Fort Hood Standoff Ends in Shooting

UPI
Wednesday, July 19, 2000

FORT HOOD, Texas ? A 21-year-old soldier shot himself in the head Tuesday at
the end of a 28-hour standoff inside a barrack, Army officials said.

The private, who was not identified, was reported in critical condition and on life
support at Darnall Army Community Hospital at the Army post, spokesman Cecil
Green said.

The incident began early Monday when military police were called to check out a
report of shots being fired in a room at the barracks on the east side of the post, he
said.

When the officers arrived they found a female soldier in the room with an armed
man, and they pulled her out to safety, Green said.

The barrack was cordoned off. The standoff continued until early Tuesday, when
police persuaded the armed soldier to surrender.

“He was in the process of coming out and had left the room, but as he approached
the officers he pulled out a gun and shot himself in the head,” Green said.

The Army said the soldier was armed with a non-military, .40-caliber semiautomatic
pistol, which apparently was his own weapon.

The woman, who was not identified, was an “acquaintance” of the soldier, Green
said.

The Army is investigating, he said.

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