at ft. hood, texas. another mass shooting with memories of the first ones still so terribly fresh. any moment now the base commander will go before the cameras and tell us precisely what's going on. our special coverage continues throughout the night, starting right now with don lemon. >> this is cnn breaking news. >> this is a cnn special report. i'm don lemon. i'm going to begin with breaking news on that deadly shooting at ft. hood, texas. the situation still considered an active scene. the suspected shooter is dead. that's according to officials. but a senior military official tells cnn there are multiple fatalities. at least six people are wounded. their conditions range from stable to quite critical. we have learned the shooter used a semiautomatic and was wearing fatigues. and the shooting started at ft.

hood's medical brigade building. sources say the incident may have started as a soldier on soldier attack. this is the base where major nidal hasan opened fire in 2009 killing 13 people and injuring 32. president obama tonight. >> i want to just assure all of us that we are going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened. any shooting is troubling. obviously this reopens the pain of what happened at ft. hood five years ago. we know these families, we know their incredible service to our country and the sacrifices that they make. >> we will also have the latest on flight 370 tonight. but i want to begin right now with our breaking news on tonight's deadly shooting at ft. hood. joining me on the phone is lynn adams. her husband is on the base and she's on lockdown with her children. lynn, your husband is on the

base and you live there on ft. hood with your family, three daughters, ages 8, 6 and 4. your daughters are asleep right now. i want you to describe the scene where you are. >> well, about 15 minutes ago, we actually got the all-clear from what we call our big voice in the sky, that the situation was over. so there's a lot of normal noise in the neighborhood, dogs are out again and barking, some of my neighbors are out across the street talking and things like that. >> did you see or hear anything this afternoon when that shooting began? >> no. i live about a mile and a half to two miles from where the shooting was reported to have taken place. we did not hear anything. a friend of mine alerted me through social media that there was an active shooting on post, and within minutes the sirens

went off overhead. >> do you know anything about the injured, do you know any of the injured people, do you know the shooter, do you know anything about the people involved? >> i really don't know the people involved. they haven't named names other than they have identified the shooter and the shooter is not somebody i know. >> but you did know it was real, because they don't have unplanned drills, right? >> we are usually notified on drills and the emergency broadcast system tests every thursday at noon or 1:00. i just moved back on post this past weekend. >> but you watched the 2009 shooting on tv and you worry that could be you, right? is your husband -- your husband works there, he works in the battalion. did he know any of the people who were seriously back in 2009? >> he has, i know, come in contact with some of the people

that were there that day. he was part of that unit when he reported that following summer in 2010. so he served alongside those people that were there that day and were affected because their friends were injured or killed that day. >> the president said that you deserved a sense of safety living on the base. describe how this will impact you and the thousands of people who call ft. hood home? will you feel safe in the future there? >> i think i've always felt safe, but no safer than living off post. post doesn't really have any extra security. they check i.d.s at the gate and they're trained to look out for things that might signify that someone might be up to something, much like airport security and things like that or police officers. but there isn't really a whole

lot of extra protection for us. >> okay. lynn adams, thank you. we're glad you're safe. we'll get back to you if we get anymore information. lynn adams, telling us they've been given the all-clear. we're awaiting a press conference from the base. while we wait, i want to championship's ed lavandera, cnn's pam brown, and bill gavin and cnn's white house correspondent. bill gavin served as an assistant director in charge of the fbi's new york office and responsible for the investigation of the 1993 bombing of the world trade center. also with us is major general "spider" sparks. ed lavandera, first to you. sources are telling cnn there are multiple fatalities, multiple injuries, including the shooter. what's happening on the base right now? >> reporter: well, don, just a

few moments ago, we heard sirens wailing again on the ft. hood instalation. it was essentially the all-clear. the streets behind me had been quiet for the last three hours. as soon as that siren went off, telling people on the post that they were free to move around again freely, you've seen a long line of cars, these were people who had been waiting to leave the installation since this tragedy unfolded here about four hours ago. so that's what we're seeing. the all-clear has been given to everyone on the installation. you're starting to see people once again -- the difficult work continues -- >> ed -- [ indiscernible ] >> ed, we're having a little bit with ed's shot. we'll get that fixed for you.

he's important to the story. michelle, i want to get now to our white house correspondent. president obama spoke tonight. i want you to listen to what he had to say and we'll talk. >> many of the people there have been through multiple tours in iraq and afghanistan. they served with valor and with distinction. when they're at their home base, they need to feel safe. we don't yet know what happened tonight, but obviously that sense of safety has been broken once again. and we're going to have to find out exactly what happened. >> a very solemn and serious tone obviously from the president of the united states. michelle, the reaction from the white house at this hour? >> reporter: well, the president spoke to the press earlier this evening. at the time he said he didn't have a lot of facts, that he was being briefed by the department of defense and the fbi. but some of what he said tonight, you know, what you just

heard right there, talking about how these soldiers served with valor, many of them multiple tours in iraq and afghanistan. he said they need to feel safe when they're at their home base. we know that the president gives remarks when any number of things happen in the u.s. but he has a real connection with ft. hood. he saw the effects of this kind of tragedy up close. he met with the families back in 2009. when he eulogized each one of those 13 people who were killed by major nidal hasan. and some of what he said today echoed his words back then. he said those americans, during that speech, he said they didn't die in a foreign field of battle, they died on american soil and that fact makes the tragedy more painful and more incomprehensible. they couldn't escape the horror of war, he said, even in the comfort of home. tonight he talked about wanting to get to the bottom of this. he said he wanted to assure

everyone that, in fact, we would get to the bottom of exactly what happened and that he wanted to make sure that we did everything we could to give those families and that community what they needed to get through this tragedy. he talked a lot about the families there, the strength of them, and that those soldiers on the base already sacrificed much for their country, just serving their countries. >> michelle, i want to tell our viewers, we're looking at air force one on the tarmac in chicago, departing chicago and leaving to go to washington, d.c. tonight. my question to you, michelle, you mentioned the president eulogized the victims in 2009 and the families speaking to them. is he expected, do you know at this hour, if he will travel to ft. hood? >> reporter: we asked that question earlier, also if he would change his schedule tonight, because he had a couple of events planned in chicago. he had a busy day of traveling. we know that made it difficult for him to each know what was

going on while this was happening. but once he was briefed he made those remarks. the white house staff has said he wasn't able to change plans. if anything did change, that they would keep us informed. so far, while they're traveling, we haven't heard anything further on where he goes from here, if he will take a stop possibly tomorrow at ft. hood. so we're waiting to hear details like that. we just heard those remarks from him tonight and no further information from the administration either. >> michelle kosinski, as well as the rest of my panel, stick around. we're awaiting a press conference coming up. for those of you just tuning in, there's been a deadly shooting at ft. hood, believed to be by a fellow soldier. l.

and tea parties. i'll have more awkward conversations than i'm equipped for, because i'm raising two girls on my own. i'll worry about the economy more than a few times before they're grown. but it's for them, so i've found a way. who matters most to you says the most about you. at massmutual we're owned by our policyowners, and they matter most to us. ready to plan for your future? we'll help you get there. (agent) i understand. (dad) we've never sold a house before. (agent) i'll walk you guys through every step. (dad) so if we sell, do you think we can swing it? (agent) i have the numbers right here and based on the comps that i've found, the timing is perfect. ...there's a lot of buyers for a house like yours. (dad) that's good to know. (mom) i'm so excited.

??? ...we'll be here at lifelock doing our thing: you do your connect to public wi-fi thing protecting you in ways your credit card company alone can't. get lifelock protection and live life free.

back now with breaking news here on cnn. a deadly shooting at ft. hood, another one in five years by a member of the military. this one happening earlier this evening. it is believed that this member of the military, the suspected shooter, brought in a semiautomatic weapon, opened fire, killing several people and injuring several people, as well. the injuries are believed to be anywhere from serious to extremely critical. and we are awaiting a press conference to happen on the base at any moment, at any moment they will update us live from ft. hood. and president barack obama speaking out earlier tonight. he's in chicago. this is air force one, on the tarmac, in chicago, about to head back to washington, d.c. our white house correspondent

michelle kosinski is keeping watch on that, as well as my other guests here. i want to go to colleen, texas, and the mayor dan corbin joins me by phone. mayor, your town is closely linked to this base. there's a huge connection there. what do you know about this? >> good evening. i just received a call a few minutes ago from the chief of staff, he gave me a rundown on the numbers that are going to be presented at the briefing. it's a military community. we experienced the tragedy in november of 2009 where the 13 people were killed and 30 wounded. we've experienced the horrors of war since the first troops deployed to iraq in 2003. we've had hundreds of soldiers from ft. hood who have been killed and thousands wounded. these people have done the bulk of the fighting in the first

cavalry division and more soldiers deployed from ft. hood were killed than any other installation. so we've experienced the grieving. it's a community. it's like you've been kicked in the gut, like it can't be happening again. these are our friends. we go to church together. we pray together. we play together. it's a really tight nit community. we have so much respect for these soldiers who put their life on the line for our country, and they -- many of them pay the ultimate sacrifice. >> mayor, if i can jump in here. as we await that press conference, and you said you were just given an update by the commanding officer there at ft. hood. obviously he will go into more details about what happened. but can we expect these numbers of injured to go up? how many people do we have who are fatalities and injuries

here? >> i think the injured figure will be higher than what you've seen, but i'm not going to divulge any of those numbers because i think the general, he's an excellent man. >> have you gotten confirmation on who the shooter is? >> i don't have that information. at any rate, i just want you to know that the community here in the area is so united with these soldiers. we will pray for their recovery, pray for their families that everybody can recover. it's a resilient community, and if you can get to know these soldiers and their leaders, their leaders are terrific people. >> these are people who have spent many days, months, years

in combat, fighting for our freedom overseas. now they have to deal with this right here in the heartland, in their own home. thank you so much. we know you're grieving. mayor, we'll get back to you. so please take care. we'll speak to you later on, here on cnn. you see that box on the lower right hand corner of the screen. we're awaiting a news conference from ft. hood to update us on the casualties and the incident that happened there earlier. you heard the mayor of ft. hood saying we should expect those casualty and injury numbers to go up. we know there are multiple deaths we have been told and multiple injuries, ranging from serious to very critical. you're looking at scenes from this at the very height of it when it happened earlier in the day. the suspected shooter, let's talk more about him. the ft. hood shooter is dead. at least six people are wounded. i want to go to cnn's pam brown,

tom foreman, james "spider" marks. pam, what do you know about the shooter in this incident? >> reporter: what we can tell you, what we're learning from sources, don, is that the shooter used a semiautomatic hand gun. so it's believed he used a hand gun. atf agents have been on the scene, so they'll be looking at how that hand gun was obtained. so it's an ongoing investigation. we're learning from sources, don, that the shooter here was wearing combat fatigues. perhaps that is why the initial belief at the early stages of this investigation is it was a soldier on soldier incident, that this started between two soldiers. again, as you mentioned, it's believed that the suspect is dead. so at this point, if there's been official all-clear at ft. hood at the scene, fbi agents have teamed up with law enforcement there, going building to building.

it was on lockdown for several hours. there has been an official all-clear. now it's up to investigators to collect intelligence and piece together who the shooter was. >> pam, there are other reports, other news organizations that are reporting the name of the shooter. we don't have that information yet and we don't want to get ahead of the general. >> reporter: absolutely. we, of course, are getting our own reporting but we're being very careful to report that, don. until we hear from the officials and what they have to say. when you're in a situation like this, so much of the preliminary information is inaccurate, as we've seen with other stories. often times investigators are in a fog as they try to assess the situation. so we're being extra careful before we move forward in identifying the shooter. >> tom forman, here we go again. you and i reported back in 2009 on major nidal hasan shooting. what can you tell us about the

base? >> reporter: it's a big sprawling complex, one of the biggest ones. north of austin, south of dallas. the base itself is basically sitting in this rectangle here. it was founded here to deal with tank combat. they needed a lot of open ground, that's why it's here. about 50,000 soldiers and civilians working here on any given day and time. this is the front gate to the base down here. this is what was locked down early in the process. you can see why. not only is it a main gate here that gives a lot of access to the base, but you get up here, this is where the headquarters for the entire post are, right there. and then if you move from this, not terribly far away, you get down here to the hospital. we've talked about it a great deal. we don't have all the details yet, we're waiting on those to see where this started. there's talk about the medical

brigade building being of some interest in all this. remember don, we heard somebody talking about the degree to which everyone ran from this area when it happened. this is called -- one area is called tank destroyer road. this goes through the middle of everything. it speaks to the history of the place and it leads to the area down here where major nidal hasan did his shooting some years ago, the main building where that happened was scheduled to be torn down after his trial was done. here we go again, and for the people of killeen and this base, it's not just this time, it goes back to 1991. there was a cafeteria out there, and although it happened on the civilian side of the community, many people on the base very strongly tied to that. at the time, that was the biggest massacre this country has known. it's been eclipsed by virginia

tech and sandy hook. >> i was just going to say it affected not only the base but many people who live there. tom, stand by. general, after the shooting by nidal hasan in 2009, we talked about additional security measures put in place there. how can this happen again? that's the question. >> it's too early to tell, don, exactly somewhat took place. i think it has been described -- this is a huge installation, approximately 45,000 to 50,000 employees, those are soldiers that work there, plus their family members, so in excess of 90,000 folks on this post as a matter of routine. and getting on and off the post is a very controlled event. if there's no intelligence that would have some of those -- whoever the police are, the security police, the guards, to inspect a vehicle to open the trunk and go after -- and to look around a little bit, it would be a normal day for

anybody to drive on post, and in this particular incident, that soldier may have had that weapon. the question is, we've talked about this medical brigade next to the hospital. i think the question is this -- i think this might have been a warrior transition brigade, which is where you place soldiers that are leaving the military for some reason other than a normal departure from service. so the question i would ask is, was he a part of the cadre, part of the unit to facilitate this transition out? or was he in a process of being transitioned himself. >> what do you call that again, you said what? >> it would be a less than a normal type of a transition, when a soldier departs the military under any circumstances, they leave directly from their parent unit. >> it's important to point out that you grew up on this base. you think about the thousands of people who live there and it's a

very tight nit community, each though thousands live there. >> it's an amazingly tight nit community. the mayor from killeen indicated those communities are incredibly tight. they always have been. these are very rich connections that have been in place for years and years. tom indicated that ft. hood was formed in advance of deployment and preparation for world war ii, because the terrain is so similar to nor france. these connections have existed for such a long time. the community is almost indistinguishable from the fort. >> thank you very much. bill gavin, how can a base, with thousands of troops, thousands of weapons, ever totally be secure? >> well, i don't know if it ever can be totally secure, as evidenced by a number of incidents that have occurred. whether someone came from outside the base on or they were

already on the base. it's never going to be totally secure. whenever we have any kind of a base or a structure, a facility, there will be somebody to figure out a way around the security that's there to gain entrance. that's the pity of the whole thing. >> so the question is, as i ask general marks, we talked about the precautions put in place, what is there to do? obviously there can be improvements, but something has to give. >> something does have to give. they'll change procedures, they'll have a protocol, and they have a protocol now, i'm absolutely sure, on the base to handle every situation that could arise. you heard them announcing today this was not a drill, this was an actual event, stay in the house. that's part of their protocol. the hospitals we gear up as part of the protocol. the response from the local police departments are the protocol. >> i have to get to a break here. but november 5, 2009, here we

are april 2, 2014 reliving the same thing over again. we'll take you to a live news conference at ft. hood moments away. don't go anywhere. we'll bring it to you. the breaking news right here on cnn after a quick break.

breaking news here on cnn. we're awaiting a press conference at any moment at ft. hood, texas. where you see live pictures of reporters and the soldiers getting ready to speak. it is believed that the commanding officer will give that press conference and update on the number of injured and killed. this incident happened earlier

today by a soldier we are told that the general will update us on exactly who it is. it happened near the medical building. again, multiple injuries and multiple deaths. at any moment, we'll get an update. remember, something similar happened in 2009 involving nidal hasan. i want to go now to a psychologist who interviewed nidal hasan who killed 13 people and injured 30 plus in 2009. he joins me now by telephone. doctor, were you surprised when you heard about another shooting at ft. hood, texas? >> i can't say i was entirely surprised, no. no, i wasn't. >> is this because of the stress that our soldiers are under? is this because of ptsd? why aren't you surprised? >> well, first, a lot of your guests have been talking about security. it's impossible to secure a fort of that size. there are over 45,000, 50,000

active soldiers and their families, 8,000 civilians. i've been on that base numerous times. i was never searched. it's not a place you can make entirely safe from gunfire. but in addition to that, in the wake of major hasan's shooting in 2009, the military leaders acknowledged that we have r rampant emotional problems in our returning vets from iraq and afghanistan. our suicide rate from returning iraqi veterans is 11% higher than those from vietnam. there's been a lot of focus, i'm not saying what happened here, but we do know -- what we think we know from the reporting is that this was a suicide, a murder-suicide. if that's the case, it certainly raises the specter, the question

of the rampant mental health issues that the army is trying to address with programs like real warriors awareness programs. but awareness programs are not enough. you have to get people with these difficulties engaged, involved in treatment. >> doctor, if indeed, because we're getting a bit ahead of ourselves. anyone who opens fire on either themselves or someone else is obviously -- has some sort of issues. but it sounds to me that you're saying you're surprised it doesn't happen more off considering the stress they're under. >> no, i'm not saying that. i'm answering your question, don. you asked me am i surprised. that's why i was focusing so much on the suicide data that we have. so i'm not surprised. do i think the department of defense is address thing problem? absolutely. i think veterans affairs is

doing a great job. there's a lot more that can be done. is that what happened here? we're going to find out in the days and weeks ahead. >> talk to me about nidal hasan. you worked with him. >> well, you know, i hesitate to draw parallels between these two events. first of all, we don't know what happened today. what nidal hasan has said publicly i can comment on. this for him was a statement. it was a political and religious statement. he is somebody who was very dissatisfied with what was about to happen to him. he did not want to deploy for religious reasons. but he's also somebody whose whole story never was told. somebody who had a lot of vulnerabilities, that -- i'll just speak in broad strokes, that because it was not a full try, because he pled guilty, never came to light. i think there were missed

opportunities there to intervene in his case. many of which are quite public. i don't know that that tragedy actually needed to happen. >> he was convicted of 13 points of murder and 13 counts of attempted premeditated murder. thank you for shedding some insight not only on nidal hasan, but also the stress that our men and women uniform are under. i want to go to cnn's evan perez and bill gavin and spider marks. thank you for joining us. evan, what can you report about the shooter in this incident, do you know anything? >> well, yes, don. at this point the authorities are still trying to gather information. we know that they're doing some searches right now of the apartment that belonged to the person they believe is the shooter. this is also in killeen, texas, just on the outside of the base there. we know the shooting appears to

have begun in the motor pool area, this is also on base according to authorities who have been to the scene there. again, as you said, the shooter is a soldier. he was wearing combat fatigues. again, all these people that were injured, it's still unclear exactly what the motive was. it's not clear that they haven't ruled out terrorism or any other motives. so far, they have not found any kind of indication that this individual had any nexus to terrorism, but it is something that they're going to be investigating in the next few days. he did use a semiautomatic handgun and appears to have injured a lot of people before he killed himself, according to the authorities at the scene there. >> can you tell me real quickly, because i have a pertinent question for general marks. but what are u.s. officials colon

doing to help military officials there on the base? >> the defense department has the jurisdiction, they're going to have their own investigators at the scene. the fbi is there. the atf will be doing traces of the hand gun to see where it was bought, how long ago. that can tell you perhap it is there was some premeditation to this. it can tell you how long the suspect was planning this event. so it is something that they're assisting the military officials who really have the jurisdiction. and then obviously the first order of business is to take care of these families and the people who are injured and to make sure everybody is okay. clear the place to make sure there is no other hazards there and take care of those people who obviously were affected by this incident. >> general marks, what can you tell us about u.s. officials helping military officials in this particular case? >> there's a tremendous hand shake that's already taken place between the criminal investigative division, the cid

within the army, to include the military police. they'll isolate the area and the handoff has already taken place with the fbi and atf. we'll know within hours as much as we can in terms of where this individual came from and we'll be able to go through his room downtown or if he lives on post. we'll figure all that out. what we won't be able to do is interrogate him. we won't be able to figure out what motivated him. >> bill gavin, you heard general marks there saying they'll go through his personal things. but if he was troubled or struggling in some way, can the military ever properly screen every single person on a base? >> i don't know if -- i think it's going to depend upon the degree of troubled -- what the external manifestations of that

trouble might be. some of it might be masked very well. for him to do what he did today, i don't know if there's a single target that he had in mind to murder and the rest of the people are collateral damage or he had multiple targets. we just don't have enough substantiated facts to support a conclusion right now. >> i want to get back to cnn's ed lavandera, who is at ft. hood, texas right now. we know there is a press conference about to happen soon. we can see the microphones there. ed lavandera, update us on what you know. >> reporter: we're told that the commanding general will be coming out shortly, that should be happening here in the relatively short period, within the next half hour or so. but it was interesting, don, just about 35 minutes ago, a siren started blaring across the ft. hood installation once

again. i was talking about this earlier, but our shot was breaking up, so i don't know if it was clear what i was saying. it was eerily quiet around the installation as we pulled up tonight, no cars moving around, a security checkpoint several hundred yards away from where it norm aally is. then after that, the all-clear and a long line of cars coming out of the post here. these are people that had been on lockdown since 5:00. so things starting to move around more normally, though this is a far from normal night here in central texas. we know that some of the desperate work is going on at various hospitals that are treating some of the victims and we're hoping to hear an update on those conditions. the last we heard from one of the local hospitals, there were several victims in critical condition.

so it's a very serious situation those doctors are dealing with. >> ed, stand by. let me jump in here. i want to tell our viewers at home, we're awaiting a press conference. officials at ft. hood are about to hold a press conference at any moment now to update us on the situation. we heard from the mayor of killeen, texas, which is the town that is -- which is a town surrounding this base. that we should expect the number of injuries and the number of fatalities to go up. that will be announced by the lieutenant general mark millie, the commanding officer at ft. hood. i want to go to spider marks again. spider marks, again, very similar situation happened back in 2009 and you had the commanding officer coming out then. it was such a surprise it happened then. but five years later we're dealing with the same thing. take us forward with this press

conference and what we can expect to happen. >> general millie's responsibility at this point, and he gets it in spades, is to share every bit of information he has in terms of what he knows occurred, and what resources are going to be available to uncover what those gaps are. and his primary focus will be one of embracing the community and ensuring that the family members and the community outside the gate, the community get it all together. >> stand by, general marks. let's listen in. >> this is the commander of u.s. third corps. he'll make a statement about what he can and take your questions after that. raise your hand if you have a question and we'll direct you when it's time to ask your question. so commander of third corps, lieutenant general mark a.

millie. >> good evening. i would like to start off first with condolences to the killed and wounded soldiers here at ft. hood from an incident this afternoon. at approximately 1600 or 4:00 p.m. today, a soldier assigned to 13th sustainment command fired shots at individuals within the unit areas here, within the first medical brigade area and the 49th transportation battalion area. the post immediately went into lockdown. we have now lifted the lockdown as of 35, 40 minutes ago. within 15 minutes, military police responded to the seen, engaged the shooter, and the shooter is dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

in regard to the investigation, at this time, there is no indication that this incident is related to terrorism, although we are not ruling anything out, the investigation continues. an investigation by various law enforcement officers at federal level, from atf, fbi, at the state level, from the texas rangers, the texas state police, along with local law enforcement, along with army cid and army military police. we have confirmed that there are three victims who were killed, and then the shooter was killed. there are 16 injured being treated at scott and white and here at darnell. our thoughts and prayers go out to each of those injured and their families and the killed and their families.

our focus now is to focus on the families of the injured and focus on the families of the killed. and ensure that they have the best care and counseling available. i do ask the ft. hood community or anyone in the local community if they have any information relating to this incident to please contact either the fbi or the ft. hood department of emergency services. events in the past have taught us many things here at ft. hood. we know the community is strong and resilient and we know the soldiers and civilians of the families of this fort who have served so bravely in combat over the last 13 years in iraq and afghanistan are strong and we will get through this. thanks to all who have supported us. thanks to local communities who have supported us over the last several hours and many years. and thanks to scott and white for their excellent medical care and their ability to handle

additional casualties. with that, i will take your questions. >> general, do we know a motive? do we know what set this man off? can you identify him? >> we do not know a motive. we do know that the soldier had mental health issues and was being treated for that. >> what is his name? >> at this point, his next of kin has not been notified. so i am not going to confirm his name. we do have his name, but the next of kin have not been notified. [ inaudible ] >> he has served in combat. he served four months in iraq in 2011. >> is he suffering from ptsd? >> he was currently under diagnosis nor ptsd but had not been diagnosed with ptsd. >> can you walk us through what happened? >> the sequence of events are not 100% clear.

it is believed he walked into one of the unit buildings, opened fire, got into a vehicle, fired from a vehicle. got out of the vehicle, walked into another building and opened fire again. and then was engaged by local law enforcement here at ft. hood. >> did he begin this thing with an argument? we heard that there was an argument in the wtu, and that is how this started and that he also was using a semiautomatic hand gun of some kind. >> he was using a .45 caliber smith and wesson semiautomatic pistol that was purchased recently in the local area. i am not aware of an argument at the wtu. there are initial reports there may have been an argument in one of the unit areas, but no indication of an argument in the

wtu. [ inaudible ] >> that we don't know. we're checking his background. he recently arrived at ft. hood in february from another installation and we're checking with the other installation to determine the background of the soldier. obviously, we are digging deep into his background, any criminal or psychiatric history, his experiences in combat. all of the things you would expect us to do are being done right now. >> were all of the injured soldiers victims of the gunfire or something else? >> they were a result of the gunfire, either direct wounds from the gunfire. some cases, there was some glass that shattered and some had superficial wounds from that. others, one was jumping a fence and got injured there, but was a result of. >> was this soldier in the

process of being transitioned out of the military? >> he was not, to my knowledge. [ inaudible ] >> his body was found in the parking lot where he was engaged by military police. >> can you describe how they engaged this map? >> military police officer responded and he was approaching at about 20 feet. put his hands up. then reached under his jacket, pulled out the 9 mill and she pulled out her weapon. and then she engaged and then he put the weapon to his head and he died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound. >> how are you able to rule out terrorism? >> i'm not ruling out terrorism. all i'm saying is there's no indication of it at this time. we have fbi and all the appropriate federal agencies and all of the various organizations searching all the internet,

twitter, facebook and all the normal associations you would do and the investigation is ongoing. we do not have any indications of that right now. but i'm not ruling that out. >> you have not ruled out terrorism? >> we have not ruled out anything. [ inaudible ] >> i'm not sure i understood what he said. but no, i don't have ft. hood as a specific target or any other installation. >> can you tell us if he had any family on post? >> the soldier is married, does have family, and, again, we're in the process of notification. >> are they here, sir, or living in some other part of the country. >> they're in the local area,

that's correct. >> were any of the victims known to the soldier? >> i do not know that. >> how many total weapons did he have? >> to our knowledge, he had one weapon, .45 caliber smith and wesson. if i said 9 millimeter, i misspoke. don't know how much ammunition. >> what normally goes on in that building? >> it's a headquarters building where they conduct the day-to-day administration of the medical brigade and then in the other building, they conduct the day-to-day administration of the transportation battalion. [ inaudible ] >> they're not far away from each other. [ inaudible ] >> is this a building he would have gone to regularly? >> yes, 49th transportation building he would have gone there for administration purposes. >> i did not say his rank or name.

i'll do that when his family is appropriately notified. >> what type of treatment was he undergoing? >> behavior health and psychiatric treatment for depression and anxiety and a variety of other psychological and psychiatric issues. [ inaudible ] >> he was not assigned to the wtu at the time. >> general, the female officer who engaged him -- [ inaudible ] >> he was clearly heroic, what she did. at that moment in time. she did her job and she did exactly what we would expect of a united states army military police. >> did you say -- [ inaudible ] >> he was not diagnosed as of today with ptsd. he was undergoing a diagnosis process to determine if he had ptsd. that is a lengthy process to be confirmed. >> was he diagnosed with traumatic brain injury? >> i don't know if he was diagnosed in the clinical sense.

there are reports that he self-reported a traumatic brain injury. >> was he on medications? >> that's correct. [ inaudible ] >> yes, he was. he was not a wounded warrior. he was not wounded in action to our records. no purple heard, not wounded in action in that regard. >> you said he came from another installation in february. can you tell us which one it is? >> at this time, i prefer not. i got folks calling that installation, talking to their chain of command to determine all the background information of this soldier. >> what state, sir? >> what state? >> the state where the other installation was. >> it's here in texas. okay, couple more questions. yes, ma'am? [ inaudible ] >> all of the wounded and killed were military.

>> sir, what can you tell us about protocol as far as carrying the type of weapon the soldier has and other soldiers that are allowed on base, what can you tell us about security? >> if you have a weapon and you're on base, it's supposed to be registered on base. this weapon was not registered on base. >> general, what was your reaction when you heard there had been another shooting at ft. hood. >> immediate reaction was casualties. what kind of casualties and do we have one or more shooters? and are those shooters secure and to provide the protection for the local community. >> was the fbi already on the scene -- [ inaudible ] >> we have a local fbi liaison officer. but no, large fbi assets were not here. they are actually inbound to help with the investigation. but no, there's local fbi available to us.

[ inaudible ] in light of what's happened today, are you concerned that those programs have gaps in them? >> we'll have to re-examine all of those programs and see if there were any gaps. i'm not ready to answer that. >> general, over the years now, we've had three -- this is the third one we've had. are you concerned beyond the fact that this is not the first time, are you concerned that this place is becoming a target for people for whatever reason? i mean, would your reaction when you heard this, not again? >> my reaction was not again here, and to immediately make sure we had a read on the casualties, immediately secure the site, and immediately look for one or more shooters. and to secure the installation. i wasn't thinking about not again or any of that. >> what do you think now when

you think about it? >> right now my concern is with the families, those that are injured and those that were killed. [ inaudible ] >> soldiers being allowed to carry a concealed weapon on base, do you think that should change >> no, i don't think soldiers should have concealed we paponsn base. i don't endorse carrying concealed weapons on base. >> how long did it take law enforcement to reach the base. >> maybe 15 minutes. [ inaudible ] >> i think the law enforcement acted very rapidly and swiftly, given the nature of the circumstances. >> i understand that -- >> i'm not going to get into a debate with you on carrying weapons on a military installation.

>> can you tell us the gender of the wounded? >> no, i don't have the specifics and i would rather not go into that. the shooter was a male, and the officer that engaged the shooter was a female. but the other injured, no, i don't. [ inaudible ] >> probably about 15, 20 minutes. we don't have an exact timeline. [ inaudible ] >> let me go to someone else. >> can you talk a little bit about how these changes made to security procedures in the wake of the hasan shooting and your response to today's shooting? >> i think the response from the law enforcement and the medical folks displayed clear lessons learned from the previous case, and i think that it was obvious

that the response was swift and it was appropriate, both from a law enforcement perspective and from a medical perspective. last question. >> you mentioned that the suspect bought the weapon. how much indication do you have that it was premeditation here, was there any timing of it? >> i do not know. and that will be part of the investigation. don't know any idea about the premeditation. >> last question. >> considering he did have a weapon that was not registered, he carried it on base, are you considering changing the protocol or practices of how you can check a vehicle as it's approaching base, consider thing just happened? >> i will be reviewing those procedures, that's correct. thank you very much. i appreciate it. also appreciate your support. we will hold a regular press conference daily until we get all of the information out into the public that we have that's

appropriate. i don't have a time for that, but the first one will be tomorrow, and our public affairs officer will put that up. i just ask for your thoughts and prayers for the fallen and wounded. thank you very much. >> that is a press conference being held there by lieutenant general mark a. millie, the commanding officer at ft. hood, texas. telling us about the person who opened fire saying it happened at -- in the medical area, got into a car, and then got out, started shooting, two different places, was taken down by a female member of the military. we are being told by the commander there that he had behavioral health andmental health issues. he was being treated for that. but not being treated for post traumatic stress disorder. according to the general, he opened fire with a .45 caliber

semiautomatic smith and wesson. when he was engaged by the officer, he pulled it from under his jacket and shot himself. that is according to the military commander. i'm don lemon. it is 11:00 p.m. eastern here. we are following breaking news out of ft. hood, texas, where several people have been killed and injured. we were hold there are three victims plus the shooter are dead. then there are at least 16 injuries, people being treated at the hospital now. we're told a member of the military opened fire 4:00 p.m. local time, using his own .45 caliber semiautomatic gun. he shot people, got into his car, going into another location, shot again. then engaged