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Lockdown lifted at Fort Hood

April 3, 2014

Authorities have lifted the lock down at Fort Hood after securing the facilities. Officials have not yet released the details surrounding the shooting at the Texas army base that left at least four people dead.

https://p.dw.com/p/1BaSk
USA - Schießerei
Image: Reuters

Fort Hood army base, located outside of the central Texas town of Killeen, gave the all clear on Wednesday night roughly four hours after advising personnel on base to take shelter. A shooting at the military facility had prompted the lockdown.

"All personnel on post are asked to shelter in place," Fort Hood posted on its Twitter feed.

Initial reports indicated that at least four people had been killed in the incident, including the gunman. The US Justice Department said in the early evening that the shooter had died from a self-inficted wound.

The number of injured people differed across news sources, with a senior US defense official saying at least 14 people had been injured. Chief Medical Officer Glen Couchman told reporters that four patients were currently being treated at Scott & White Memorial Hospital and that two with severe wounds were en route. The medical facility is located in Temple, which lies roughly 30 miles (48 kilometers) east of Fort Hood.

The Texas military facility was the site of a mass shooting in 2009 when an army psychiatrist shot dead 13 people and injured 31 others.

"We're heartbroken that something like this might've happened again," US President Barack Obama said in reaction to the developments on Wednesday. "We're going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened."

US Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel told reporters in Honolulu, where he was meeting with Asian defense ministers, that he had no further details to add to what had been released to the media, saying that officials didn't "have all the facts yet."

Wednesday's shooting didn't come as the first in the last year. In September, a civilian contractor opened fire at the Washington Navy Yard in the US capital, killing 12 people.

kms/lw (AP, AFP, Reuters)