Sirens fill the air as post responds to mass shooting Posted On: Friday, Nov. 6 2009 05:07 AM By Victor O'Brien
Killeen Daily Herald

FORT HOOD – The controlled atmosphere of Fort Hood turned to confusion Thursday when officials say Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire, leaving 13 dead and 30 wounded.

The Soldier Readiness Processing site, a place soldiers go to get their affairs in order before and after deployment, became a crime scene as shots rang out.

Local, state and federal law enforcement surrounded several blocks around the building and the adjacent complexes, trying to contain the violence, capture any suspects and rescue the wounded.

Inside the Soldier Readiness Processing site, eyewitnesses waited, unable to leave, in a building surrounded by soldiers carrying M4 rifles.

Several yards to the west, Military Police patrolled the buildings on a hill overlooking six adjacent buildings to the east. Reports at the scene warned that a shooter was loose inside one of the buildings with several wounded.

Soldiers at barracks near the Soldier Readiness Processing site rushed inside at the command of their leaders. Military Police blocked a mile stretch down Battalion Avenue, where the Fort Hood Mobile Command Center coordinated the scene.

Dozens of armed military police in tactical gear walked back and forth in front of Humvees on the hill. Soldiers cleared the buildings throughout the afternoon.

Across the street, dozens of 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment soldiers in trucks readied in an empty parking lot of the vacant 1st Cavalry Division barracks.

Several times an hour, sirens pierced the air, ordering soldiers and their families to stay inside. A pair of gunshots sounded around 3:30 p.m., but soldiers stayed in position.

The Killeen SWAT team arrived around 3:38 p.m., flanking the south side of the scene. Other law enforcement flanked other sides of the perimeter near the Howze Theater, east of where the shooter was suspected to be. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives agents arrived at 4 p.m. to help control the scene.

While soldiers contained the crime scene, emergency personnel tried to save lives at Carl R. Darnall Army Medical Center.

The chaos started shortly after 1 p.m., when Fort Hood ordered paramedics from Killeen, Copperas Cove and Harker Heights onto post to handle what dispatchers described as a "mass casualty situation."

The place where Hasan worked became the place where his victims were taken.

Ambulances funneled the wounded to the emergency entrance where staff assessed their injuries. Some victims stayed at Darnall. Ambulances and helicopters transported others local hospitals.

At the hospital's emergency entrance, soldiers blocked the roads and non-emergency access. In the hospital parking lot, people walked and cars drove, unaware of the chaos at the emergency entrance.

Other ambulances were stationed at barracks throughout Fort Hood as reports filed in of other unsubstantiated attacks.

Then the siren sounded. A woman's voice came over the Mass Notification System and urged everyone to stay inside, find shelter and avoid the emergency situation.

Back at the Soldier Readiness Processing site, the scene appeared headed for a resolution around 4:10 p.m. when SWAT officers, carrying bulletproof shields and a battering ram, waited atop the hill.

The sirens sounded again at 4:28 p.m. Moments later soldiers began walking casually throughout the patrol. Several soldiers left the hill, while soldiers near the 1st Cavalry barracks began unpacking water, snacks and supplies.

An Apache helicopter circled the skies just after 5 p.m.

Soldiers came and went until about 5:30, when non-military paramedics were relieved of duty. Trucks carried lights to illuminate the parking lot surrounding the six buildings. The activity shifted focus from containing the crime scene to processing the scene and caring for witnesses inside the Soldier Readiness Processing site.

By 6 p.m. soldiers delivered MREs to the witnesses waiting inside the Soldier Readiness Processing site. Soldiers carried sleeping bags to prepare for a night at the scene.

Killeen police SWAT officers left post around 7:30 p.m.

Calmness ended six hours of confusion that locked down Fort Hood and forced soldiers into their barracks.

At 7:08 p.m., the Mass Notification System called off the emergency, declaring the threat "no longer exists." The lockdown ended. For more than an hour, cars inched forward in lines to exit Fort Hood. At the gates, armed soldiers checked identification and peered inside cars before letting them leave as others waited to be allowed back on post.

Contact Victor O'Brien at vobrien@kdhnews.com or (254) 501-7468.