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Fort
Hood gunman vented on Facebook about Sandy Hook shooter, Iraq
By
Ray Sanchez, CNN
updated 7:53 PM EDT, Sat April 5,
2014
(CNN) -- Spc.
Ivan Lopez vented about a range of subjects in Facebook posts before his
shooting rampage at Fort Hood in Texas, including his outrage at Adam Lanza's
mass school shooting in Connecticut, the overpowering fear experienced during
an insurgent attack in Iraq and the feeling of all-consuming hatred after being
"robbed."
Lopez
took his own .45-caliber handgun onto the sprawling post Wednesday and killed
three people and wounded 16 more before taking his own life, according to
authorities.
They
are trying to piece together what in his background and psychiatric treatment
could have triggered a new round of bloodshed at the same Killeen post where an
officer killed 13 people in 2009.
A
34-year-old Iraq war veteran with a history of depression and anxiety, Lopez
was being evaluated for post-traumatic stress disorder before his shooting
spree. He arrived at the post in February after being transferred from Fort
Bliss in El Paso.
His
Facebook posts, which were obtained from a Lopez family friend, appeared under
the account name of "Ivan Slipknot," a reference to a heavy metal
band. A family spokesman confirmed the account belonged to Lopez.
Images of Spc. Ivan Lopez taken from
a Facebook page.
"Given
that the alleged shooter is deceased, the possibility does exist that we may
never know exactly why the alleged shooter did what he did," said Chris
Grey, a spokesman for the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command.
In
early March, around the time investigators said he purchased the .45-caliber
pistol used in the shootings, Lopez wrote: "My spiritual peace has just
gone. Full of hate. Now I think I'll be damned. Last night I was robbed and I'm
pretty sure there were 2 skinny ones. Green light and thumb down. That
easy."
The
details of the robbery are unknown. Killeen, Texas, police said the records
department was closed Saturday.
In
another Facebook post, Lopez talked about Lanza, 20, who killed his mother,
Nancy, before fatally shooting 20 children, six staff members and himself at
Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown in December 2012.
Lanza
wanted his minute of fame, Fort Hood shooter writes
Lopez
wrote that Lanza "pretends to be a victim of a mental illness followed by
addiction to violent video games" and that the shooter sought
"international attention" and a "minute of fame as a
villain."
He
added, "It is stupid to me that anyone can have easy access to a powerful
weapon without being mentally evaluated. This makes the government indirect
accomplice... These bastards have perfected their way of attacking studying
previous massacres to gain publicity and their minute of fame as a villain. But
thanks to Hollywood and the sensational profiling by the media [they] give more
power to those intelligent cowards."
Another
post dealt with his time in Iraq: "Celebrating life. It has been exactly 1
year and 2 days since left Iraq seeing in Fallujah the most brutal explosion...
I was left paralyzed and started a discussion over the radio... I was only
focused on breathing deeply so that I don't lose focus and continue the
mission. [Those] were hours of agony waiting for an attack by the insurgency
but we were able to exit Fallujah all alive. I was in vehicle #6.The worst was
that #5 was a diesel truck, the perfect target. And I was only thinking about
getting back with my family."
Lopez
added: "To be in the line of fire is f----- up but even more f----- is the
suffering of the families."
Lt.
Gen. Mark Milley, the post's commanding general, said Lopez did not experience
direct combat in Iraq.
"So
far, we have not discovered any specific traumatic event, wounds received in
action, contact with the enemy or anything else specific that he may have been
exposed to while deployed," the general said.
Grey
said authorities had "credible information" that Lopez "was
involved in a verbal altercation with soldiers from his unit just prior to him
allegedly opening fire."
Messages
left Saturday by CNN for Grey about the Facebook posts were not immediately
returned.
In a
statement Friday, Lopez' father, also named Ivan, asked for prayers for all
those affected. He described the soldier as "a calm family man" and
"a good son."
"My
son could not have been in his right mind," he said. "He was not like
this."
Looking
for clues into GI's actions, motive
Before
Wednesday's shooting, Lopez stopped at the post's personnel office to pick up a
leave form, according to the sister of one of the soldiers injured in the
attack.
Armetra
Otis, sister of Sgt. Jonathan Westbrook, said on CNN's "The Lead"
that her brother "was at work and a guy came in and asked for a leave
form."
The
soldier was told he would have to come back later, Otis said.
"And
apparently I guess he didn't want to hear that, so he came back and just opened
fire, " Otis said.
Westbrook
was shot four times, but released from a hospital Friday, his sister said.
Law
enforcement sources told CNN that investigators were searching for possible
motives, including whether Lopez was angry over canceled leave.
If
Lopez sought a leave this week, it wouldn't be his first.
Glidden
Lopez Torres, a family spokesman, said Lopez' mother, Carmen, an emergency room
nurse in their hometown, died of a heart attack in November. A month earlier,
Lopez' grandfather had died in Guayanilla,a tight knit municipality on the
southern coast of Puerto Rico.
The
spokesman, not related to the soldier, said Lopez attended the funeral but was
disappointed that it took about five days for his 24-hour leave to be approved
by the military.
In
Friday's statement, the soldier's father said his son's medical treatment, the
recent deaths of his mother and grandfather and changes related to a transfer
of military installations "surely affected his condition."
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