Motive probed for U.S. Army shooting rampage

By Erwin Seba

KILLEEN, Texas (Reuters) - Investigators searched on Friday for the motive behind a mass shooting at a sprawling U.S. Army base in Texas, in which an Army psychiatrist trained to treat war wounded is suspected of killing 13 people.

The suspected gunman, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, a Muslim born in the United States of immigrant parents, was shot four times by police, a base spokesman said. He was unconscious but in stable condition.

A woman died overnight from her wounds, raising the toll from Thursday's shootings to 13 dead and 30 wounded, said Colonel John Rossi, a spokesman at Fort Hood, the biggest military facility in the world.

Hasan was transferred on Friday afternoon by helicopter to the Brooke Army Medical Centre in San Antonio, Texas, Rossi said. He had been on a ventilator in a civilian hospital.

The Army declined to discuss possible motives while the investigation was under way. "We have to understand what caused the suspect to act in the way that he did," Army Secretary John McHugh said after observing a moment of silence at the base.

Army Chief of Staff George Casey said: "This was a kick in the gut."

The gunman, with two guns including a semi-automatic weapon, opened fire apparently without warning at the crowded Soldiers Readiness Processing Centre, where troops were getting medical checkups before leaving for foreign deployments.

Hasan, 39, had spent years counselling severely wounded soldiers at the Walter Reed Army Medical Centre in Washington, many of whom had lost limbs fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.