Fort Hood shooting - 12 dead

The suspected single gunman in the Fort Hood mass shooting, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, is still alive, officials say.

An Army psychiatrist opened fire with two handguns at the Fort Hood Army post, killing 12 and wounding 31 others, Army officials said, adding the suspect had not been killed as previously believed.

Authorities identified the suspected gunman as Major Nidal Malik Hasan, who had treated soldiers wounded in foreign wars preparing for foreign deployment at the post.

"Our investigation is ongoing but preliminary reports indicate that there was a single shooter," Lieutenant-General Robert Cone, Fort Hood's commanding officer, told a news conference. "The shooter is not dead but in custody in stable condition."

Cone said the suspect had been shot multiple times. He previously said the suspect was killed by police officers during the attack at the biggest military facility in the world.

Two other soldiers were arrested, but have now been released, after what appears to be the worst mass shooting at a US military base.

The shooting began around 1.30pm (8.30am Friday NZT), said Lt Gen Bob Cone at Fort Hood. He said all the casualties took place at the base's Soldier Readiness Centre, where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening.

"It's a terrible tragedy. It's stunning," Cone said.

Asked whether the shootings were a terrorist act, Cone said, "I couldn't rule that out, but I'm telling you that right now the evidence does not suggest that."

Cone said the gunman had two weapons, one of them a semi-automatic. "There is no indication that they were military weapons," he said.

Military officials say Hasan was a psychiatrist at Walter Reed Army Medical Centre for six years before being transferred to the Texas base in July.

A cousin of the suspected shooter, Nader Hasan, told Fox news that he had been ordered to serve a term in Iraq and had been resisting such a deployment.

Nader Hasan said his cousin was a US-born Muslim who had joined the military from high school. He had served as a psychiatrist at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington DC, which treats many badly wounded troops.

"He was a psychiatrist at Walter Reed dealing with the people coming back and ... trying to help them with their trauma," he said.

He said his cousin had been transferred to Fort Hood in April months ago and was very reluctant to be deployed to Iraq. "We've known over the last five years that was probably his worst nightmare," he said.

The incident raised new questions about the toll that six years of continuous fighting in Iraq and nearly eight years of fighting in Afghanistan have taken on the US military and on individual soldiers, many of whom have been on several combat tours.

The Virginia-born soldier is single with no children. He is 39 years old.

Federal law enforcement officials say Major Hasan had come to their attention at least six months ago because of internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats.

The officials say the postings appeared to have been made by the Major but they were still trying to confirm that he was the author. They say an official investigation was not opened.

One of the web postings that authorities reviewed is a blog that equates suicide bombers with a soldier throwing himself on a grenade to save the lives of his comrades.

In Washington, President Barack Obama called the shooting "a horrific outburst of violence". He said it's a tragedy to lose a soldier overseas and even more horrifying when they come under fire at an Army base on American soil.

GRADUATION TAKING PLACE

A graduation ceremony for soldiers who finished college courses while deployed, was going on nearby at the time of the shooting, said Sgt Rebekah Lampam, a Fort Hood spokeswoman.

Greg Schanepp, US Rep John Carter's regional director in Texas, was representing the congressman at the graduation, said John Stone, a spokesman for Carter, whose district includes the Army post.

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.

The base was locked down after the shootings. The wounded were dispersed among hospitals in central Texas. Nine were taken to Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple.

A hospital spokeswoman says all those shot were adults. A Fort Hood spokesman said he could not immediately confirm any identities of the injured.

Lisa Pfund says her daughter, 19-year-old Amber Bahr, was shot in the stomach, but was in stable condition. "We know nothing, just that she was shot in the belly," said Pfund. 

OTHER SHOOTINGS

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 centre in March, 10 killed during a gunman's rampage across Alabama in March and 32 killed in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history at Virginia Tech in 2007.

Around the country, some bases stepped up security precautions, but no others were locked down.

"We will make sure that we get answers to every single question about this horrible incident," the commander in chief said. "We are going to stay on this."

Covering 339 square miles (878km), Fort Hood is the largest active duty armoured 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.

Fort Hood officially opened on September 18, 1942, and was named in honour of General John Bell Hood. It has been continuously used for armoured training and is charged with maintaining readiness for combat missions.

- With Reuters

- AP