Texas Army Base Shooting Kills 12

UNITED STATES - Fort Hood, one of America's largest army bases and less than 40 miles as the bird flies from Waco Texas, was the site today of a massive shooting which has killed 12 Army personnel and wounded 31 others. It was the worst mass shooting to take place on an American military base.

At 1:30 PM in the Soldier Readiness Center (where soldiers who are about to be deployed undergo medical screening for mental illnesses) an Army officer with two handguns opened fire, killing as many as he could before he was finally shot by army personnel.

The shooter has been identified as Army Major Malik Nadal Hasan, a commanding officer in his late 30s and a mental health expert. There is no confirmation of whether his motive was psychological or religious.

Two other suspects have also been detained in the mass shooting.

The base went into lock down after the shooting and other American bases went on high alert.

In recent years there have been other notable mass shootings in the USA:

* 13 dead at a New York immigrant center in March 2009.

* 10 killed in Alabama in March 2009.

* 32 killed at Virginia Tech in 2007.

President Barack Obama called the latest shooting "a horrific outburst of violence" and talked about how horrifying it is to lose soldiers on American soil compared to the tragedy of losing soldiers overseas in the line of duty. "We will make sure that we get answers to every single question about this horrible incident," said Obama. "We are going to stay on this."

Fort Hood covers 339 square miles and is home to approx. 52,000 troops. The base is used for continuous training for armored missions overseas.