Mass Shooting at Ft. Hood, TX; Ivan Lopez Identified as Shooter

By Chris Ariens 

A mass shooting at Ft. Hood, Texas this afternoon has the news networks in continuing coverage tonight. The shots rang out at 4:50pmCT. The gunman has been identified as 34-year-old Ivan Lopez, an enlisted soldier, who killed himself. At least four people are dead, including Lopez, and 14 others wounded.

On Fox News, Bret Baier first reported the news at 6:08pmET, CNN’s Wolf Blitzer broke in at 6:13 and MSNBC’s Al Sharpton reported the news at 6:15. The story was the lead of the first feeds of the three evening network newscasts, with updates throughout and for later feeds. Brian Williams also updated NBC primetime viewers in the Eastern and Central time zones at 9:07pmET. As the incident took place on a military base, DC-based Justice and Pentagon correspondents led the reporting: Pierre Thomas for ABC, Bob Orr for CBS, Jim Miklaszewski for NBC, Barbara Starr for CNN and Jennifer Griffin for Fox News.

Fox News pre-empted “The O”Reilly Factor” and had Shepard Smith at the Fox News Deck at 8pmET. Megyn Kelly picked up at 9. John Berman was in for Anderson Cooper at 8pm and Blitzer was back at 9pm. Alex Wagner was in for Chris Hayes at 8 and Rachel Maddow picked up at 9 on MSNBC.

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“We’re heartbroken something like this might have happened again,” Pres. Obama said in a statement from Chicago, adding investigators will “get to the bottom of exactly what happened.”

Developing…

At a 10:45pm news conference, Ft. Hood Commanding General Mark Milley said the assailant had served four months in Iraq in 2011 and was “undergoing behavioral health and psychiatric treatment” for depression and anxiety, but had not been diagnosed with PTSD. Armed with a .45 caliber Smith & Wesson, which was not registered on the base, the gunman killed three military personal. Sixteen others were wounded. The gunman was stopped by a female officer who drew her weapon, at which point Lopez turned the gun on himself.

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