"My prayers are with the survivors and families,
friends, and colleagues of the victims of
yesterday’s shootings,” the evangelist added in
a statement Friday. “I am thankful for the
citizens that will surround them with compassion
and support in the midst of such anguish.”
On Thursday, Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik
Hasan opened fire at the Fort Hood Army post,
killing 12 before he, himself, was shot four
times by two civilian police officers. Though
Hasan was initially reported as having died,
later reports revealed that he had been
hospitalized and remains unconscious and on a
ventilator.
The 39-year-old from Virginia, who was
reportedly struggling with a pending deployment
to Afghanistan, is expected to live.
President Obama, who will attend a memorial
service Tuesday honoring victims of the Ford
Hood shootings, said that while "we saw the
worst of human nature on full display
[Thursday], we also saw the best of America."
"We saw soldiers and civilians alike rushing to
aid fallen comrades, tearing off bullet-riddled
clothes to treat the injured, using blouses as
tourniquets, taking down the shooter even as
they bore wounds themselves," Obama said in his
radio and Internet address Saturday.
"We saw soldiers bringing to bear on our own
soil the skills they had been trained to use
abroad – skills that been honed through years of
determined effort for one purpose and one
purpose only: to protect and defend the United
States of America," he added.
Since the shooting, chaplains on the base have
been ministering to the victims’ loved ones and
the almost 42,000 troops and their family
members stationed there. The Lutheran
Church-Missouri Synod, which has four chaplains
at Fort Hood, has been rallying prayers for them
as well for the families and friends of the
victims.
"We pray God’s blessing on the effectiveness of
the chaplains’ ministry of consolation and
assurance and on the outreach of all other
caregivers involved," stated LCMS President Dr.
Gerald B. Kieschnick.
On Friday, several hundred people gathered at a
base stadium where the Army's chief chaplain
offered prayers for families and victims of the
shooting rampage.
Col. Michael T. Lembke, an Evangelical Lutheran
Church in America (ELCA) chaplain serving at
Fort Hood, said some 450 attended.
"We wanted to bring the community together and
offer words of condolence," Lembke told his
denomination's news service.
Thursday’s mass shooting was the worst ever at a
military base in the United States and took
place less than a week before Veterans Day.
The rampage was followed the next day by another
shooting – this time by a 40-year-old man who
killed one and wounded five after opening fire
at his former office in Orlando.
Like Hasan, Jason Rodriguez was taken alive and
has been charged with first-degree murder and
other crimes.
Police said Rodriguez offered words of remorse
as he was handcuffed Friday, saying he was just
going through a tough time.
His attorney has described him as "very, very
mentally ill" but offered no specifics.