Pregnant Soldier Among Victims

Bases observe minute of silence 24 hours after shooting
By Nick McMaster,  Newser Staff
Posted Nov 6, 2009 3:03 PM CST
Pregnant Soldier Among Victims
Army Command Sergeant Major Arthur L. Coleman Jr. (C) walks with Command Sergeant Major Norman Corbett (R) after arriving together on a helicopter at Fort Hood on November 6, 2009 in Killeen, Texas.   (Getty Images)

One of the victims of the Fort Hood massacre was a pregnant 21-year-old set to start maternity leave in just 2 weeks. Francheska Velez of Chicago enlisted out of high school. "She loved the military, loved to serve," a friend told the Chicago Tribune. US military bases around the world observed a minute of silence today at 2:34pm, exactly 24 hours after the rampage began, as details of the incident continued to emerge. The names of the 12 soldiers and one civilian killed have not been released, but family members have been speaking to the media.

Military and civilian police were on the scene within 5 minutes after Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire, Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison said. " It was controlled chaos," an MP who was among the first responders tells the Dallas Morning News. Soldiers used their own clothing as makeshift bandages, and the first eight arrivals at the post hospital came in private vehicles, scooped up and rushed to the emergency room before ambulances even arrived.
(More Fort Hood stories.)

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