Argument before deadly Fort Hood attack?

• Author: Weissert, Will
• Position: News

Byline: Will Weissert and Paul J. Weber

FORT HOOD, Texas -- The soldier who killed three people at Fort Hood may have argued with another service member before the attack, and investigators believe his unstable mental health contributed to the rampage, authorities said Thursday.

The base's senior officer, Lt. Gen. Mark Milley, said there is a ''strong possibility'' that Spc. Ivan Lopez had a ''verbal altercation'' with another soldier or soldiers immediately before Wednesday's shooting, which unfolded on the same Army post that was the scene of an infamous 2009 mass shooting.

However, there's no indication that he targeted specific soldiers, Milley said.

Lopez never saw combat during a deployment to Iraq and had shown no apparent risk of violence before the shooting, officials said.

The 34-year-old truck driver from Puerto Rico seemed to have a clean record that showed no ties to extremist groups. But the Army secretary promised that investigators would keep all avenues open in their inquiry of the soldier whose rampage ended only after he fired a final bullet into his own head.

''We're not making any assumptions by that. We're going to keep an open mind and an open investigation. We will go where the facts lead us,'' Army Secretary John McHugh said, explaining that ''possible extremist involvement is still being looked at very, very carefully.''

Scott & White Memorial Hospital in nearby Temple, Texas, was still caring for five of the 16 people who were wounded. Three were in serious condition, and two others were in good condition and could be discharged later Thursday.

Hospital officials had no information about patients being treated elsewhere, including at a base hospital. But because the hospital is the area's only trauma center, the patients...