After the 2009 shooting committed by Nidal Hassan wherein 43 people were shot, 13 of them killed, the command staff at Ft. Hood most likely felt that they wouldn’t have to worry about another active shooter event. After all, in the history of active shooter attacks in the United States (or elsewhere), how many have seen repeats in the same location? So when Ivan Lopez committed his attack on April 2nd, 2014, the command staff and other personnel at Ft. Hood had to be thinking, “What the heck? No way!”
What made the attack performed by Ivan Lopez different was that he didn’t just enter a single location at Ft. Hood and begin firing. He attacked inside the 49th Transportation Battalion administrative office and then left. He drove to a motor pool building firing at soldiers along 73rd street on his way. Inside the motor pool building he fired at soldiers in an office space and then at more in the mechanics’ bay area. Reportedly he experienced a misfire there but had to have fixed the malfunction and/or reloaded because he left and went to the 1st Medical Brigade headquarters building. Again, as he traveled he fired at another car and then at several soldiers at the intersection of 73rd Street and Motorpool Road.
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The remainder of this article is part of the book "Active Killers and the Crimes They Perpetrated," available in print or ebook via Amazon.
Joshua Borelli
Joshua Borelli has been studying active shooter and mass attack events over the course of the past several years, commensurate with receiving training on response and recovery to natural disasters and civil disturbances. Joshua started to outline this series of articles in an attempt to identify commonalities and logistical needs patterns for response.
