Fort Hood shooting: kills 13, wounds 30

The U.S. Army says 13 people have been killed and 31 others were injured in a shooting at the Fort Hood Army base in Texas. An Army psychiatrist, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, opened fire around 1:30 Thursday afternoon in a crowded medical building.

Major Jim Panton, who flew Apache helicopters with the Army Air Corps at Fort Hood between 1993 and 1996, said: "It is absolutely shocking because you'd assume that if you were inside your base, in your own country, you would be in the safest place you possibly be whilst in uniform."

U.S. President Obama called the shootings "tragic" and "a horrific outburst of violence."

Fort Hood is the Army's largest U.S. post, with about 40,000 troops stationed there. It is home to the Army's 1st Cavalry Division and elements of the 4th Infantry Division, as well as the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and the 13th Corps Support Command. It is near Killeen, Texas. The Headquarters Unit and three brigades of the 1st Cavalry are deployed in Iraq, reports CNN.