An incident of shooting was reported at Fort Hood in Texas where a man allegedly open fired, leaving 4 dead. The authorities have identified the gunman as Specialist Ivan Lopez who killed himself after the military police responded to the shooting. The incident occurred at around 4:04 on Wednesday. Around 16 people were injured in the incident that took place at the sprawling Army Post.
The suspect was a soldier who had served in Iraq and was suffering from post traumatic stress disorder. According to some reports, he had also some mental health and behavioral issues. The officials were unable to find any motive for the sudden shooting. The condition of three patients who were injured is quite serious.
The suspect was dressed in combat fatigues and fired from his .45 caliber Smith and Wesson handgun. President Obama expressed shock over the incident and declared his deep sympathies to the family of those who were dead. He also referred to a similar incident which occurred back in 2009 when Nidal Malik Hasan who was an army major opened fire and killed 13 people. Hasan who was paralyzed during that incident is on death row right now. President Obama assured the public that a thorough investigation will be conducted.
After the incident, the area was secured by the state troopers and swift action was taken to give medical assistance to the injured. Many people at Fort Hood were reminded of the tragic incident in 2009 which occurred at the same place. The Governor of Texas also urged people to be brave and reiterated his belief that the people of Texas and United States will recover from this terrible tragedy.
Fort Hood is among the largest army base in the world with as many as 4500 soldiers and 9000 civilians working there.