Sad event unfolding!!

[Woodhauler]

1 dead and many wounded at Fort Hood!!   Prayers for our soldiers :(

[1270d]

Fox says shooter killed himself, wounded 3 others.

[Woodhauler]

Fox says shooter killed himself, wounded 3 others.

Yahoo home page said 1 dead 13 wounded. Tragic any way you look at it!

[terry f]

  Looks like four dead, what a shame.

[DanG]

Four dead, multiple wounded.  The shooter is among the deceased.  The news possums are all over this thing, spouting many "facts" that they don't know.  I must have already heard the term "PTSD" 50 times in the last hour, even though he was never in any sort of combat situation.  He had suffered a non-combat head injury.

[LeeB]

I lived near Fort Hood for a long time. Unfortunately, many sad events occured there. I have to wonder how much of it is from traumatic injury and how much of it from people that may have been drawn to the possibly violent side of military service. It was not uncommon to read in the paper or hear on the news of some foul play going on in the area.

[goose63]

My son is at Ft Hood at least he is ok

[DanG]

Ft Hood is huge with 50,000 troops plus thousands of civilian workers.  Picture an ordinary city with that kind of population and think about the amount of violence you would expect to find there.  Would it really be all that different?

[LeeB]

Maybe it was reported more because it was on a base, but it did seem like there was more violent crime in and around the base than the many other larger populated areas around central Texas.

[terry f]

    My guess is they have a higher gun violence (suicide, murder) rate than a town of 50,000 people. I live in a area about that size and haven't heard of a mass shooting yet. My question is, everyone knew he had a screw loose, yet he could still go to the same gun store as the other murderer, and walk out with a gun, something aint right.

[timberlinetree]

So sad! We just lost another vet near us 23 yrs old jumped in front of a train. Our vets NEED more help!!!

[DanG]

Yes, very sad!  The trouble is, most won't seek help for fear it will ruin their career or job opportunities.  Lopez had just been diagnosed with depression, but it apparently wasn't in the data base yet, or he may have bought the gun before diagnosis.

We are probably talking about 100,000 or more in additional population, considering all of the married soldiers with their families and the civilian employees and their families.  The violence rate is probably still a bit higher than a "normal" community, but not as much as the media makes out.