At least 13 dead in shooting at US Army base

The US Army said Thursday that at least 12 people were killed and 31 wounded in a shooting rampage on the Fort Hood Army base in Texas. One more person died of his wounds Friday morning.

The facilitiy is the biggest military base in the world and a prime point of deployment for US operations in Iraq and Afghanistan.

The suspected shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was on a ventilator and unconscious in a hospital late Thursday. The Army psychiatrist was shot four times after the rampage began around 1:30 pm.

Horror in Fort Hood (Photo: AP)

The motive for the shootings isn't clear, but Hasan was apparently set to deploy soon. He also had expressed some anger about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Several broadcast networks said he was about 40 years old, but this could not immediately be confirmed.

An unidentified source told AP Hasan was an Army mental health professional. Another official said investigators are trying to determine if Hasan was his birth name or if he changed his name and converted to Islam at some point in his life.

'Horrific outburst of violence'

The shooting began around 1:30 pm. Cone said that all the casualties took place at the base's Soldier Readiness Center where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening.

"The shooter was killed. He was a soldier. We since then have apprehended two additional soldiers that are suspects. There were eyewitness accounts that there may have been more than one shooter," Cone said .

Christopher Hogue, chief of media at Fort Hood, told reporters: "The only one we know who was shooting was killed and he had two handguns." The shooter was included in total of 12 killed.

President Barack Obama called the mass shooting in Texas a "horrific outburst of violence."

He said he doesn't yet know all the details but promised the government would get "answers to every single question." The commander in chief said it's a tragedy to lose a soldier overseas and even more horrifying when they come under fire at an Army base on American soil.

Obama also said his thoughts and prayers are with the wounded and families of the fallen.

The Associates Press and Reuters contributed to this report