KILLEEN, TX (KXXV) — It's been 11 years since the Fort Hood shooting, where a gunman took the lives of three victims and injured 16 others before turning the gun on himself. It's a day that changed this military post forever.
- The shooter, Ivan Lopez, was an Iraq War veteran who suffered from mental health issues.
- Lopez killed three and injured 16 others before turning the gun on himself.
- This was the second shooting incident in recent years. The first was on November 5, 2009, where 13 people were killed.
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It happened at the hands of an Iraq war veteran suffering from mental health issues.
It’s a day that changed this military post forever. The Commanding General at the time and eventual Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Mark Milley, spoke after the events unfolded.
“Our thoughts and prayers go to each of those injured and their families, and the killed and their families, "General Milley said. "Our focus now is the focus on the injured and focus on the families killed, and ensure they have the best care and counseling available."
Before being stationed at the post in Killeen, Army Specialist Ivan Lopez lived in El Paso.
A former neighbor of his spoke in 2014 on the shooter’s behavior while stationed at Fort Bliss.
“I would see him when he would leave for work and everything, and I would see him at different points and I mean, nothing ever struck me odd about him, he’s a soldier, he’s going to go to on duty for some reason, I don’t know what his MOS was, from what I saw I think it could’ve been infantry,” Noah Gorges said, former neighbor of the shooter.
The shooting was the second shooting incident in recent years. The first happened on November 5, 2009, when 13 people were killed in another mass shooting.
