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Published On: Thu, Apr 3rd, 2014

Fort Hood Shooting: Ivan Lopez under PTSD treatment, 3 wounded still in critical condition

Military officials on Thursday began investigating the background and the medical treatment received by an Iraq war veteran, Ivan Lopez, who was being evaluated for post-traumatic stress disorder before he opened fire at Fort Hood, killing three people and wounding 16 others before taking his own life.

“We do know that this soldier had behavioral health and mental health issues and was being treated for that,” said Lt. Gen. Mark Milley, head of the Army’s III Corps at the Texas post.

Lopez was being evaluated for post-traumatic stress disorder, but had not yet been diagnosed for the illness.

In addition to being examined for signs of PTSD, the soldier was undergoing treatment for depression, anxiety and a “variety” of other issues, Milley said.

Lopez, who was on medication, served four months in Iraq in 2011 and had “self-diagnosed” a traumatic brain injury. “He was not wounded in action,” Milley said.

The exact sequence of events was not totally clear, Milley said, but it is believed that, starting around 4 p.m. local time, the gunman “walked into one of the unit buildings, opened fire, got into a vehicle, fired from [the] vehicle, got out of the vehicle, walked into another building, opened fire again and was engaged by local law enforcement here at Fort Hood.”

At one point, Milley said, the gunman put his hands in the air, but then reached for his gun. When he did, an unidentified military policewoman engaged him. The gunman then shot and killed himself. “It was clearly heroic, what she did at that moment in time,” Milley said.

The shooting Wednesday led the authorities to shut down, reminiscent of the Maj. Nidal Hassan attack in 2009 which left 13 dead.

Nine of the 16 injured were taken to Scott & White Healthcare, a hospital in nearby Temple, Texas. for treatment, the authorities said.

Three of the wounded were in critical condition on Thursday. Hospital officials said doctors had operated on two patients, a man and a woman, who had suffered gunshot wounds to the abdomen and neck.

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About the Author

- Catherine "Kaye" Wonderhouse, a proud descendant of the Wunderhaus family is the Colorado Correspondent who will add more coverage, interviews and reports from this midwest area.

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  1. The Fort Hood tragedy : Vets, Docs Worry Fort Hood Shootings Will Deepen PTSD Stigma | Family Survival Protocol - Microcosm News says:

    […] Fort Hood Shooting: Ivan Lopez under PTSD treatment, 3 wounded still in critical condition […]

  2. Fort Hood shooting and mental illness in the United States military | Dear Kitty. Some blog says:

    […] Fort Hood Shooting: Ivan Lopez under PTSD treatment, 3 wounded still in critical condition […]

  3. scallywag says:

    Yet perhaps what makes the impending violence that Ivan Lopez would eventually unleash was his final facebook post which included an image which stated: ‘Keep calm and no jodas,‘ translated as‘Keep calm and carry on.’

    What remains to be understood is when did Ivan Lopez buy his gun and had he bought it on the express purpose of retribution of perceived slights and was he by then in the final weeks barely hanging on to his sanity….?

    http://scallywagandvagabond.com/2014/04/ivan-lopez-facebook-just-lost-inner-peace-full-hatred/

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