Fort Hood Shooting Update

 

The Fort Hood shooting incident is over, and we have a few more facts to deal with.

There was only one shooter in spite of earlier reports of two gunmen. He was a 34-year-old enlisted Army soldier, Ivan Lopez, who killed three of his fellow soldiers and wounded 16 others before turning his weapon, a .45 caliber automatic, on himself and committing suicide.All the victims are military personnel and their names are being withheld until the families are notified.

According to Lt. Gen. Mark Milley, the commanding general at Fort Hood, Lopez, an E-4 who transferred to the Army from the Puerto Rican Army National Guard, served four months in Iraq back in 2011 and was currently in the process of being examined for post-traumatic stress disorder, He added that while Lopez had not yet been officially diagnosed for PTSD, he was receiving treatment for depression and anxiety, had what was described as 'a self-reported traumatic brain injury' and had not been physically wounded in combat.


Exactly what happened isn't totally known at this time, but according to Army investigators, the incident began when the shooter, who was assigned to the 13th Sustainment Command (Expeditionary) fired shots at soldiers in the 1st Medical Brigade by the motor pool, perhaps after an altercation. He then left that building,drove to another building on post, went inside and again started shooting.At that point he was confronted by an armed MP, put the gun to his head and shot himself.

Lopez was in uniform and was armed with a single 45-caliber Smith & Wesson that was his own personal firearm, not military issue. Reportedly he had just recently purchased the gun, so this may not have exactly been a spur of the moment thing.

Tragic...simply tragic.