Twelve people have been killed and 30 wounded in a shooting spree at a Texas military post in a murderous rampage that officials believe was carried out by an Army psychiatrist who was about to be deployed to Iraq. 
 
 The suspected gunman was identified by ABC News as Major Nidal Malik Hasan. An Army official confirmed that Maj. Hasan would have been deployed to Iraq later this month. Sources tell ABC News that this would have been his first deployment. 
 
 The shooter was initially reported to have been killed, but Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone told a late night news conference that the suspect was wounded and in custody. Cone would not say what Hasan's medical condition was, but said the suspect was not in danger of dying. 
 
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 Hasan is not talking to authorities, said Cone. 
 
 Two other soldiers were taken into custody, but were later released. 
 
 Hasan's cousin, Nader Hasan, issued a statement late Thursday. 
 
 "We are shocked and saddened by the terrible events at Fort Hood today. We send the families of the victims our most heartfelt sympathies," the statement read. "Nidal was an American citizen. He was Born in Arlington, Virginia and raised here in America...Our family loves America. We are proud of our country, and saddened by today's tragedy." 
 
 Hasan allegedly opened fire and killed 12 people on the post before he was shot several times. Among the wounded was a female police officer who exchanged gunfire with Hasan. 
 
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 Cone called the attack "a terrible tragedy, stunning." He said the community was "absolutely devastated." 
 
 " target="external">President Obama called the Fort Hood shootings a "horrific outburst of violence." 
 
 "It is difficult enough to lose soldiers overseas, but it is horrifying that they should lose their lives at an Army base in the U.S.," he said. 
 
 "My prayers are with the wounded and the families of the fallen," said the president. 
 
 The Senate and the House of Representatives held a moment of silence this evening for the victims of the Fort Hood massacre, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry ordered flags be flown at half mast until Sunday. 
 
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 Cone said the motive for the attack, which took place just after 1:30 p.m. CT, is unclear. While he said he could not rule out the incident as an act of terrorism, evidence does not support that theory. 
 
 Hasan's cousin Nader Hasan said that he believed it was his upcoming deployment combined with the wartime horror stories he heard from his patients that set him off. 
 
 Hasan had reportedly recently hired an attorney to help him get out of the military. 
 
 According to the suspect's cousin, Hasan was also harassed after 9/11 because of his ethnicity, and was called a "camel jockey." 
 
 According to sources, Hasan, who is either 39 or 40, attended the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, MD. He graduated in 2003 with a degree in Osteopathy and later finished his residency as a psychiatrist. 
 
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 In 2009, Hasan completed a fellowship in Disaster and Preventive Psychiatry at the Center for Traumatic Stress. 
 
 He was promoted to major status in May, according to the Army Times. 
 
 According to the Associated Press, Retired Army Col. Terry Lee told Fox News that Hasan had expressed hope that President Obama would pull troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq and often argued with others who supported the wars. 
 
 Fort Hood, located just 60 miles north from Austin, is the largest U.S. military installation in the world, and has suffered the greatest number of casualities of all American bases in the war on Iraq. 
 
 The base is a 340 sq. mile facility located in Killeen, Texas and is home to the 1st Cavalry Division, which was one of the first groups of soldiers deployed to Iraq. 
 
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 Cone said that a gunman entered a facility known as the Soldier Readiness Facility, where soldiers who are preparing to deploy go for last minute medical check ups and dental treatment. Sources told ABC News that the soldiers gathered there were getting ready to deploy to Iraq. 
 
 Thursday is a day that brings many different military units to the facility to make up miss appointments, said Cone, which explains why the victims were part of different branches. 
 
 "This could have been much worse, as horrible as this was, it could have been much worse," said Cone. 
 
 Cone praised the soldiers' quick response and knowledge of first aid techniques in saving so many lives. 
 
 The gunman used two handguns, Cone said. He wasn't sure if the shooter reloaded the weapons during the attack. 
 
 Cone said he did not believe the guns used were military weapons. 
 
 "As a matter of practice, we don't carry weapons here, this is our home," said Cone. 
 
 Fort Hood Went on Lockdown After 12 Shot Dead 
 
 Schools on the base were also placed on lockdown. A message on Fort Hood's public affairs office Web site read, "Organizations/units are instructed to execute a 100 percent accountability of all personnel. This is not a Drill. It is an Emergency Situation." 
 
 According to a source on the base, it is rare for firearms to be on the base because they are locked up. 
 
 Homeland Security said it is still gathering information and that the "Army is taking the lead" as of now. FBI agents from Waco and Austin, Texas, are being deployed to the scene. 
 
 An army spokesman said that unit commanders have been instructed to account for all of their personnel. 
 
 "The immediate concern is to make sure that all of our soldiers and family members are safe and that's what commanders have been instructed to do," said Jay Adams of First Army, Division West, located at Fort Hood. 
 
 Cone emphasized the post's plans to amp up security in the coming days. 
 
 The CounterTerrorist Unit said they have "no word" yet on whether this incident was terrorism-related. 
 
 At least six victims are being treated at the Metroplex Hospital five miles away. Area hospitals are all requesting blood donations to treat victims. 
 
 According to icasulaties.org, 483 soldier deaths from Fort Hood since war started. Fort Hood has suffered more deaths in Iraq than any other US home base. ||||| Multiple news organizations are reporting that one of the suspected gunman, apparently the one who fired most of the shots, at Fort Hood is Major Malik Nadal Hasan, 39. He was shot dead during the shooting. 
 
 Late Update: The most recent statements seem to cast some doubt over whether there were multiple shooters or whether Hassan may have been the only assailant. 
 
 Latter Update: The fact that the primary assailant has an Arabic name and is presumably, though we don't know this yet, of Muslim extraction if not a practicing Muslim, is going to be the focus of attention. That is an issue that speaks for itself. And I'm sure it will be the focus of much discussion over the coming days. But in some ways what's more shocking to me is that the assailant was an Army Major. Whatever the motivation -- ideological, religious, nationalist, mental instability, etc. I would far more expect something like this to done by a young soldier, perhaps an enlisted person. Needless to say this is no knock on enlisted personnel. But a lot of people cycle through the Army. Many have only been in service for a relatively short period of time. A major though is a lifer, usually I would think someone who's been in for a couple decades or near to it more than a decade, who's risen very high in the ranks. 
 
 Even Later Update: Late reports suggest that Hasan was an Army psychiatrist. That changes the picture somewhat. As TPM Reader BC points out, MDs can come into the Army as Captains. If popular culture is your reference, remember the doctors on MASH were Captains, even though they were drafted in for the Korean War. What that means is that Hasan might not have been in military all that long, which changes the picture somewhat. ||||| An Army psychiatrist who opened fire at Fort Hood, Texas, killing 12 people and wounding 31 others, was shot but captured alive, military officials said late Thursday. 
 
 The gunman, identified as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was wounded at the scene but was captured alive and was in stable condition, Lt. Gen. Robert W. Cone, commanding general of the Army’s III Corps, said at a press conference late Thursday. 
 
 Eleven of the victims died at the scene, military officials said. A 12th died later at a hospital, NBC station KCEN-TV of Waco reported. Cone said that most of those who were shot were military but two were civilians. 
 
 Cone also said that a female officer who was thought to be the first responder shot Hasan and was herself wounded and had undergone surgery at a hospital. It was not clear if the officer was a military policewoman or a civilian officer. 
 
 Col. Ben Danner said the suspect was shot at least four times. "I would say his death is not imminent," Cone said, adding that Hasan was in custody at a hospital. 
 
 It initially was reported that Hasan had been killed at the scene. But Cone said at the press conference that Hasan had been in custody since the incident occurred, and there was no explanation of the earlier report. 
 
 Poor performance evaluation 
 
 U.S. officials said Hasan was an Army psychiatrist, NBC News reported. Defense officials said Hasan, 39, arrived at Fort Hood in July after practicing for six years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, which included a fellowship in disaster and preventive psychiatry. 
 
 At Walter Reed, Hasan received a poor performance evaluation, according to an official who spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly. 
 
 There was no official word on motive. But Hasan was scheduled to be deployed overseas on Nov. 28, officials said. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said military officials had told her that Hasan was “pretty upset” about his deployment, which she said was to be to Iraq. 
 
 Maj. Nidal Malik Hassan was described as ‘upset’ about his pending deployment to Iraq. 
 
 The Associated Press, quoting federal law enforcement officials, said Hasan had come to their attention at least six months ago because of Internet postings that discussed suicide bombings and other threats. The officials said they were still trying to confirm that he was the author. 
 
 Medical records on file in Virginia, where Hasan was born and was registered to practice, and Maryland, where he received his medical degree at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, revealed no disciplinary actions or formal complaints. 
 
 Two handguns used 
 
 Cone said the gunman used two handguns. He said that military officials believed that there was a single shooter. 
 
 Two other soldiers were taken into custody after the shooting, but Rep. John Carter, R-Texas, said they were released. 
 
 A senior administration official told NBC News that the shootings could have been a criminal matter rather than a terrorism-related attack and that there was no intelligence to suggest a plot against Fort Hood. 
 
 Military and local hospital officials said the victims were a mixture of men and women, military and civilian. At least four local SWAT officers were among those wounded, KCEN reported. 
 
 ‘They shot me!’ 
 
 Among the wounded was Pfc. Keara Bono, 21, of Independence, Mo., who was shot in the shoulder. She called her mother, Peggy McCarty, to let her know she would be OK. 
 
 Bono, who works with soldiers dealing with stress, arrived in Fort Hood only Wednesday from her previous posting in Topeka, Kan., NBC station KSN-TV of Wichita, Kan., reported. Her brother, Dustin, told the Kansas City Star that Bono was “mad more than anything.” 
 
 “They shot me! And I’m still here in this country!” Dustin Bono quoted his sister as saying. 
 
 Robin Geiser of Random Lake, Wis., said her 24-year-old son, who commands soldiers at Fort Hood, knew some of the victims. He had been scheduled to be in the readiness center Thursday ahead of his deployment in January, but he was spared because his day’s orders were changed and he was on the training ground, instead, Geiser said. 
 
 “I was terrified come January,” Geiser told NBC station WTMJ-TV of Milwaukee. “I’m doubly worried now. If you can’t be safe here ...” 
 
 Geiser said that in conversations with her son, he told her that “there’s a lot of anger in a lot of these soldiers.” 
 
 “Who knows what it stems from?” she asked. 
 
 Reminders of 1991 massacre 
 
 Fort Hood, one of the largest military complexes in the world, was put on lockdown until about 7 p.m. ET, as were schools in the area. Dozens of agents of the FBI and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives responded to the post, federal officials said. 
 
 The base is surrounded by the town of Killeen, where a man shot and killed 23 people in a Luby’s restaurant in October 1991. 
 
 “Unfortunately, this is a day we had dreaded,” said Hilary Shine, a spokeswoman for the city of Killeen. “Every time you hear of a mass casualty situation in Killeen, you think of Luby’s. ... ||||| Military officials say the suspected shooter at Fort Hood was a psychiatrist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for six years before being transferred to the Texas base in July. 
 
 The officials had access to Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's military record. They said he received a poor performance evaluation while at Walter Reed. 
 
 The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because military records are confidential. 
 
 The Virginia-born soldier was single with no children. He was 39 years old. 
 
 He is a graduate of Virginia Tech University, where he was a member of the ROTC and earned a bachelor's degree in biochemistry in 1997. He received his medical degree from the military's Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Maryland, in 2001. At Walter Reed, he did his internship, residency and a fellowship.
– The shooter in today's rampage at the Fort Hood Army base has been identified as Major Malik Nadal Hasan. He is described as an Army psychiatrist, 39, who was to be sent to Iraq on Nov. 28, reports ABC. Hasan was reported killed after opening fire at a soldier processing center, killing 11 others and wounding about 30—but since said to be in custody. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison says Hasan was "upset" at the prospect of being deployed to Iraq, notes NBC. Two soldiers remain in custody as suspects, and their role, if any, is unclear. Hasan came to the Texas base after 6 years at Walter Reed Army Medical Center—where, a source tells AP, he received a poor performance evaluation. Meanwhile, Josh Marshall writes that "The fact that the primary assailant has an Arabic name and is presumably, though we don't know this yet, of Muslim extraction if not a practicing Muslim, is going to be the focus of attention." But more surprising to Marshall, he adds on Talking Points Memo, is that he's not a young soldier but an Army major.