Fort Hood Army Base in Killeen, Texas is in a state of shock. Authorities have now said that soldier, Spc. Ivan Lopez, opened fire on other soldiers. He began his shooting rampage armed with a .45 handgun. It is believed that he walked into one of the unit buildings and opened fire. He then got into his car and began firing from the vehicle, then went to another building and opened fire again. When he was confronted by a female military police officer, he pulled out his gun, put it to his head and pulled the trigger. It has been confirmed that Lopez had mental health issues and was being treated for PTSD after service in Iraq. In total, he wounded 16 people and killed 4, including himself. All of the deceased are military personnel. At this time there is no indication of a motive for the shootings by Lopez.
The base was locked down for several hours with military personnel unable to talk to family members, to let them know they were okay. Fort Hood is the nation’s second largest military base and has approximately 50,000 military personnel and 150,000 civilians who work at the base. The base spans 340 square miles and is about 60 miles from Austin, Texas.
The whole scene was reminiscent of the November 2009 mass shooting by former U.S. Army Major Dr. Nidal Hasan. In that shooting, Hasan killed 13 people and wounded 30 as he screamed “Allah Akbar.” Hasan was shot and left paralyzed during the attack. His motives were later determined to be linked to the Al-Qaeda terrorist network.
