Fort Hood: Second Tragedy
On Thursday, April 3, a shooting occurred at Fort Hood, a military base in Texas. This tragedy killed three and injured 16 others. After doing so, the shooter then took his own life. The gunman was Specialist Ivan Lopez, who was an Iraq War Veteran. Lopez was also being treated for multiple psychiatric disorders, according to Fox News. So far, investigators are not entirely sure of any motive of why he went on this rampage. According to CNN, they believe that an argument had escalated about a leave requestand that weeks before the shooting, he had been stock piling ammunition.
Of those killed, Sgt. First Class Andy Ferguson was “doing what he loved” as his fiancé, who was close by as the shooting was occurring, puts it. Ferguson used himself as defense against the shooter, standing in front of a door to a room filled with others, so Lopez could not enter in. “He was so proud to be part of such a great service,” his fiancé continued.
Unfortunately, this is not the first time Fort Hood has had to deal with such a tragedy on the base. On Nov. 5, 2009, Major Nidal Hasan killed 13 and injured 32 in a shooting spree. According to the Washington Post, he had fired over 200 rounds by the end of the massacre. As witnesses had accounted, Hasan, before starting to shoot, yelled “Allahu Akabar,” which means “God is great” in Arabic.
