Shootings at Fort Hood - 12 killed

[karmenzsofia]

The shooter is alive--in the hospital in stable condition.

He's a psychiatrist, and Ft. Hood reportedly houses a lot of soldiers suffering from PTSS. Heard that in the news.

[kroquet]

Wow, this is just so sad.
Watching the press conference now.

[HauteMama]

My heart goes out to all the victims and their families. What a horrible tragedy.

[carousel eyes]

I heard on the news that officials had been keeping an eye on this man for months. Ever since 9/11, he'd been bullied about being Muslim. He is also immensely opposed to the war. So it is very likely that receiving the news of deployment may have pushed him to the edge.

It's such a sad, heartbreaking tragedy! My thoughts and prayers go out to those at Fort Hood.

[babieejae1101]

This is terrible. I couldn't even watch it on tv. . My thoughts and prayers go to out the families and victims.

[GirlFriday]

So horrible. It's now 13 dead and 30 injured. Someone died overnight. The suspect is actually still alive in stable condition in a hospital. There's a lot for law enforcement to sort out. My heart goes out to the families.

[Sternchen]

I cried when I heard this on the radio. My father was a US Army Soldier and I grew up on military bases. Anybody who experienced the same as I did would tell you that the military community is a family....My heart breaks

[jenna_foo]

My husband was stationed at Fort Hood for almost 10 years...this is such a tragedy.
When my husband and I discussed this last night, his response was something along the lines of "he heard all the horror stories as returning soldiers' doc, and then realized he was about to see it for himself and flipped out".
Although we left Fort Hood at the end of 2007, we still have wonderful memories of that post and the community there was our extended family. My husband still has friends stationed there...we definitely are thinking of all the families that will be affected by this.
So tragic...

[rainrowan]

While the military psychiatrist was taking care of others, I guess no one was taking care of the psychiatrist himself. Sounds like he mentally snapped. This is so sad, this all could have been prevented...

[ilovepinkhearts]

the really sad thing is they were informed of some very odd and strange postings the shooter had posted on the internet 6mths back...he was comparing soldiers to suicide bombers...he was not mentally well. but nothing was done about it... it's so sad, those lives could have been saved had more research been done and if the doctor was instead a patient.

my bil, sister and nephew were stationed there and living on post 2 yrs ago and they were there for 3 yrs or so. i am so thankful that they are no longer there.

[bag-mania]

I wish there were psychiatric tests for psychiatrists. If he was incapable of recognizing his own mental problems or he chose to ignore them, how much help was he to the patients that were depending on him?

[lorihmatthews]

As the old saying goes, doctors make the worst patients.

[HandbagLuvr]

The fact that he was able to shoot so many people in such a short amount of time is shocking. I didn't even know handguns like that existed. I feel so badly for all those affected.

[caitlin1214]

As I was getting ready for work that morning, Matt Lauer was interviewing a higher up at that base. One question was that there have been reports that the gunman shouted soemthing about Allah before he opened fire.


Matt Lauer asked if the higher up believed the shooter's religion had anything to do with it.


NBC lost the feed after that.

[nathansgirl1908]

Originally Posted by jenna_foo

My husband was stationed at Fort Hood for almost 10 years...this is such a tragedy. When my husband and I discussed this last night, his response was something along the lines of "he heard all the horror stories as returning soldiers' doc, and then realized he was about to see it for himself and flipped out". Although we left Fort Hood at the end of 2007, we still have wonderful memories of that post and the community there was our extended family. My husband still has friends stationed there...we definitely are thinking of all the families that will be affected by this. So tragic...

My cousin was stationed at Fort Hood too. He was there until he got injured in 2000 and was had to be discharged. Maybe they were there around the same time.

At any rate, this of course is very sad, but yet, again something that probably could have been avoided. While I hope what I have to say doesn't offend anyone, I still think it needs to be said: it is time for people to start demanding more from the "powers that be" when it comes to this sort of thing. I have never believed for an instant that mass killings like this are random. There is always some indication that the person is unstable and on the verge of snapping. That appears to be the case here as well, but nothing was done. Someone needs to be held accountable for the fact that nothing was done to prevent this man from hurting people. They knew he had issues. They knew he was severely disgruntled. That along with other factors was clearly a recipe for disaster.