron. When one lives in the neighborhood of such an event, it is very possible to be right in the middle of it.
As JC said, don't let the reactions of others get to you. There are never easy answers to such events, if there are answers at all. Many people just act without any reason at all. Two or three years ago, a man here in Milwaukee shot and killed quite a few people in his church. One police detective said the most significant thing I had ever heard about such an action. He said that we might never know what caused this guy to do this, that we were looking for a rational reason for an extremely irrational act. It wasn't his race or his politics or his access to guns, it was something we, as rational people, cannot ever understand.
We'll all keep you and your family and all those affected in our prayers. A logical reason for this would help the healing, but I'm afraid that that will be denied us. I hope and pray that prayers and support make up that lack.
"Charity is no substitute for justice withheld." ~ St. Augustine
"Never place a period where God has placed a comma." ~ Gracie Allen
"I care not for a man's religion whose dog and cat are not the better for it." ~ Abraham Lincoln
Bits and pieces are coming out now to suggest a possible motive.
Hassan had apparently gotten harrassed for being Muslim in the wake of 9/11, such that he had actually hired a lawyer at one point to see if he could get out of the Army before his contract was up; he signed a contract wherein the Army would pay for his college and in exchange he would have to serve a minimum number of years.
Additionally, he'd gotten a number of negative reviews during his internship at Walter Reed Army Medical Center (one of the most prestigious hospitals in the US. period.). Back in July, he received a rather poor performance evaluation and so was reassigned here to Ft. Hood; given how hard a fall it is, especially for someone of his rank, there was a good chance that his career was officially dead in the water.
To make matters worse, about six months ago he made postings to a blog dedicated to the subject of suicide bombers; as part of it, he compared them to soldiers who throw themselves on live grenades to protect others. Law enforcement officials flagged him at the time, but ultimately did nothing.
Reportedly, he learned that he was slated to be deployed to the Middle East, most likely Iraq. He expressed concerns to his family about not wanting to go and wanting to get out of his deployment.
And then just recently, he gave away most of his furniture to his neighbors; in the process, he also gave each one a Koran. As this is a military town, a soldier giving away furniture is relatively common and so initially no one thought anything of it. Deploying soldiers, especially if they're single like Hassan was, often don't want to bother having to find storage facilities for their personal gear and so get rid of what they don't plan on taking with them or shipping back to their folks. Likewise, soldiers who are relocating between bases are only given a certain weight allowance as to what personal effects they can bring with them; if they bring more than the amount, they have to pay the difference.
Given all of this, it's likely that Hassan - who may have been under the impression that his career was over with regardless - chickened out at the prospect of an assignment to a Middle-Eastern nation and so either went completely mental or decided to get out of it by the most unforgivable means possible.
