Thursday, November 5, 2009

Breaking News: Army Says 12 Dead, 31 Wounded in Fort Hood Shootings


Army Says 12 Dead, 31 Wounded in Fort Hood Shooting (Update1)
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By Anthony Capaccio

Nov. 5 (Bloomberg) -- Twelve people were killed and 31 wounded in shootings on the Fort Hood Army Base in Texas, the Army said.

One shooter, a soldier, was killed, Lieutenant General Robert Cone, commander of III Corps at the base, said at a press conference. Two other soldiers were apprehended as suspects, he said.

“We do not know” what the motive was, Cone said. He said there were “eyewitness accounts” that there may have been more than one shooter. The prime shooter used two handguns, said Cone, who also said the base is in lockdown.

The shootings began about 1:30 p.m. local time at a personnel processing center and near the Howzee Theater where friends and family were gathering for a graduation ceremony for troops taking college extension courses on the base, said Lieutenant Colonel Chris Garver, a Pentagon spokesman.

Fort Hood, about 60 miles north of Austin, the Texas capital, houses about 45,000 U.S. troops and is home to the Army’s 1st Calvary and 4th Infantry divisions. It is one of the three largest Army bases in the U.S. by population and acreage.

President Barack Obama, speaking at the Interior Department in Washington, called the shootings “horrific” and “tragic.”

The FBI is on the scene and is working with the Army to determine what took place, Special Agent Erik Vasys, a spokesman for the San Antonio Field Office, whose territory includes Fort Hood, said in an interview.

To contact the reporter on this story: Anthony Capaccio in Washington at acapaccio@bloomberg.net

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