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Continuing Coverage of Orlando Office Shooting

Aired November 06, 2009 - 14:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


KYRA PHILLIPS, CNN ANCHOR: If you're just tuning in here, breaking news, some unfortunate news. You know, just yesterday we were covering the shooting at Fort Hood and the loss of life there. And now, today, just about two hours ago, we started covering this breaking news out of Orlando, Florida.

Police right now looking for that alleged gunman. Our affiliates there out of Orlando reporting one person dead, seven injured in a shooting that took place in the Gateway Center at 1000 Legion Place, an office complex that's right next to the Sheraton hotel in downtown Florida.

Two SWAT teams there on the scene there in Orlando, trying to clear that building and find that gunman. They are looking for 40- year-old Jason Rodriguez. You can see him right there in the corner of the screen, a former employee of Reynolds, Smith & Hills. That is a company inside the Gateway Center there.

He was a former employee. We talked to a spokesperson from the company. Indeed, he was let go for performance issues, as the spokesperson told me, two years ago, in June of 2007.

John Couwels, our all-platform journalist there in Orlando.

John, so much has come forward, a lot of developing news since we last chatted. Have you been able to work your sources and bring us any more information?

John, are you with us? John Couwels, are you with me?

All right, we'll get back to John once we're able to connect with him. He's one of our all platform journalists actually based there in the Florida area. He's in Orlando working his sources, tracking information for us.

Howard Robertson, are you still with me?

OK.

HOWARD ROBERTSON, FORMER SWAT COMMANDER: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Yes. You're with me, Howard?

ROBERTSON: Yes.

PHILLIPS: Appreciate it.

Former SWAT commander there in New Orleans joining me as we're following this breaking news coverage.

Howard, we're still trying to -- OK, Howard, stay with me.

John Couwels, can you hear me? John?

OK, we don't have John. I apologize.

Yes, I was talking to Howard.

Howard, are you still with me?

ROBERTSON: Yes I am. Go ahead, Kyra.

PHILLIPS: OK. Great. I apologize. A lot going on right now.

All right. I want to kind of maybe be a little proactive here, what we know so far as police are looking for this gunman, Jason Rodriguez, 40 years old, that they believe is still holed up in that office complex, the Gateway Center in downtown Orlando Florida. One person reported dead, seven injured, in highly-critical condition, we are told by authorities there. They have all been rushed to the hospital.

These reports coming from our affiliates out of Orlando.

But two SWAT teams on the scene there, clearing that building, looking for that gunman whom you believe more than likely has probably already taken his life due to the fact we have had no more reports of gunfire, loss of life, injuries. And a number of people, also, we were able to see, are being let out of that building. Not sure if it's completely evacuated, but we're getting word that possibly some employees still barricaded in their offices.

So two questions for you. If any of those individuals in that building can see us, hear us, are watching us, what is your advice to those that are still barricaded inside their offices?

ROBERTSON: Well, number one, he's already gone past the rage, and that's the biggest thing, because he's quit shooting. So, normally when they go in the building, they're looking for someone specific, some person that they have targeted. The other people just happen to be in the way.

But at this point he has calmed down so that the people who are hidden in the building and barricaded themselves in the door have a much reduced chance of him looking for anybody else. So, as long as they stay where they are and until the police reach there, I think they're going to be pretty safe.

The key here is that he's calming down, he's not shooting anymore. He's not doing anything. And that's the de-escalation phase. He's already gone through his rage, so he's ether committed suicide or he's waiting for the police to find him now.

PHILLIPS: And we were able to report that he did work for Reynolds, Smith, Hills, where that shooting took place inside that office building. All eight of those individuals that were shot -- one person being reported dead now -- working for that firm, an architectural and engineering firm.

This particular part of the company focusing on transportation engineering, and apparently that is what Mr. Rodriguez did when he worked at that company. But he was let go two years ago, in June of 2007, for what the spokesperson said was performance issues. So, basically, he was fired two years ago.

Now, Howard, you said it's not unusual that someone would come back and retaliate two years later. Explain why.

ROBERTSON: What normally happens is, there's a key factor in somebody's life where it starts going down hill. And losing their job is a major factor, especially to a male, especially a Type A male, someone who's very, very proud. When they lose their job, that's their identity.

And then if they're not able to find another job -- and in this economy they may have to take a job making less money than they were before, without the prestige they had before, and they feel everything is going down. They don't blame themselves for the problem, so they put the blame on someone else who is the person who fired them.

And their whole time for years is just building up that this person is the cause for their life going down. And the worse their life goes, they see no other recourse but death. And they're going to go back and punish the person who they think made their life go down hill.

It could be two, three years, until they decide, I have nothing else, I'm going to retaliate. Unfortunately, the one person who fired them is the person that they blame everything for. But you've got to realize, that person has to have a mental history for that to happen.

PHILLIPS: There's probably a lot more to this man that we are going to find out very soon.

We're looking at live pictures now, Howard, from WESH's chopper, bringing us a live shot from on top of the building. And this is what law enforcement has to do in a situation like this.

I mean, they have to guard every entry and exit, every window, every possible way that this gunman can get in and out of a scene. And all communicating by radio. And that's one of the interesting things to observe when you watch a SWAT team operate -- the communications system and how they use hand signals and certain types of radios where there's no noise. I mean, "stealth" is the operating word here when it comes to going into a building like this, not knowing where a gunman could be, correct?

ROBERTSON: Correct. And we're both in the media business now, but part of the deal is not letting the media know what you're doing, because they don't want to air what they're doing in case this guy does have access to a television. They're trying to keep what actions they're taking secret. So, it's making sure that they have everything blocked off, going door by door, being very methodical in what they're doing, not allowing him to escape. Or, the easiest way for him to escape is just to pretend to be one of the people hiding in the building. As long as he's not armed, and they don't recognize him right away, and he acts frightened, he can walk out the front door.

It's one of the things that they do, is they try not to let any victim or potential victim that's hiding out go without being questioned first. You know, making sure the police get their identity. They bring them to, like, a separate room so that they can clear them before they let them go.

PHILLIPS: And you bring up an excellent point. Our viewers may wonder why they're not seeing live pictures right now, and that is because we want to protect those right now, in particular the two SWAT teams that are in, on top of, and around that building, searching for that gunman. That's why we're rolling video. We're on a bit of a delay as we follow the pictures from our affiliate.

Good point to make, Howard, that that is why we are not doing this live, so if, indeed, that gunman is watching TV, we're not giving him any type of insight to where the SWAT team is, to where individuals barricading in that building are, and giving him any type of intel that could help him in what he has done thus far.

Howard, stay with me if you can. I understand if you've got to get back to work, but you've been just terrific, and we'd love you to keep rolling on this with me if you can.

John Couwels, our all platform journalist who's based in that region, is in Orlando. He's been working this story for us as well.

John, can you bring us up to date, anything that I have missed, anything that I don't know so far? I've just been able to tell our viewers that the SWAT teams are still looking for the 40-year-old suspect, Jason Rodriguez, former employee of Reynolds, Smith, Hills, located in the Gateway Center there at 1000 Legion Place. We have been reporting one person dead, seven shot, at the hospital.

Anything else you can tell us?

JOHN COUWELS, CNN ALL-PLATFORM JOURNALIST: Yes. For about 15 minutes, the police and the media were backed away from the building. No circulating of the building, no air traffic in the general area.

I don't know for sure if it was restricted, but all planes and helicopters were no longer seen in the area. And the sheriff helicopter just returned briefly, a few minutes ago, and is now currently circling the area.

Also, I see just within the last few minutes, I-4 looks like it has been opened. I'm not sure exactly what that might mean, because it was kept closed, and police and ambulance were using I-4 as a quick access in and off to the area while they were searching. Now, as far as -- we're expecting a press briefing over in the staging area on the other side of the building from where I am, where they're expecting to give the latest update on what's happening on the scene. That's expected at 15 minutes after the hour. And we hopefully will learn more of what has happened.

PHILLIPS: OK. So is it possible that this is over, that this has ended, that they have located that shooter, dead or alive? Is that your sense, John, that this -- since they have opened up traffic and they're sort of, I guess, breaking away at the perimeter a little bit, is that a sign that this could be wrapped up?

COUWELS: It could be. I don't want to overspeculate, but the fact that I-4 has opened, I have seen several police vehicles have left the scene, two ambulances have left the scene, and it seems to be a little lower state of intensity in the area around it. But there is still a command post set up on the north side of the building next to I-4, but traffic is resuming, and I am seeing more planes and helicopters in the area.

PHILLIPS: OK. I'm being told -- John, if you don't mind, if you can go and try and confirm if indeed this could be over, that would be great, and call us back immediately.

Meanwhile, Barbara Jones with Orlando PD, public information with Orlando PD, joining me now on the phone.

Barbara Jones, can you tell me if indeed this has come to a conclusion? Do you have that shooter dead or alive?

SGT. BARBARA JONES, ORLANDO POLICE DEPARTMENT: It's my understanding at this point we do not have the shooter in custody. We're still actively looking for the person, we're still clearing the perimeter. We have an inner and outer perimeter set up.

It's my understanding the interstate is going to reopen eastbound, which was shut down. We are looking for Jason Rodriguez, who might possibly be driving an SUV, and I provided that information out.

Right now, basically, we got a call at around 11:00 of a shooting. Information that came in through the radio was that there was somebody actually still shooting, which that creates a different response which is called an active shooter.

We responded and deployed various units going directly towards that shooting threat. We ended up clearing part of the businesses and called our SWAT team in. And we're still in the process of clearing various structures and areas around this perimeter.

So, right now I can confirm to you that we have six victims of the shooting. I am not confirming any of the medical status on those victims at this time. Investigations is out here, the Orlando Police Department, which is the jurisdiction that this incident took place is here. Also, the sheriff is here and his deputies, and other resources to include (INAUDIBLE). So, it's still a fluid situation.

PHILLIPS: Sergeant Jones -- OK, fluid situation. So, let me ask you two questions.

Do you believe that the alleged gunman is still inside the Gateway Center?

JONES: Well, because we don't have him in custody, we don't know where he is, so that's why we're searching every area that we can. That's why we released the picture. We want to public to help us.

We are certainly following up leads as to where we think he might be. You know, he's going to be watching the news, too, so if he sees his picture, he knows what happened here and he probably needs to call and turn himself in. That would probably be in his best interest.

We're asking the public, because obviously we consider him armed and dangerous, and we're asking the public to call their local law enforcement. It doesn't have to be OPD if they spot him in another area. So -- or Crime Line, 1-800-423-TIPS.

Listen, I've got to go. We've got a lot going on. So thank you...

PHILLIPS: All right. So you're saying six injured, not eight?

JONES: Six people suffered some type of gunshot wounds, and the status of those I'm not releasing. But six is what the fire department has confirmed.

PHILLIPS: Got it.

JONES: OK. Thank you, ma'am.

PHILLIPS: Sergeant Barbara Jones, appreciate it.

Orlando PD there joining us on the scene. Also, former SWAT commander from New Orleans Howard Robertson helping us through this.

This is what we know so far. If you're just tuning in, you're watching breaking news out of Orlando, Florida.

Just to bring you up to date, the man you see in the corner of your screen, 40-year-old Jason Rodriguez. That's who SWAT teams are looking for right now. He was let go for performance issues two years ago from Reynolds, Smith and Hills, the company that is based there at the Gateway Center at 1000 Legion Place in downtown Orlando.

We believe, still cannot confirm that there are individuals still barricaded inside their office spaces in that building. Two SWAT teams now there trying to clear that building, looking for that gunman, trying to get everybody out of the building safely.

We're trying to bring you as much information as possible. We cannot confirm whether one or two people have been killed. We're getting conflicting reports now from our various affiliates and also the police sergeant there on the scene. She would only confirm six injured, but we have heard up to eight injured, possibly two dead.

We're going to stay on this story for you. We're going to take a quick break.

You're watching CNN.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

PHILLIPS: We are following breaking news for you out of Orlando, Florida.

But before I get to that, real quickly want to tell you -- wrong pictures and wrong banner. Let's go ahead and get out of that. Apologize.

I want to tell you in just about 10 minutes or so, we're expecting some information out of Fort Hood. We're going to have it for you live as soon as they get ready.

We could get some new details on the shooting that took place yesterday. Also, we're told about 2:34 p.m. Eastern Time, probably just before that newser starts, military bases and posts across the world will go quiet. And this is on the request from the secretary of defense, a virtually unprecedented moment of silence to honor those victims, those individuals killed yesterday at Fort Hood out of Texas.

So, we're waiting for that possibly within the next 10 or 12 minutes.

Meanwhile, our breaking news story that we've been following for you. . About an hour and a half -- well, actually, no, we're coming on about two hours now. It happened about 11:30, Florida time.

And this is what happened. I'll just bring you up to date quickly as we look at these pictures from our affiliate, WESH TV, out of Orlando, Florida.

Reports of gunfire at the Gateway Center at 1000 Legion Place.

OK. Let's get straight to the mayor of Orlando live, Buddy Dyer, as he's talking about the shooting, possibly two dead.

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

MAYOR BUDDY DYER, ORLANDO, FLORIDA: And they're supporting law enforcement agencies and the Orlando Fire Department.

The gunman has been apprehended, so the community is safe. That's the important thing to know now. OPD responded within a minute of the 911 call and immediately on the scene.

A lot of people have been impacted, but the OPD and our residents have been extremely cooperative. And this was really a model of how to respond to an incident like this. I want to turn it over to...

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Are there any other fatalities here?

CHIEF VAL DEMINGS, ORLANDO, FLORIDA, POLICE: Well, we have five that were victims, shooting victims. We have one that started having chest pains. And we do have one confirmed death.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

DEMINGS: You know, it's still a lot of details that we're sortinng through right now. It's been such a tragedy to occur, especially after the shooting that occurred in Texas yesterday.

Still a lot of details we need to sort through, but we're proud to say that our SWAT team has apprehended the suspect. He was located at his mother's residence and he is in custody.

QUESTION: Can you tell us about that apprehension? How did it go down?

DEMINGS: Well, we received information that he may be in the area of his mother's residence. We sent some officers out there, sent our SWAT team out there. They confirmed.

We of course had intelligence information on him. They were able to see him through the window and asked him to come out. He did. He was arrested without incident.

(CROSSTALK)

DEMINGS: We have not heard any details like that. They just arrested him, so I'm sure there's a lot more information that will be coming in.

QUESTION: Chief, we know that this guy was a former employee. Can we talk about the motive of why he did this?

DEMINGS: You know, I really wish I knew the motive. Our investigators are going to be working around the clock to find out exactly why he would do what he did today. There's still a lot of details that we're going to have to sort through.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

DEMINGS: We have not identified the person that's dead, but there is one confirmed fatality.

QUESTION: After talking to people in the building today, can you kind of give us an overview of what might have transpired that you know at this point?

DEMINGS: Well, around 11:00 today, we received a call of an active shooter at the facility behind us. Our units responded, as the mayor said. They arrived within a minute, which is a very quick response.

Of course, their first concern is the preservation of life and to rescue those who may be injured. They began a building search of each of the floors. I believe it's 18 floors within the building, and were just trying to locate exactly where the shooting occurred, what was the conversation was before that, trying to talk to building security to get their information. And the investigation continues.

QUESTION: Chief, what was his demeanor? Did he seem like he might have been whacked out? Was he distraught? What was the suspected gunman's demeanor when your troops arrived?

DEMINGS: Our detectives are with -- the officers did not make contact with the gunman when we initially responded. The information that we were receiving about the shooter's demeanor is coming from witnesses that detectives are in the process of debriefing right now.

QUESTION: Do you know, did he just walk in on the first floor and just start to shoot, or did he go to the location of the business?

DEMINGS: We're talking to security to find out exactly how that occurred.

QUESTION: Did security try to stop him?

QUESTION: What kind of security actually is in this building?

DEMINGS: We don't know yet, unfortunately.

QUESTION: Was it his mom who gave him up, or was there another person who gave him up? Or was this just keen police work?

DEMINGS: The call came in, and you know our intelligence units have been out here from the very beginning since 11:00 trying to identify who he is, was able to do that. Received vehicle information, started looking for his vehicle, started working on information from his cell phone. And through all of that, along with crime line tips that started coming in, we were able to find out his location and subsequently arrest him.

QUESTION: Has the police department started to look into his past at this point?

DEMINGS: Of course.

QUESTION: Does he have any priors?

DEMINGS: Yes, we are. We're looking into everything. I have not been briefed by our intelligence officers as of yet.

QUESTION: And are you confident, Chief, that he acted alone?

DEMINGS: We are confident of that at this point because the brief intelligence that I am aware of is that it was one lone gunman.

QUESTION: Clarify: one fatality and five wounded people? DEMINGS: That's correct, one fatality, five wounded.

QUESTION: And the suspect himself, any wounds of any type.

DEMINGS: Not to my knowledge.

(CROSSTALK)

DEMINGS: Any more information, Chief, the fire department can add about the condition of the victim?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Everybody we have talked to and double checked through the hospital is stable. The ones that were transported, the shooting victims. We also had one medical condition related to the incident from the evacuation has been treated and is also in stable condition.

Of course, as Chief Demings says, we had one what we call no code, no vital. When the crews rapidly went in, under the protection of OPD, because the building was not secured, we rapidly went in, found any patients. If they have they were workable in this case, we got them out of the building and got them immediately treated and sent to the hospital.

The medical records for the paramedics for the fire department were here on the scene to assist us in actually making sure that everything went well. So at this point, everybody is stable except for the one no code, no vitals.

QUESTION: And we have heard some of the names of who might have been dead. When are we going to actually (AUDIO GAP)?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, that will come through Chief Demings...

(CROSSTALK)

DEMINGS: No, there have not been any notifications. You can imagine how family members feel who have relatives who are working in this building. The person has not been identified, nor have any notifications been made to the family.

I do want to mention the response not only from the Orlando Police Department, but the Orange County Sheriff's Office. And I believe every federal, state and local agency responded and came to our aid today. So, it's been a long day, but it was a wonderful collaborative effort to identify the suspect and arrest him.

(CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: Chief Demings, the people who are evacuated, are they now cleared to go home? Or what's their situation that you've taken them out?

DEMINGS: Our officers are in the process for those person who we believe were not related at all, did not witness anything, did not hear anything, we are in the process of trying to release them. QUESTION: Can you tell us where the mother's house is?

DEMINGS: She lives in an apartment complex out off of Curry Ford Road. I don't know the exact address out there, but yes...

QUESTION: Did she call police by any chance? Because I know sometimes in desperate situations like this, relatives will turn relatives in.

DEMINGS: And she may have. Like I said, we've been receiving calls. She may have...

PHILLIPS: We're going to continue to follow this breaking news out of Orlando, Florida, but the good news is that shooter is in police custody. Jason Rodriguez apprehended by the SWAT team. Apparently, he escaped the Gateway Center at 1000 Legion Place, there in Orlando, Florida, fleeing to his mother's residence, where he turned himself in without incident.

We've got reports now, official numbers. Five victims, one individual with chest issues, and one person confirmed dead.

We're going to stay on top of that breaking news for you, but now, of course, we want to go back to Fort Hood.

Shock subsiding, but the horror living on. And many questions haunt.

Almost 24 hours now after a U.S. Army psychiatrist allegedly opened fire inside a readiness center on the world's largest military base, motive is the biggest question of all. Or, should I say, state of mind. We know the numbers now -- 12 soldiers, one civilian killed, 30 others wounded, though investigators still don't know whether all were shot by the gunman or whether some may have been hit by officers trying to take the gunman down.

Here's the suspect. We'll take a look at him as we also monitor these live pictures. We're expecting that live news conference.

Army Major Nadal Malik Hasan inside a convenience store, right here, where he stopped for coffee almost every morning. He was facing his first overseas deployment perhaps as soon as today. Although it's not clear whether he was headed for Iraq or Afghanistan.

Right now, we are waiting for a news conference that's just about to get underway. The secretary of defense has actually ordered a moment of silence at U.S. military bases around the world at the moment that the shooting started at Fort Hood. That's 1:34 Texas time, 2:34 Eastern time. That's just about three and a half minutes from now. And we will take that live as soon as that happens.

You know, as we wait for this live news conference to happen, we had actually planned to have a discussion about how this could happen at Fort Hood, what led to this shooting, more about the alleged shooter -- more about the alleged shooter, and also his history.

All right, now, we have actually -- two minutes early entered that moment of silence. Let's go straight to Fort Hood and listen in.

(MOMENT OF SILENCE)

PHILLIPS: Well, you just observed a pretty remarkable moment around the U.S., and also we're told, around the world. U.S. military bases at the very moment that that shooting took place yesterday at Fort Hood, at that time yesterday, which is where we are right now -- it's amazing to think that it's been 24 hours.

But as you saw, a moment of silence at all the various places, from the Pentagon to the Capitol to the White House, to Point Magoo, the list goes on. For about four minutes there. From the secretary of defense to those serving our country overseas, bowing their head and remembering the 12 soldiers and one civilian killed yesterday, 24 hours ago today. Also 30 others wounded after a U.S. Army psychiatrist allegedly opened fire inside the Readiness Center on the world's largest military base.

Motive is the biggest question of all. State of mind as well. U.S. Army Major Nadal Malik Hasan. Still being investigated as we remember the victims from yesterday's shooting. We're going to talk more about the why right after a quick break.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

(JOINED IN PROGRESS)

JOHN MCHUGH, SECRETARY OF THE ARMY: ... opportunity to tour with General Cone and Mrs. Cone and his command staff. We have had the chance to go to the processing center site of the incident, received a full brief from a variety of law enforcement agencies who have been involved in this situation, DES, CID, FBI, local police, Texas Rangers and others who are working seamlessly together, and we so deeply, deeply appreciate that.

After that, our party traveled to Darnell to hear from the medical staff as to the condition of those who have been wounded and who are still in treatment. The chief and I and Mrs. Casey had a chance to visit those both in the intensive care unit and on the general ward, and thereafter ago visit with a grouping of those who were processing the soldiers through the processing center at the time of this very, very tragic incident.

We thereafter went to one of the post chapels, had a chance to meet with the 36th Engineer Brigade, a group of soldiers that had an extraordinarily tough day amongst so many soldiers who had a tough day, yesterday. Four killed, 11 wounded and tried to do our best to talk about how the Army family will stand with them.

Obviously our thoughts, our prayers are particularly with those of the fallen. The families of the soldiers who were killed, the soldiers and the families of those who were wounded in action, those are soldiers who were preparing to do what they love for the country they love. And we wanted them to know, and we want America to know, that the United States Army and the United States government writ (ph) large stands ready to provide them every possible assistance -- not just today, not just through the weekend, but will undoubtedly be very troubling, very challenging things to come ahead.

I want to give a special thanks and a word of admiration to the first responders, those who came when the call went out. Within minutes of the shots being fired in the center. And those soldiers who utilized their battlefield, lifesaving training in the building as the situation was still unfolding to save lives, and we were told that those actions did indeed save lives.

A thanks to the medical personnel and professionals at Darnell, those who work at Scott White and Metroplex and others, who have done just an incredible job pitching in and helping the Fort Hood community respond to those challenges as well.

I want to say thank you to the president of the United States, the vice president, the secretary of defense, all of whom have been personally involved with this situation from the first minute we were made aware of what was happening here in Texas and at Fort Hood. And as the secretary of defense told the chief and myself, every possible resource, every possible form of support will be made available to the soldiers, the family, to the command staff here at Fort Hood.

The Army family is strong. But a great source of that strength is what we derive from each other. In times of crisis and challenge, how we hold each other straight and how we make a difference. We're going to provide every necessary resource to ensure that those in need have what they need. Those in need are taken care of. The full source of the Army stands behind General Cone, his command staff -- I have to tell you, from my perspective, they have done an incredible job responding to an incredibly difficult challenge.

Most of all, we want the soldiers and the families here at Fort Hood and across every Army facility, everywhere in the world to know this is a time for the Army family to stand together. This is a time for Army strong to mean what it says. And this is a time to know that we are working every moment to ensure that their safety and security is met to the highest possible degree. And with that I yield the microphones to the Chief of Staff of the Army. Chief?

GEN. GEORGE CASEY, ARMY CHIEF OF STAFF: I thank you, Mr. Secretary. It's been, frankly, an honor to accompany the secretary to talk to the victims, their families, and the care providers all around Fort Hood. I'll tell you candidly, this was a kick in the gut, not only for the Fort Hood community but also for our entire Army.

And the secretary and I are here to ensure that Fort Hood has the resources they need to mount a sustained response because this is going to take awhile, and we want everyone here to know that the full resources of the Army and the Department of Defense are behind the men and women of the Fort Hood community.

I will tell you that across the Army in the last 24 hours, I have asked our leaders to come together behind the victims, their families and the Fort Hood community. I have asked them to examine their force protection measures and to take appropriate action. I have asked them to keep their soldiers informed and not rush to judgment until the investigation is completed. And I have asked them to stay focused on their mission.

As I said, I have full confidence in the team here given the response that I have seen. And I have full confidence in the local community and the state and federal agencies that have fallen in here to help General Cone and to help the men and women here at Fort Hood.

Unfortunately, over the past eight years, our Army has been no stranger to tragedy. But we are an Army that draws strength from adversity. And hearing the stories of courage and heroism that I heard today makes me proud to be the leader of this great Army.

I heard stories about medics who were sitting in a graduation in the building next door, hearing the gunfire and running to the sounds of the guns because they knew there'd be wounded in their caps and gowns. I talked to a young private, who was sitting in his pickup truck in the parking lot who heard gunshots and went back after his buddies. And with the help of others, dragged four badly wounded individuals into his pickup truck and drove them to the emergency room, saving their lives. And I talked to numerous soldiers who were wounded, giving first aid to their fellow soldiers.

I am very proud, not only of the men and women here at Fort Hood, but of our whole Army. We take care of our own, we will grieve as a family, and we will maintain our focus on our missions around the world. And the secretary and I would be happy to take your questions. I will tell you up front that because of the ongoing investigation, we will not be able to give particulars on the suspect or on the crime scene. With that, Mr. Secretary, we will take your questions.

QUESTION: General Casey, do you believe that this was a wakeup call to the nation that the Army is simply too small to carry out the tasks that it has been given? You have been having suicide rates that are off the charts, your soldiers are under great stress from multiple deployments. Is this a signal that this Army is simply not big enough to do the job and it must become much bigger?

CASEY: Sir, I don't think so. I think it's way too early to take a judgment that is that pronounced. There is no question that we are stretched, but you mentioned the size of the Army. We're 40,000 soldiers larger than we were two-and-a-half years ago. We're 70,000 larger than we were five years ago. And the growth and the development of the Army that's taken place over the last five years, frankly, has put us in a much better position. So, way too early to make a judgment as significant as you're suggesting.

QUESTION: General, in light of that, a lot of money has been earmarked for stress-related treatment programs, yet several of those items aren't on line yet. Is it time to accelerate? Will you go to Congress and say it has got to be accelerated? What's going to be done to move it faster?

MCHUGH: Well, we have been trying very hard to understand the effects of stress, to understand the causes of everything from domestic violence to suicide to other crimes and other fallings. Our problem is not so much the matter of resources as it is answers. For example, the Army has just entered into a five-year longitudinal study on the causes of suicide with the Institute of National Mental Health. That's going to be an ongoing effort to better understand what drives people to do desperate things.

From my perspective, after 17 years in Congress and 17 years on the House Armed Services Committee, you're always concerned about resources. But for the moment, we're concerned about developing the answers that are necessary to apply those resources in an appropriate way to try to make a difference. And that's the challenge right now.

We have a suspect. We have terrible crimes that have been alleged. We have to understand what caused that suspect to act in the way in which he did, and then drive back from that programs that can make a difference and hopefully alleviate the opportunity for that occurring in the future.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CASEY: Can I - if I could...

MCHUGH: Sure. Absolutely.

CASEY: Can I tell you about a program, $125 million program that is online and is available and is being used by soldiers today? It's called Comprehensive Soldier Fitness. We started it at the first of October. There's an online survey that soldiers can go online right now and take. And thousands of them have already done it.

It connects them to self-help modules. And this whole program is a long-term development program to help them develop resilience, to give them the strength to help them deal with the adversity they're going to be confronted with over the next several years.

The other thing on Monday, 150 of those sergeants and family members are going to be at the University of Pennsylvania starting a course to make them master resilience trainers. It's our goal by this time next year to have master resilience trainers in every battalion size in the Army.

So, we are moving forward on the programs that's going to help our soldiers and family members to deal with the challenges ahead.

(INAUDIBLE CROSSTALK)

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

MCHUGH: Way too early to tell. I know that's part of the investigation. And I know they'll look very hard at that.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CASEY: I know that she was one of the first responders that was there and was wounded.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) CASEY: We did not meet with Ms. Munley. What I was told was she was one of the first to arrive onscene and to take the suspect under fire. And so she probably saved a lot of lives with her actions, but I don't know specifics about what she did.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

MCHUGH: That's part of the investigation. What we have right now is a joint-led investigation between CID and FBI. One of the critical questions of that process is what does the evidence suggest, and what will the evidence support with respect to prosecution in one system or another? So, we don't have an answer to that, but obviously it's one that's critical and it is being weighed very carefully.

QUESTION: So there's no charges?

MCHUGH: We have not been informed of any formal charges that have been levied, and it's a matter of investigation solely at this moment.

QUESTION: Have any other persons of interest been identified so far in this investigation or is it just Major Hasan?

CASEY: There's only one remaining suspect at this point. That may change, but right now there's only one suspect.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CASEY: I wouldn't want to speculate on that. I mean that -- the fact that there may have been other soldiers involved in this is something the investigation will uncover. So, to extrapolate that across the rest of the Army, I'm just not prepared to do that.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CASEY: Is there - what?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CASEY: There are programs.

QUESTION: Do you know what the effectiveness of those programs are, General?

CASEY: I don't know. This may come out a little bit later in the course of the investigation, but there are programs that they can monitor that. I will tell you, we also have programs to build resilience in our care providers. And that's something that we have been working fairly hard for the last couple of years.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CASEY: I'm sorry -- right here, and then back over here.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) MCHUGH: Well, as I said earlier, with respect to suicides, we're enormously concerned. That's why we're initiating a ground-breaking program, much to the credit, I might add of the Vice Chief of Staff, Peter Corelli with the Institute of Mental Heatlh, to try to understand the dynamics and the forces behind suicides, particularly in the military. But the researchers are telling us that it also will potentially have great applicability into the general population.

What I said -- neither here nor there politically -- but what I said during my confirmation hearing, this five-year study is too long in terms of providing us answers. And really in a very unique way, to their credit, the Institute of Mental Health has said that they're going to provide interim reports on a regular basis so we can monitor what they're finding and at their guidance if there are answers and responses and programs we need to implement in the interim, we're going to do that. So, we take this very seriously, when at any time one of their own takes their own by their own hand.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CASEY: There's one over here.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CASEY: I wouldn't say I fear it, but one of the reasons I told our leaders to keep their people informed and not rush to judgment or speculate until the investigation comes out is I do worry slightly about a potential backlash. And we have to be all concerned about that.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

MCHUGH: Any time you have an investigation of a crime scene, you keep open all possibilities. I think the senator was responding in a very accurate way as to how law enforcement agencies approach a crime scene and say we don't know what we don't know.

And having, as I said, gone to the Readiness Center, met and then briefed by CID, FBI, Texas Rangers, our own DES and others, they're not precluding anything. So, that's being pursued very vigorously. But at this point, as far as I know, we don't have anything that opponents to a specific piece of evidence that would suggest what you've premised.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CASEY: There's a total of about 20 different units that were affected in one way or another. I don't have that list of names. You can get that from the public affairs folks, that will be available.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) There was a very similar incident two or three months ago in Baghdad. It involved a medical facility and involved psychiatric health. And there was talk at that time about addressing this, and this is several months later. Do you feel that the steps being taken after that incident (INAUDIBLE)? MCHUGH: The Baghdad situation is a very serious one. It's a subject of what we call a 15-6 investigation. That investigation has provided some guidance. Those individual pieces of guidance are being implemented across the Army to try to ensure that what happened there would be far, far less -- you can't ever guarantee anything -- but far, far less from happening in the future.

The particulars of this instance, from what we know right now and what happened in Baghdad are substantially different. In Iraq, you had a soldier who gave some signals, there was opportunity and availability to try to relay that up the chain of command, there were failures of cell phone systems, et cetera, et cetera.

Here, as far as we know right now, you have an alleged actor who did not reach out, in fact who did not do a lot of things, so I don't think there's a parallel there. But there are similarities in that we want to take every step necessary to ensure that these kinds of instances don't repeat themselves. And obviously, it risks sounding ridiculous to say it, but take it seriously so it never happens again.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CASEY: I couldn't quite hear you because of the generators.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

CASEY: There is. And we will -- we will study this as the investigation is completed, learn from it, and adapt.

And as I said in my opening comments, I have already asked our leaders around the Army on each of their installations to look at what's going on and to adjust their force protection procedures to deal with it.

As I said, this is a tough one. It is inside. And it's a kick in the adult. There's no doubt about it.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I can't -- I can't hear.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry. Can you speak up?

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't have any physical status of Major Hasan.

One more.

QUESTION: This may have been asked already. What exactly...

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm sorry. Go ahead.

QUESTION: Yes. If you could talk to Major Hasan, what would you say to him? UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Not even going to go there. Not even going to go there.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's two questions.

(CROSSTALK)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pardon me?

QUESTION: You didn't answer the first one.

QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Right now, we don't think there are any operational impacts of this. That may change over time, but, right now, we don't think there is.

Thank you very much. And I ask just for your continued support here of the soldiers and families here at Fort Hood.

Mr. Secretary.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No, thank you all very much. We appreciate your being here and your accurate reporting.