7 killed in shootings at Fort Hood, Pentagon says
 

(CNN) -- At least seven people are dead and between 12 and 15 wounded in shootings at Fort Hood in Texas on Thursday, senior Pentagon official told CNN.

Two shooters were involved in the incident, and one has been apprehended, Fort Hood spokesman Sgt. Maj. Jamie Posten told CNN.

"At this point we're looking for the other shooter." Asked for a description, he said, "we're trying to develop that information."

On the Fort Hood Web site, the word "closed" is posted with the statement, "Effective immediately, Fort Hood is closed. Organizations/units are instructed to execute a 100 percent accountability of all personnel."

http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/05/tex...ngs/index.html

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My parents and one of my sisters lives in the Killeen/Ft. Hood area. They are fine and are trying to keep me informed about what's going on. Still trying to get in touch with some friends.

*sigh*

It seems like the number of deaths and injuries reported just keeps climbing. What a horrible tragedy.

Holy shit. More shots have been fired at a housing development. I can't find out which one, though.

Just keeps getting worse...

Officials are saying 12 dead, 31 wounded.

My heart is breaking for our servicemen and women at Fort Hood. What a tragedy.

Now it is being reported that the gunman was an officer who was about to be deployed to Iraq.

This is all so very sad.

Now they are reporting he was an MD, a mental health professional who has also served at Walter Reed, age 39 or 40 who was about to be deployed.

Apparently earlier reports of possible gunfire elsewhere were false.

So very sad.. my thoughts and prayers are with the wounded and their families as well as the families of those who were killed.

Truly sad for the soldiers and the families that have been killed and hurt.

So far all reports from those I know is that all are safe. My heart just aches for the victims and the families.

The shooter is not dead. He is in custody & in stable condition. This is according to the Lt. General giving the press release.

I'm glad they caught him.

This is so horrible. I hate even thinking about how it went down. Just two people with handguns did this.

The Daily News did a piece on this today. One of the soldiers that was killed had just returned from Iraq and was pregnant. Really sad.

Two people with handguns carried out the physical act, but several other people should be blamed as well. It wasn't a huge secret that he was unstable and on the verge of snapping. The information I have read said that they knew he was extremely disgruntled as well. One person commented that this behavior was in line with what he would have expected from this person.

All of this, but no one saw fit to do something that would have prevented him from doing this.

I'm definitely in prayer for the victims and their loved ones, but I'm getting tired of mass killings by people who exhibited signs of instability and others just stood back and watched. Maybe it is time for these people who know this stuff to be held accountable in some way.

Just one killer, and one serviceman who brought him down.

I am positively thrilled that this will heard in a military court, and not some namby-pamby civilian court.

It wasn't even a serviceman who stopped him. It was two civilian police officers. I do agree I'm glad this is going to a court martial instead of a civilian trial.

I haven't read much about it (I retain better when I read), but wasn't a woman involved in bringing him down? Was she an off duty police officer, or part of the military?

Little known fact, but most base security in the US is actually done by civilian police officers employed by the DoD. Both of the people who stopped the attack were civilian base police officers.

One of the soldiers killed in the attack was from my city. He was 52 years old, and went to school with a bunch of my family members.

I'm assuming this is because of the death penalty, but military courts actually use the death penalty WAY less than any others. Additionally, military courts are MUCH more "fair" (not necessarily lenient) in their rules and procedures than most jurisdictions, at least in my opinion.

"Namby-pamby" is entirely misplaced here. If anything, military courts are less likely to enact the strictest penalty (assuming that's death, in your opinion).

I'd assume he'll still be put to death as a result, but he'll be a marked rarity.

I stand (sit) corrected on both counts. My knowledge of military courts is pretty much limited to the 19th century.

There is a part of me who doesn't want him to be martyred, either. I also don't want to see any of the Armed Forces put on trial for not reporting Hassan for his prior "problems", either.

The first shot was fired by a civilian officer who happens to be a female.

Actually I do wonder, what civilian crimes does the Federal government have a death penalty for. Is murder one of them?

Who's nickname was Mighty Mouse. She got shot three times before going down, which is impressive.

I agree with most of this, but the more we learn about the warning signs, the more I wonder if it won't take a "public" airing of the laundry to get changes made, or even address what happened.

It's actually a really deep issue . . . were the warning signs ignored because, as some (particularly right-wing) pundits have offered, individuals didn't want to appear like they were singling out a Muslim? Were these issues fully examined and deemed noteworthy but ultimately unactionable (I really, really hope this winds up being the case)? Was it a communications break-down? It's traumatic and basically a one-off incident, but is it indicative of a cultural issue within the military (or the interaction between the FBI/law enforcement and the military, or similar)?

While the trial is basically open-and-shut, the ancillary issues are fascinating.

I do. They should be.

Why do you feel that way?

This is fasincinating no matter how you look at it, but yes, I think you have it right. Here's a question for you, however: if someone is known to have ties with Al-Qaida or any other terrorist organization, should he or she be permitted to be in the US military?

They shouldn't be allowed in the US PERIOD, let alone the military.

But proving somebody has concrete ties to terrorism is near impossible to do except for higher ups.

Of course he shouldn't be allowed in the US military. That's the reason why the process should likely be put on trial. What did the Army (or FBI) know? When? What was done about it? Why/why not?

I don't think the shooter had substantive ties to al Qaeda - everything I've seen was deemed harmless/for research purposes by those "in the know" - but the very specter makes me reject the notion of "not putting the military on trial" in this case.

Because it makes me angry how often there have been red flags in most of these mass killings, but people just chose to sweep it under the rug or ignore it. I think in many instances, had something been done, we might not have lost so many lives. Maybe if there is a public airing of sorts and some blame starts being cast, new policies and guidelines will be put in place.

I do agree somebody screwed up big time. The man was a shrink working with other shrinks on a regular basis. How did none of them realize he wasn't completely stable. Though I think this might have been partially caused by over sensitivity to religious freedom.

I agree. However, I think there was also something else at play. Elitism doesn't seem like the right word, but basically I'm trying to say I think the fact that he was a psychiatrist also had something to do with it. I think sometimes people think that folks who are in certain positions really wouldn't do something like this...especially not a shrink.