WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama called Thursday’s mass shooting at Fort Hood “a horrific outburst of violence.”
“We will make sure that we get answers to every single question about this horrible incident,” the commander in chief said. “We are going to stay on this.”
He said it’s a tragedy to lose soldiers overseas and even more horrifying when they come under fire at an Army base on U.S. soil. Obama also said his thoughts and prayers are with the wounded and families of the fallen.
Obama spoke late Thursday afternoon with Lt. Gen. Bob Cone, the commanding officer at Fort Hood, to express condolences and to offer any help, White House press secretary Robert Gibbs said.
Obama was getting regular updates from his staff, led by his homeland-security adviser, John Brennan.
This afternoon, Obama plans to visit Walter Reed Army Medical Center.
White House officials said the trip to the Army hospital had been scheduled before the Fort Hood shootings. The visit to Walter Reed is Obama’s first as president. The Associated Press
