One day after 13 people died and 30 were wounded in a mass shooting at Fort Hood, Texas, investigators on Friday sought to find a motive for why they think an Army psychiatrist carried out the assault.
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, allegedly opened fire Thursday afternoon at the post's Soldier Readiness Center, where troops deploying to Iraq and Afghanistan receive last-minute medical checkups.
The gunman shouted "Allahu akbar!" before opening fire, Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the post commander, told NBC's Today show Friday. The comment is Arabic for "God is great!"
Military investigators are trying Friday to determine the motive behind the mass shooting, the deadliest ever at a military facility in the United States. Hasan remained hospitalized, unconscious and on a ventilator Friday; in the chaotic hours after the shooting, the military initially said he had been killed.
"He's stable in one of our civilian hospitals," Col. Steven Braverman, a post spokesman, said at a Friday morning news conference.
Cone told reporters Thursday that the suspect, armed with at least two handguns, one a semiautomatic, began the rampage around 1:30 p.m. local time.
Hasan was later shot four times by civilian police Sgt. Kimberly Munley, Cone said. Munley was in stable condition after being shot and wounded in the melee. Cone credited Munley with "an amazing and aggressive performance."
In Washington, a senior U.S. official said authorities at Fort Hood first thought one of the people shot and killed was the assailant, a mistake that delayed the identification of Hasan as a suspect.
"In the heat of the incident, there was a lot of confusion," Col. John Rossi explained at Fort Hood. "It was just a mistake."
Authorities said they immediately took three other U.S. soldiers into custody on suspicion that they were involved in the shooting but released them within hours of the shooting.
Initially, 12 people were reported dead, but officials said early Friday that a 13th person had died overnight. Officials said 27 people remained hospitalized.
Rossi said "approximately half" of the victims required surger
Hasan isn?t the sole guilty party. The US Army?s unforgivable political correctness is also to blame for the casualties at Ft. Hood. Given the myriad warning signs, it?s appalling that no action was taken against a man apparently known to praise suicide bombers and openly damn US policy. But no officer in his chain of command, either at Walter Reed Army Medical Center or at Ft. Hood, had the guts to take meaningful action against a dysfunctional soldier and an incompetent doctor. . . . Now 12 soldiers and a security guard lie dead. 31 soldiers were wounded, 28 of them seriously. If heads don?t roll in this maggot?s chain of command, the Army will have shamed itself beyond moral redemption. There?s another important issue, too. How could the Army allow an obviously incompetent and dysfunctional psychiatrist to treat our troubled soldiers returning from war? An Islamist whacko is counseled for arguing with veterans who?ve been assigned to his care? And he?s not removed from duty? What planet does the Army live on? For the first time since I joined the Army in 1976, I?m ashamed of its dereliction of duty. The chain of command protected a budding terrorist who was waving one red flag after another. Because it was safer for careers than doing something about him.
Hasan isn?t the sole guilty party. The US Army?s unforgivable political correctness is also to blame for the casualties at Ft. Hood.
Given the myriad warning signs, it?s appalling that no action was taken against a man apparently known to praise suicide bombers and openly damn US policy. But no officer in his chain of command, either at Walter Reed Army Medical Center or at Ft. Hood, had the guts to take meaningful action against a dysfunctional soldier and an incompetent doctor. . . .
Now 12 soldiers and a security guard lie dead. 31 soldiers were wounded, 28 of them seriously. If heads don?t roll in this maggot?s chain of command, the Army will have shamed itself beyond moral redemption.
There?s another important issue, too. How could the Army allow an obviously incompetent and dysfunctional psychiatrist to treat our troubled soldiers returning from war? An Islamist whacko is counseled for arguing with veterans who?ve been assigned to his care? And he?s not removed from duty? What planet does the Army live on?
For the first time since I joined the Army in 1976, I?m ashamed of its dereliction of duty. The chain of command protected a budding terrorist who was waving one red flag after another. Because it was safer for careers than doing something about him.
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