UNVERIFIED FIRST PERSON ACCOUNT OF FT HOOD

THIS HAS NOT BEEN VERIFIED BUT HAS BEEN SUBMITTED BY A RELIABLE SOURCE AT FT HOOD

By Gordon Duff STAFF WRITER/Senior Editor  EDITORS NOTE:  IF THIS IS ACCURATE, IT NEEDS TO BE OUT THERE.  HOWEVER, BEWARE, THIS HAS NOT BEEN VERIFIED AND IS A GRAPHIC AND BRUTAL READ.

E-mail from F. Hood.
> Subject: What happened
> Since I don’t know when I’ll sleep (it’s 4 am now) I’ll write
> what happened (the abbreviated version…..the long one is already part
> of the investigation with more to come).  I’ll not write about any part
> of the investigation that I’ve learned about since (as a witness I know
> more than I should since inevitably my JAG brothers and sisters are
> deeply involved in the investigation).  Don’t assume that most of the
> current media accounts are very accurate.  They’re not.  They’ll improve
> with time.  Only those of us who were there really know what went down.
> But as they collate our statements they’ll get it right.

    > I did my SRP last week (Soldier Readiness Processing) but you’re
> supposed to come back a week later to have them look at the smallpox
> vaccination site (it’s this big itchy growth on your shoulder).  I am
> probably alive because I pulled a ———- and entered the wrong
> building first (the main SRP building). 

The Medical SRP building is off
> to the side.  Realizing my mistake I left the main building and walked
> down the sidewalk to the medical SRP building.  As I’m walking up to it
> the gunshots start.  Slow and methodical.  But continuous.  Two
> ambulatory wounded came out.  Then two soldiers dragging a third who was
> covered in blood.  Hearing the shots but not seeing the shooter, along
> with a couple other soldiers I stood in the street and yelled at
> everyone who came running that it was clear but to "RUN!". 

I kept
> motioning people fast.  about 6-10 minutes later (the shooting
> continuous), two cops ran up.  one male, one female.  we pointed
>      > in the direction of the shots.  they headed that way (the
> medical SRP building was about 50 meters away).  then a lot more
> gunfire.  a couple minutes later a balding man in ACU’s came around the
> building carrying a pistol and holding it tactically.  He started
> shooting at us and we all dived back to the cars behind us.  I don’t
> think he hit the couple other guys who were there.  I did see the bullet
> holes later in the cars.  First I went behind a tire and then looked
> under the body of the car.  I’ve been trained how to respond to
> gunfire…but with my own weapon. 

To have no weapon I don’t know how to
> explain what that felt like.  I hadn’t run away and stayed because I had
> thought about the consequences or anything like that.  I wasn’t thinking
> anything through.  Please understand, there was no intention.  I was
> just staying there because I didn’t think about running.  It never
> occurred to me that he might shoot me.  Until he started
>      > shooting in my direction and I realized I was unarmed.  Then the
> female cop comes around the corner.  He shoots her.  (according to the
> news accounts she got a round into him. 

I believe it, I just didn’t see
> it. he didn’t go down.)  She goes down.  He starts reloading.  He’s
> fiddling with his mags.  Weirdly he hasn’t dropped the one that was in
> his weapon.  He’s holding the fresh one and the old one (you do that on
> the range when time is not of the essence but in combat you would just
> let the old mag go).  I see the male cop around the left corner of the
> building.  (I’m about 15-20 meters from the shooter.) 

I yell at the
> cop, "He’s reloading, he’s reloading.  Shoot him! Shoot him!)  You have
> to understand, everything was quiet at this point.  The cop appears to
> hear me and comes around the corner and shoots the shooter.  He goes
> down.  The cop kicks his weapon further away.  I sprint up to the downed
> female cop.  Another captain (I
>      > think he was with me behind the cars) comes up as well.  She’s
> bleeding profusely out of her thigh.  We take our belts off and
> tourniquet her just like we’ve been trained (I hope we did it right…we
> didn’t have any CLS (combat lifesaver) bags with their awesome
> tourniquets on us, so we worked with what we had).  Meanwhile, in the
> most bizarre moment of the day, a photographer was standing over us
> taking pictures.  I suppose I’ll be seeing those tomorrow.  Then a
> soldier came up and identified himself as a medic. 

I then realized her
> weapon was lying there unsecured (and on "fire").  I stood over it and
> when I saw a cop yelled for him to come over and secure her weapon (I
> would have done so but I was worried someone would mistake me for a bad
> guy).  I then went over to the shooter.  He was unconscious.  A Lt
> Colonel was there and had secured his primary weapon for the time being.
> He also had a revolver. 

I couldn’t believe he was
>      > one of ours.  I didn’t want to believe it.  Then I saw his name
> and rank and realized this wasn’t just some specialist with mental
> issues.  At this point there was a guy there from CID and I asked him if
> he knew he was the shooter and had him secured.  He said he did.  I then
> went over the slaughter house.  the medical SRP building.  No human
> should ever have to see what that looked like.  and I won’t tell you.
> Just believe me.  Please.  there was nothing to be done there.  Someone
> then said there was someone critically wounded around the corner. 

I ran
> around (while seeing this floor to ceiling window that someone had
> jumped through movie style) and saw a large African-American soldier
> lying on his back with two or three soldiers attending.  I ran up and
> identified two entrance wounds on the right side of his stomach, one
> exit wound on the left side and one head wound.  He was not bleeding
> externally from the stomach wounds (though
>      > almost certainly internally) but was bleeding from the head
> wound.  A soldier was using a shirt to try and stop the head bleeding.
> He was conscious so I began talking to him to keep him so.  He was 42,
> from North Carolina, he was named something Jr., his son was named
> something III and he had a daughter as well.  His children lived with
> him.  He was divorced. 

I told him the blubber on his stomach saved his
> life.  He smiled.   a young soldier in civvies showed up and identified
> himself as a combat medic. We debated whether to put him on the back of
> a pickup truck.  A doctor (well, an audiologist) showed up and said you
> can’t move him, he has a head wound.  we finally sat tight.  I went back
> to the slaughterhouse.  they weren’t letting anyone in there.  not even
> medics.  finally, after about 45 minutes had elapsed some cops showed up
> in tactical vests.  someone said the TBI building was unsecured.  They
> headed into there. 

All of a
>      > sudden a couple more shots were fired.  People shouted there was
> a second shooter.  a half hour later the SWAT showed up.  there was no
> second shooter.  that had been an impetuous cop apparently.  but that
> confused things for a while.  meanwhile I went back to the shooter.  the
> female cop had been taken away.  a medic was pumping plasma into the
> shooter.  I’m not proud of this but I went up to her and said "this is
> the shooter, is there anyone else who needs attention…do them first".
> she indicated everyone else living was attended to.  I still hadn’t seen
> any EMTs or ambulances.   I had so much blood on me that people kept
> asking me if I was ok.  but that was all other people’s blood.
> eventually (an hour and a half to two hours after the shootings) they
> started landing choppers.  they took out the big African American guy
> and the shooter.  I guess the ambulatory wounded were all at the SRP
> building.  Everyone else in my area
>      > was dead.
>      >
>      >

I suppose the emergency responders were told there were multiple
> shooters.  I heard that was the delay with the choppers (they were all
> civilian helicopters).  they needed a secure LZ.  but other than the
> initial cops who did everything right, I didnt’ see a lot of them for a
> while.  I did see many a soldier rush out to help their fellows/sisters.
> there was one female soldier, I dont’ know her name or rank but I would
> recognize her anywhere who was everywhere helping people.  a couple
> people, mainly civilians, were hysterical, but only a couple.  one
> civilian freaked out when I tried to comfort her when she saw my
> uniform.  I guess she had seen the shooter up close.  a lot of soldiers
> were rushing out to help even when we thought there was another gunman
> out there.  this Army is not broken no matter what the pundits say.  not
> the Army I saw.
>      >
>      > and then they kept me for a long time to come.  oh, and perhaps
> the most surreal thing, at 1500 (the end of the workday on Thursdays)
> when the bugle sounded we all came to attention and saluted the flag.
> in the middle of it all.
>
>      this is what I saw.  it can’t have been real.  but this is my
> small corner of what happened.
>

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Gordon Duff

Gordon Duff posted articles on VT from 2008 to 2022. He is a Marine combat veteran of the Vietnam War. A disabled veteran, he worked on veterans and POW issues for decades.

Gordon is an accredited diplomat and is generally accepted as one of the top global intelligence specialists. He manages the world’s largest private intelligence organization and regularly consults with governments challenged by security issues.

Duff has traveled extensively, is published around the world, and is a regular guest on TV and radio in more than “several” countries. He is also a trained chef, wine enthusiast, avid motorcyclist, and gunsmith specializing in historical weapons and restoration. Business experience and interests are in energy and defense technology.

• Gordon’s Archives:  2008-2015
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