preparing to take those immediately to the operating room because they have some very, very severe injuries. so that s kind of where we are with this. [ inaudible ] conditions at this point? the conditions range everywhere from quite stable to critically injured. critically injured, he said. multiple fatalities at the same time and other casualties. we re expecting to hear shortly from the base commander. we ll have live coverage. president obama spoke about the incident tonight. hello, everybody. i just got off the phone with vice-chairman of the joint chiefs of staff to get the latest report on the situation in ft. hood. obviously we re following it closely. the situation is fluid right now. but my national security team is in close contact with not just the defense department but the f fbi. they are working with folks on the ground to determine exactly
what happened to make sure that everybody is secure. and i want to just assure all of us that we are going to get to the bottom of exactly what happened. this is the second such incident in ft. hood since 2009. for the second time within five years, this is the chilling way so many people on post learn that something once again was terribly wrong. seek shelter immediately. that s what residents heard on the base. this is what one eyewitness saw. they are actually escorting a group of soldiers out of a building now at gunpoint. everyone is coming out with their hands in the air, required to drop down to their knees. and a group of soldiers like five, ten? no, mass soldiers.
pain that the president referred to in his remarks today. obviously sharing the shock that many americans feel to hear that something like this has happened again in the same place, wolf. and they re getting ready for this news conference, michelle, at ft. hood. the commanding general mark milly, lieutenant general of the united states army, will be briefing us momentarily once he gets to that microphone. we ll of course have live coverage. stand by for that. joining us on the phone right now is retired staff sergeant alonzo hundre alonzolunsford. shot in the 2009 attack shot by major nidal hasan. alonzo, thanks very much for joining us. this brings back awful memories, i m sure. just tell us what s going through your mind as you watch this story unfold. well, right now i appreciate you all having me on. i m dealing with a lot of emotions. and i would first like to give my deepest sympathies for the
information that s coming from the scene and people are waiting for the briefing by the general. so there s really no other information going out other than what local media in texas is reporting. and it s already been put out there in public. but i m not hearing anything new. let s bring in general marks. this is as we say the second mass shooting at fort hood within five years. second shooting at fort hood. it s an awful, awful situation. general marks, i know you know general milley who s about to do this news conference, the commander general at fort hood. i assume you served there at one point in your career. but when you heard about this, what goes through your mind, general marks? wolf, the first thing i think about is the families that are again going through this similar tragedy. and you put that on top of what i would call the routine stress of an army that s been in a constant state of conflict for the last 13 years. the soldiers will respond and
the community, can get their arms around that. i lived at ft. hood as a child and as a commander at a relatively senior level. those connections into the community can t be anymore fulsome or rich. so the ft. hood community and the local community grieves, as well. the general has this obligation to embrace that entire community and tell them what he knows, not allow for speculation and go about the business of healing. then there s going to be a full after action review to determine what can we take from this and put back in the force to be better prepared for these types of incidents. we can learn from this to make sure it doesn t happen again. tom, this is going to be the u.s. military taking the lead in this investigation. it occurred on a military base, although the fbi is being brought in to help, right? normally the fbi would have jurisdiction, but they have a