by CBS/AP
Published: Thu, November 05, 2009 - 2:40 pm CST
Last Updated: Thu, November 05, 2009 - 5:25 pm CST
FORT HOOD, Texas - A soldier opened fire at a U.S. Army base in Fort Hood, Texas on Thursday, unleashing a stream of gunfire that left 12 people dead and 31 wounded. Authorities killed the gunman, and apprehended two other soldiers suspected in what appears to be the worst mass shooting at a U.S. military base. The shooting began around 1:30 p.m., Lt. Gen. Bob Cone said at a news conference. He said all the casualties took place at the base's Soldier Readiness Center, where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening.
A law enforcement official identified the shooting suspect as Army Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan. The official said Hasan, believed to be in his late 30s, was killed after opening fire at the base. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.
The official says investigators are trying to determine if Hasan was his birth name, or if he changed his name and converted to Islam at some point in his life.
CBS News investigative producer Len Tepper reports that Hasan, 39, is a licensed psychiatrist from Silver Spring, Md.
A Fort Hood press release confirmed that "more than one shooter fired shots into the Soldiers Readiness Processing Center and Howze Theater on Fort Hood."
The victims of the shooting have not been identified but Cone said that the slain included U.S. soldiers and a civilian police officer working at the base. He said that no children had been killed to his knowledge.
"It’s a terrible tragedy. It's stunning," Cone said. "Soldiers and family members and many of the great civilians that work here are absolutely devastated."
The wounded are dispersed among several central Texas hospitals and the extent of their injuries varied, Cone said.
President Barack Obama, speaking before a scheduled event in Washington, said, "It's 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."
"I would ask all Americans to keep the men and women of Fort Hood in your thoughts and prayers. We will make sure that we get answers to every single question about this horrible incident," Obama said.
Read more of President Obama's remarks at CBSNews.com's Political Hotsheet blog
The Army post was still on lockdown as of 5 p.m. but Cone said that all of the deaths and injuries had taken place during the initial 1:30 p.m. incident and that authorities were determining whether to lift the lockdown.
FBI agents have responded to the base and the military is asking the FBI's help in investigating the backgrounds of the two soldiers held as suspects in the shooting, Cone said.
CBS News White House correspondent Mark Knoller reports that the White House is monitoring the situation.
There has been some confusion about the exact location of the shooting. Cone said that the shooting took place in the Readiness Center but that the two surviving suspects were taken into custody in an "adjacent facility."
At the Soldier Readiness Center, soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening — on average about 300-400 screened a day, said Sgt. Rebekah Lampam, a spokeswoman at Fort Hood.
A graduation ceremony for soldiers who finished college courses while deployed was going on in an auditorium at the Readiness Center at the time of the shooting, said Lampam said.
Greg Schanepp, U.S. Rep. John Carter's regional director in Texas, was representing Carter at the graduation, a Carter spokesman said.
Schanepp was at the ceremony when a soldier who had been shot in the back came running toward him and alerted him of the shooting, Stone said. The soldier told Schanepp not to go in the direction of the shooter, he said. Stone said he believes Schanepp was in the theater.
"I was here for a 2 p.m. graduation," Schannep, a retired Army colonel, told the Temple Daily Telegram. "As I drove up, I heard some shots. A soldier came running past me and said, 'Sir there is someone shooting.'
"I heard three or four volleys of shots with eight to 12 shots in each volley. Initially, I thought it was a training exercise," he said.
The shootings on the Texas military base stirred memories of other recent mass shootings in the United States, including 13 dead at a New York immigrant center in March, 10 killed during a gunman's rampage across Alabama in March and 32 killed in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history at Virginia Tech in 2007.
In May, a U.S. soldier opened fire at a counseling center on a U.S. military base in Iraq, killing five fellow soldiers. An investigation showed that that shooter had shown signs of mental problems for months.
Around the country, some bases stepped up security precautions, but no others were locked down.
A woman interviewed by CBS affiliate KWTX in Waco shortly after the shooting said that news of the shooting had reached her husband and other U.S. soldiers stationed in Iraq.
At 2 p.m. emergency responders en route to Fort Hood were told that their planned staging area, Soldier's Dome, was not safe to use, the Temple Daily Telegram reports.
Banks said it is too soon to tell whether there is any link to battle stress or repeated deployments. The Army is suffering a record high suicide rate and other signs of stress from fighting two wars.
In a statement, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison of Texas said, "I am shocked and saddened by today's outburst of violence at Fort Hood that has cost seven of our brave service members their lives and has gravely injured others. My heart goes out to their loved ones. Our dedicated military personnel have sacrificed so much in service to our country, and it sickens me that the men and women of Fort Hood have been subjected to this senseless, random violence."
Covering 339 square miles, Fort Hood is the largest active duty armored post in the United States. Home to about 52,000 troops as of earlier this year, the sprawling base is located halfway between Austin and Waco.
The base is home to nine schools — seven elementary schools and two middle schools — and all were on lockdown, said Killeen school spokesman Todd Martin.
Texas Department of Public Safety spokeswoman Tela Mange said Texas Rangers and state troopers were en route to Fort Hood to help seal the perimeter of the 108,000 acre base.
Fort Hood officially opened on Sept. 18, 1942, and was named in honor of Gen. John Bell Hood. It has been continuously used for armored training and is charged with maintaining readiness for combat missions.
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