In an email from the White House, President Obama's staff released his statement on the shooting at Fort Hood.
This is the statement, unedited here:
Below please find a corrected transcript: The initial transcript left off three words, which are bracketed below.
6:46 P.M. CDT
THE PRESIDENT: Hello, everybody. I just got
off the phone with Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Sandy
Winnefeld to get the latest report on the situation in Fort Hood.
Obviously we’re following it closely. The situation
is fluid right now. But my national security team is in close contact
with not just the Defense Department but the FBI. They are working with
folks on the ground to determine exactly what happened to make sure
that everybody is secure. And I want to just
assure all of us that we're going to get to the bottom of exactly what
happened.
Any shooting is
troubling. Obviously this reopens the pain of what happened at Fort
Hood five years ago. We know these families. We know their incredible
service to our country and the sacrifices that they make.
Obviously our thoughts and prayers were -- are with the entire
community. And we are going to do everything we can to make sure that
the community at Fort Hood has what it needs to deal with the current
situation, but also any potential aftermath.
We're heartbroken that
something like this might have happened again. And I don't want to
comment on the facts until I know exactly what has happened, but for
now, I would just hope that everybody across the country
is keeping the families and the community at Fort Hood in our thoughts
and in our prayers. The folks there have sacrificed so much on behalf
of our freedom. Many of the people there have been on multiple tours in
Iraq and Afghanistan. They serve with valor;
they serve with distinction. And when they’re at their home base they
need to feel safe. We don't yet know what happened tonight, but
obviously that sense of safety has been broken once again. And we're
going to have to find out exactly what happened.
The Pentagon will undoubtedly have further briefings for you as we get more details [about what happened.]
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