Iraq war veteran kills soldiers and himself in ANOTHER gun rampage at US Army Fort Hood
A soldier with 'mental health problems' killed three and injured 16 more before killing himself at Fort Hood.
By Dave Lancaster |10:12 03 April 2014
The US Army's Fort Hood base in Texas has been the scene of another gun rampage after a soldier with 'mental health problems' killed three of his colleagues and injured 16 more before turning the gun on himself.
Numerous media outlets have named the shooter as Ivan Lopez, a 34-year-old Iraq war veteran who was being assessed to find out if he had post-traumatic stress disorder following his four month active duty in Iraq.
The same base was the scene of another gun rampage in 2009 which left 13 soldiers dead and 32 more wounded.
The base's commanding officer, Lieutenant General Mark Milley, described how the man "walked into one of the unit buildings, opened fire, got into a vehicle, fired from the vehicle, got out of the vehicle and opened fire again in another building".
"A military police officer responded. He was approaching her at about 20 feet. He put his hands up, then reached under his jacket.
"He pulled out his gun, she pulled out her weapon, she then engaged and he put the weapon to his head"
A motive is unclear as yet and while terrorism has been deemed unlikely, the investigation will "rule nothing out".
Firearms are not actually permitted on the base aside from a select few including those worn by military police. The soldier used a 45. calibre semi-automatic which was not registered at the base.
"Heartbroken" US President Barack Obama stated: "I want to assure everyone we are going to get to the bottom of what happened.
"Any shooting is troubling. Obviously this reopens the pain of what happened at Fort Hood five years ago. We know these families; we know their incredible service to this country and the sacrifices they make.
"Our thoughts and prayers are with the entire community and we're going to do everything we can to make sure the community at Fort Hood has what it needs to deal with the current situation and any potential aftermath.
"We're heartbroken that something like this might have happened again."