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An Army psychiatrist stands accused of opening fire Thursday on fellow soldiers at Fort Hood, Texas, killing at least 13 people and wounding 30.
The attack is believed to be the deadliest mass shooting ever on a U.S. military base.
The gunman, identified by authorities as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who once practiced at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, was shot by a civilian police officer and hospitalized in stable condition. His motive remains unclear, although various sources reported he is opposed to U.S. involvement in Afghanistan and Iraq and upset about an imminent deployment.
The attack erupted shortly after lunchtime on the sprawling complex, which is the home base for more than 50,000 soldiers and has absorbed more fatalities in Iraq and Afghanistan than any other base. The Indiana National Guard says it has no known troops at Fort Hood.
The assault targeted a ceremony inside an auditorium of the soldier readiness facility, which provides medical and dental care to troops before they mobilize for overseas duty. Officials said Hasan opened fire on waiting areas as soldiers from across the base waited for appointments.
Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the base commander, said Hasan opened fire with two handguns, killing 12 people – including a civilian police officer – before another officer shot him. Hasan originally had been reported dead.
Warning sirens typically used when tornadoes sweep through alerted base residents and visitors to stay indoors, said Caitlin Johnson, an Army wife who was off the base when the shootings occurred. She termed the situation "horrible." The base remained locked down for about five hours.
"My husband's in Iraq," Johnson said. "I'm glad he's not on Fort Hood right now."
The event Hasan targeted, themed "Educating America's Patriots," was intended to recognize soldiers and relatives who had been unable to participate in college commencements because they were deployed, and representatives of eight colleges were expected to attend.
Two other people were arrested nearby but were later released without being charged. Cone says he believes only one shooter was involved.
Agents from the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives arrived at Fort Hood on Thursday evening and worked alongside Army investigators who were reconstructing the crime scene, interviewing witnesses and seeking a motive.
Military authorities said ambulances carried the wounded to hospitals as Fort Hood residents struggled to understand a violent attack on friendly soil.
"It's a terrible tragedy. It's stunning," Cone told reporters outside the vast facility northeast of Austin. "Soldiers and family members and many of the great civilians who work here are absolutely devastated."
A co-worker identified as Col. Terry Lee told Fox News that Hasan opposed the U.S. role in Iraq and Afghanistan and told others that "we should not be in the war in the first place." He said Hasan acknowledged that soldiers have a duty to follow the commander in chief's orders but was hoping that President Obama would order a pullout from the conflicts.
"When things weren't going that way," Lee said, "he became more agitated, more frustrated with the conflicts over there."
Obama promised to "get answers to every single question about this horrible incident."
He offered his prayers to the wounded and the families of those killed, calling them "men and women who have made the selfless and courageous decision to risk – and at times give – their lives to protect the rest of us."
"It's difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans in battles overseas," Obama said. "It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil."
The Council on American-Islamic Relations moved quickly to call the attack "cowardly." The organization, an advocacy group for American Muslims, said it condemned the shooting "in the strongest terms possible."
The shooting at Fort Hood came 18 years after a massacre in a restaurant in nearby Killeen, where George Hennard used a pair of 9 mm pistols to kill 22 people and wound 17 more before using his last bullet on himself.
