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Officials: Fort Hood no longer on lockdown; suspect identified
UPDATE, 6:53: Fort Hood is no longer in a lock down, officials said in a statement.
A shooting suspect at Fort Hood has been identified as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who officials say was an Army mental health professional, according to the Associated Press.
U.S. Rep. Michael McCaul, R-Austin, who has been briefed on the shootings, said Hasan was a physician who was born in Virginia to parents who hailed from Jordan.
He had previously been reported as Malik Nadal Hasan.
Jeff Sadosky, a spokesman for U.S. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, said the senator had been told that Hasan was upset about his upcoming deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan.
An AP source said Hasan had received a poor performance evaluation for Army hospital work. Hasan had been a psychiatrist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for six years before being transferred to Fort Hood in July, the Associated Press said, citing military officials in Washington.
The suspect, McCaul said, “took a lot of advanced training in shooting.”
McCaul said he also has been told that Hasan had undergone alcohol counseling.
“Whether it was domestic or foreign, clearly when a U.S. military base is attacked in this fashion, that is an act of terror in my book,” McCaul said.
Officials says it was not clear what Hasan’s religion was, the AP said, but investigators are trying to determine if Hasan was his birth name or if he may have changed his name and converted to the Islamic faith at some point.
At a press conference on the post, Lt. Gen. Bob Cone said the people were killed in one incident at the soldier readiness facility.
The shootings occurred in one place on the base, and did not spread to other areas as had previously been reported.
One of the officers who responded, believed to be a civilian police officer on contract to the base, was shot and killed.
“Eyewitness accounts said there was more than one shooter,” he said.
He did not believe any children were among the dead.
The post remains on lockdown, but that may be ended shortly, Cone said. “We will err on the side of caution.”
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