Bill Whitaker

xfdcb CBS-EVENING-NEWS-01

<Show: CBS EVENING NEWS>

<Date: November 5, 2009>

<Time: 18:30>

<Tran: 110501cb.401>

<Type: SHOW>

<Head: EVENING NEWS for November 5, 2009, CBS>

<Sect: News; Domestic>

<Byline: Katie Couric, David Martin, Don Teague, Armen Keteyian, Chip Reid, Bill Whitaker>

<Guest: Carissa Pickard>

<High: A soldier opened fire at Fort Hood in Texas. At least 12 are killed.>

<Spec: Crime; Murders; Military>

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Terrible tragedy and stunning.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COURIC: Tonight, a U.S. Army base under attack. A soldier opens fire at Fort Hood in Texas. At least 12 people including the gunman are killed, and 31 wounded. I'm Katie Couric. It happened at a medical facility where soldiers are screened before deployment.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We needed to seek shelter immediately, close and lock our doors and windows. At that point we didn't know that there had been this mass shooting.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

COURIC: The entire base was locked down and two additional arrests were made. This tragedy plays out amid growing concern about violence on military bases as America fights two wars.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BARACK OBAMA, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: It's difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans in battles overseas. It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ANNOUNCER: This is the CBS EVENING NEWS with Katie Couric.

COURIC: Good evening, everyone. It is the last place you'd expect American soldiers to come under attack -- their own military base. But that's what happened today at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas, midway between Austin and Waco. It's America's largest military base. Today, according to the Army, a soldier opened fire inside a soldier readiness center, a facility where military personnel are processed before and after they're deployed. 12 people were killed, 31 others wounded. The gunman is among the dead. He's identified tonight as Army Major Nadal Malik Hasan, a licensed psychiatrist, and drug and rehab specialist from Bethesda, Maryland. A spokesman for Texas Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison says Hasan was upset about an upcoming deployment to Iraq. Two other suspects have been arrested, and the base was put under lockdown.

Don Teague is on the scene at Fort Hood where reporters are about to be briefed. We'll go to him in a moment. But first, David Martin is at the Pentagon tonight, David.

DAVID MARTIN, CBS CORRESPONDENT: Katie, on top of the death toll, probably the most disturbing news is that all three suspects are U.S. soldiers. President Obama was briefed on the tragedy and spoke just a short time ago.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

OBAMA: A number of American soldiers have been killed, and even more have been wounded, in a horrific outburst of violence. It's difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans in battles overseas. It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an Army base on American soil.

MARTIN: The attack started around 1:30 this afternoon at an office where soldiers are processed for deployment to Iraq. The gunman walked in and opened fire, using two handguns.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The shooter was killed. He was a soldier. We since then have apprehended two additional soldiers that are suspects.

MARTIN: According to the Fort Hood commander, the entire base, the largest in the U.S., went into lockdown.

LT. GEN. BOB CONE, FORT HOOD BASE COMMANDER: The installation is locked down, and in many cases, a lot of facilities, a lot of our families, children, are locked in facilities.

MARTIN: Mothers were separated from their children.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: It's very, very stressful, and we don't know what's going on, and we just want to get to them.

MARTIN: Terrified military families turned to Twitter to find out what was happening. Locked in my post housing, scared, don't know where the shooters are. Haven't heard warning sirens in about 15 minutes, just waiting to get to my husband. and this, I thought I was living in one of the safest places ever. Many of Fort Hood's 45,000 soldiers are deployed in Iraq, but today the real danger was at home.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: That's my husband texting me right now from Iraq so the guys over there just found out what's going on. It's just -- we have a lot to deal with, and this is just one more thing.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a terrible tragedy. It's stunning, and as I say, as I've gone around to the hospital here, as I've been at the scene, the soldiers and family members and many of the great civilians that work here are absolutely devastated.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

MARTIN: This is the worst incident of soldiers killing their fellow soldiers since the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan began. Katie.

COURIC: David Martin reporting from the Pentagon. David, thank you. As we said, Fort Hood is the largest U.S. military base, home to more than 53,000 active-duty soldiers, many of whom have served multiple times in Iraq and Afghanistan. Posttraumatic stress disorder is a major concern there, as at any base. Earlier I spoke via Skype with Carissa Pickard who's an advocate for soldiers suffering with PTSD. Her husband is a soldier based at Fort Hood. Carissa Pickard joins us now from her home on base at Fort Hood. Carissa, can you tell me what was going on while all this was unfolding?

CARISSA PICKARD, FORT HOOD RESIDENT: Well, it was a little bit disturbing for those of us here in the military housing community because the tornado -- we have these tornado sirens -- and those started going off and telling us that we needed to seek shelter immediately, close and lock our doors and windows, and then they --it also said that we needed to turn off our ventilation system. So that -- that last part had us wondering, you know, what is going on? And at that point -- at that point, we didn't know that there had been this -- this mass shooting.

COURIC: And we understand from a spokesman at Fort Hood, General Cone that it took place in the building where soldiers are processed before they go off on their deployments?

PICKARD: Well, in fact, it's also the building where when you come back from a deployment, you actually go through your first - I guess you would say PTSD screening or your screening to see, you know, if you're at risk for that. It's the first place that -- when a unit returns, en mass, they would have to go individually into this building, and that's sort of their first contact with their social worker or a counselor.

COURIC: Your husband and your children were off base when this happened. Are they OK now? Have you talked to them?

PICKARD: We've been able to talk. The kids are really scared. My husband's scared. You know, because there were a lot of rumors going around. Plus, where the shooting occurred is actually really close to our housing development. So it's been tense. And it's also changed our perspective regarding living on post because we always associated living -- you know, living on post with safety. And there has been a marked rise in violence, in suicides, in shootings, this past summer. It was rampant. It just seems as though things are just continuing to escalate.

COURIC: Well, Carissa Pickard we really appreciate your talking to us today on this very, very difficult day and we extend our sympathy to everyone at Fort Hood and, again, we so appreciate your time.

PICKARD: All right, thank you.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COURIC: While the magnitude of this tragedy at Fort Hood is shocking, as we just heard, it's far from the first case of deadly violence in recent years at U.S. military bases, both here and overseas. CBS News chief investigative correspondent Armen Keteyian has more on that.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

ARMEN KETEYIAN, CBS CORRESPONDENT: Unsuspecting violence at U.S. military bases around the world has a long, bloody history, with Fort Hood, Fort Carson, and Camp Liberty in Iraq, scenes to some of the deadliest violence. October 16th, 1991, a 35-year-old civilian drives a pickup truck into a Fort Hood cafeteria and fatally shoots 23 people, wounding 20 more before killing himself. It was the deadliest shooting rampage in American history until the Virginia Tech massacre.

July 18, 2009, a 30-year-old soldier from Wisconsin is shot and killed by a bullet fired during a party at Fort Hood. A fellow soldier is charged with the murder. September 8, 2008, a first lieutenant goes looking for missing military equipment in an apartment near Fort Hood and is shot and killed by a soldier from Alabama who then turns the gun on himself. In Fort Carson, Colorado, 14 soldiers allegedly committed or were charged with murder between 2005 and 2008, and most were from the same brigade. An Army study concluding that brigade, experienced slightly higher levels of combat than any other brigades. And with 11 of the 14 alleged murderers, there were documented problems with alcohol and drugs, yet less than half got help from the military.

And earlier this year, at Camp Liberty in Iraq, an Army sergeant walked into a combat stress center and opened fire, killing five fellow soldiers. In the days leading up to the attack, that soldier allegedly had been acting erratically and had expressed suicidal thoughts. But a military report later pointed to a lack of guidelines for dealing with soldiers in distress.

ROBERT GATES, SECRETARY OF DEFENSE: Such a tragic loss of life at the hands of our own forces is a cause for great and urgent concern.

KETEYIAN: A history of on-base violence that added yet another tragic chapter in Texas today. Armen Keteyian, CBS News, Washington.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COURIC: And still ahead tonight, we'll talk to Don Teague who's on the scene at Fort Hood, but up next, opponents of health care reform make a house call to Capitol Hill.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COURIC: The fight over health care reform is turning into a fierce battle in Washington. Opponents of the House bill showed strength in numbers today, while supporters fired back, touting two key endorsements. Chip Reid is our chief White House correspondent. And Chip, a frenzy of activity. Does that mean a vote is coming soon?

CHIP REID, CBS CORRESPONDENT: You've got that's right, Katie. The big vote in the House on its bill is on Saturday, and opponents of health care reform believe this may be their best chance yet to kill it.

Outside the Capitol today, thousands of angry protesters called on Congress to kill the House health care reform bill.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The care is going to be rationed. Death panels for the old people like me.

REID: Inside the House office building, antiabortion protesters destroyed copies of the bill, which they say would allow for taxpayer- funded abortions, a contention Democratic leaders deny. Police arrested a dozen protesters. Critics of the bill say losses this week by Democratic candidates for governor in Virginia and New Jersey showed that the tide is shifting against the president's agenda, especially on health care. That could make a Yes vote difficult for the 49 Democrats in 28 states who represent districts that voted Republican last November. Congressman Gene Taylor of Mississippi is one of those Democrats.

REP. GENE TAYLOR, (D), MISSISSIPPI: I think it's very fair to say that Virginia is a bellwether state and that the Democratic leadership ought to be paying attention to what happened in Virginia.

REID: Jonathan Allen of Politico has been counting the votes.

JONATHAN ALLEN, POLITICO: I think it's hard to have an exact count, but I mean, you know, there are at least a couple of dozen that are pretty clearly note.

REID: The White House is worried enough about the vote that the president made an unannounced appearance today to tout endorsements of the bill by the seniors' lobby AARP and by the AMA, the nation's largest organization of doctors.

OBAMA: We are closer to passing this reform than ever before.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

REID: Even if the House does pass its bill on Saturday, there's still a long way to go before the House and Senate agree on a final bill, and that means plenty of other opportunities for opponents of health care reform to try to kill it. Katie.

COURIC: To be continued. Chip Reid at the White House tonight, thanks, Chip. Today the House also passed a bill that extends and expands the housing tax credit due to expire at the end of this month. President Obama will sign it tomorrow. The program will now run through April. First-time buyers will continue getting credits of up to $8,000. Now current owners who buy new homes can get up to $6,500. Coming up next, sexual predators living in clusters. Why that happens so often?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COURIC: Police in Cleveland today identified a second victim in that mass murder case. 31-year-old Telacia Fortson, her remains, along with those of ten other women, were discovered on the property of suspect Anthony Sowell. Investigators resumed the search for more victims at his home today, and across the street, neighbors posted the pictures of missing loved ones. Many were shocked a convicted sex offender was living nearby, but oftentimes, where one predator settles, others will follow. More now from Bill Whitaker.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BILL WHITAKER, CBS CORRESPONDENT: It's been almost three weeks since seven-year-old Somer Thompson was abducted in Orange Park, Florida, her body found in a Georgia landfill. Authorities now are questioning sex offenders in the community, there are 159 registered offenders within a five-mail radius of Somer's hometown.

CAROL JONES, FLORIDA RESIDENT: It's the biggest fear that your child is going to be missing or they're going to die or something is going to happen to them.

WHITAKER: That number of sex offenders in one Florida town is not unusual. There are almost 700,000 registered sex offenders in the U.S., more than 51,000 in Florida. 57,000 in Texas. More than 117,000 in California. In Antioch, California, where kidnap victim Jaycee Dugard was held in a backyard for 18 years, allegedly by convicted rapist Phillip Garrido, there are 92 registered sex offenders just in Garrido's zip code. Those numbers have prompted cities and states across the country to pass laws restricting where sex offenders can live. Jessica's Law here in California prohibits sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or a park, places children congregate. Similar restrictions in other states are forcing sex offenders to cluster in isolated areas, like this encampment, under a Miami freeway. Parole officer Mauricio Lopez monitors 20 high-risk sex offenders in one Pasadena, California neighborhood. Neighbors are fearful.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We've had neighbors now who do not allow their children to ride their bikes or to go out of the house at all.

WHITAKER: Authorities have lost track of some 100,000 sex offenders. Critics say better tracking, not isolation, is the answer.

ERNIE ALLEN, NATL. CTR. FOR MISSING EXPLOITED CHILDREN: The most dangerous sex offenders are highly mobile, so they will travel. They'll move from community to community. They will seek out opportunities.

WHITAKER: Next year, all states will be required by federal law to closely track all sex offenders and to inform the public who are the most violent. Bill Whitaker, CBS News, Los Angeles.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

COURIC: In other news, the Ford Motor Company introduced a new hybrid today but it's not a car. It's a seatbelt combined with an airbag. Crash testing shows how it works. On impact, the belt inflates across the chest. That spreads the force of the crash across five times as much of the body as a conventional belt, reducing the chance of chest, neck, and head injury. Ford says 90 percent of those who tried it found the hybrid belt as comfortable as regular seat belts or even more so. Some Ford vehicles will come with the belts starting next year. And we'll be right back with an update of our top story, the massacre at Fort Hood.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COURIC: Updating our top story now, an Army psychiatrist due to be deployed to Iraq opened fire today at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. At least 12 people were killed, including the gunman, 31 others wounded. Don Teague is at Fort Hood, and, Don, what is the latest from there?

TEAGUE: Well, we are waiting for a news conference by military officials that was supposed to begin some time ago. We hope to hear more about the shooter in this case. You identified him. 39-year old Malik Nadal Hasan. We are told he is a psychiatrist, was upset potentially about being deployed to Iraq, but military officials have not gone into a motive for what he was doing. We also don't know the status of the other two arrests in this case. We are told from military officials that two other soldiers were apprehended after eyewitnesses saw them apparently taking part in this shooting but they haven't given us any more information about that. So there's very little we know about those two soldiers. I can tell you that the post is still on lockdown. The community of Killeen, including the schools, are on lockdown, and everyone is just in a state of shock here. They have begun organizing blood drives for the community to help with the massive effort to help for so many of the wounded here. Katie.

COURIC: And I know that Fort Hood is the largest military -- U.S. military installation in the world, so, obviously people are feeling very, very badly about what happened here. And there was another incident not that long ago there as well, right, Don?

TEAGUE: There have been several, much smaller incidents in the past few years, and of course, here in Killeen, the Luby's cafeteria shooting that claimed 23 lives in 1991. I should tell you that despite this being a huge military post, this is a very tight-knit community. I trained here when I was in the Army. I can tell you that it feels like a family when you've got 53,000 people. Those are the soldiers, all of their family members are here. The people who support the military are here. So despite it being such a massive population, it is very tight and this is very difficult for the people in this area because for now, we don't know the identification of those who have been killed and injured, and we presume that most of the family members do not know as well. So everyone is tense here waiting to hear any additional word from the military, Katie.

COURIC: And David Martin is at the Pentagon tonight. David, I'm just curious, are Pentagon officials perplexed by the fact that this man, the shooter, was an Army psychiatrist who was a drug rehab specialist?

MARTIN: Well, you know, drug-related cases of violence are among the most frequent kinds of violence in the Army. So this -- there's a very cruel irony to this. And one of the questions that people are going to try to answer now is did Major Hasan give any indication that he was capable of something like that? And if he did, was there anything that the Army could or should have done to prevent it?

COURIC: And, David, of course, we can't assume that this was the result of any kind of posttraumatic stress disorder. We can't really make those assumptions in terms of his motive. But that certainly has been an enormous problem for U.S. forces and at Fort Hood because it's such a big installation.

MARTIN: Well, Fort Hood has been one of the major suppliers of units, particularly for Iraq. There are, right now, three brigades from Fort Hood in Iraq, plus the headquarters for the 1st Cavalry Division, which is at Fort Hood, is also in Iraq. So they have at any one time, tens of thousands of soldiers who are deployed, mainly to Iraq, and many of those soldiers, of course, have now made repeat deployments to Iraq, which put not only the soldiers under stress, but their families who have to make do at home under stress.

COURIC: And, Don Teague, do you know any -- do you have any updates on the 31 individuals who were wounded? I understand their wounds vary greatly, and they are being treated at a number of area hospitals?

TEAGUE: They are. Obviously, these are gunshot wounds, Katie, and they range across the board. We would assume some are critical, but the hospitals aren't giving us specific details on those numbers. We do know there was at least one civilian who was among the victims. We're told this was a police officer, a contract officer, on post. It's a shared duty between military police and civilians who patrol the post. We know of that. We don't know of any other civilians who were among those who were victims at this point, Katie.

COURIC: All right, Don Teague at Fort Hood in Killeen, Texas. Don, thank you very much. And that is the CBS EVENING NEWS for tonight. Needless to say, we'll continue to follow this ongoing story. I'm Katie Couric. Thank you for watching. Good night.

END

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