Multiple outlets are reporting that at least four people, including the suspect, are dead after a shooting at Fort Hood in Texas today. An additional 14 people were reportedly injured in the shooting, as the military post in Killeen, Texas is still considered an active scene at this point. Approximately two hours ago, the official Twitter account for Fort Hood Tweeted that “all personnel on post are asked to shelter in place,” and there were soon a number of reports that as many as two shooters were loose on the base; however, CNN has since reported that only one shooter is known at this time, and the second may have been a first responder mistakenly identified as a shooter in the chaos.
President Barack Obama is currently in Chicago for two previously scheduled fundraisers, but he is being updated on the situation as more information becomes available, and he has issued this brief statement, with a full statement still to come.
“We’re following it closely. The situation is fluid right now … I want to just assure all of us we are going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened,” he said.
“We’re heartbroken something like this might have happened again.” (Via NBC News)
Meanwhile, Rep. Michael McCaul, the House Homeland Security Committee chairman, confirmed to ABC News the number of known casualties at this point, including the shooter, as it had originally been reported that the unidentified assailant’s status was unknown. Obviously, today’s shooting is reminiscent of the 2009 shooting at Fort Hood, which Sgt. Maj. Nicholas Connor addressed to ABC News as well.
“Unfortunately, this is something that we here at Fort Hood have experience with and this is something that is conjuring up a lot of memories of the past,” Connor said. “We’re just hoping we can get to the bottom of this as soon as possible.”
CNN reports that the incident began as a “soldier-on-soldier attack” and sources claimed that, for now, today’s shooting is not believed to be terror-related.