(CNN) — A gunman shot a doctor at a Texas veterans’ hospital Tuesday, then turned his gun on himself. Both the victim and the shooter in the incident at the El Paso VA Health Care System have died, Maj. Gen. Stephen M. Twitty told reporters. “All other VA patients and staff are safe. This is an active crime scene, and the shooting incident is under investigation,” he said. The FBI is taking the lead on the investigation. VA Acting director Pete Dancy expects it will turn up details soon. “We have hundreds of potential witnesses and we are processing those right now,” he said. “Those people were here seeking medical assistance, so we understand the difficulties that this situation presents to them.” The Department of Veterans Affairs released a statement saying it was saddened by what happened. “We will continue to cooperate fully with military and civilian authorities at Beaumont Army Medical Center. The safety and continued care of our Veterans and the staff will be our focus throughout this situation,” the statement read.
A Pentagon official, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said that a doctor was shot by a gunman, who later died from a self-inflicted wound. The motive for the shooting was not immediately clear. The VA facility will be closed Wednesday. A spokesman for the William Beaumont Army Medical Center, which is adjacent to the VA facility, had said earlier the area was on lockdown. Here are some comments on Twitter about the situation as it was unfolding in Texas: BREAKING: Active shooter reported at William Beaumont Army Medical Center. I'll be live with details from the scene. — Janice Yu (@NC9Janice) January 6, 2015 Here is the scene from one of the entrances to Beaumont. Here is a look from the main entrance of Beaumont. FBI EPPD on scene. Zoomed in from our photog's camera. Appears to be SWAT gathered at the front entrance of Beaumont. Homeland Security helicopter has flown over the area a few times now. More pictures from the scene here at Beaumont.
EPPD says they are leaving scene. Military police are taking control of situation. More details coming soon @NC9 UPDATE: 'Active shooter' situation at Texas VA clinic in Fort Bliss is now under control, officials say http://t.co/0JLbzn7jFN — NBC News (@NBCNews) January 6, 2015 The page you requested cannot be found. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause. to report the error.Be the first to review We apologize for the inconvenience!Welcome to Animal Services where we strive to be proactive and offer programs to the community that promote the proper care of animals while combating pet overpopulation. Our staff provides information on pet vaccinations, registration, adoptions, as well as, spaying and neutering opportunities. We also enforce laws related to animals and investigate reports about loose, stray, sick or injured animals, bite incidents and animal cruelty. We operate the City’s animal shelter located 5001 Fred Wilson. We encourage you to check kennel hours to pick up lost animals, to adopt pets, and to drop off unwanted, sick or injured pets.
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Profoundly intimate and powerfully inventive, "Exit West" tells an unforgettable story of love, loyalty, and courage that is both completely of our time and for all time. Available from these sellers. This slim novel is set in the almost suffocatingly insular world of Galveston's Shriner's Burns Institute. It is here that seven-year-old Riley Martin is being treated for third-degree burns that cover most of his face and body. The burns are the horrifying result of a fire Riley accidentally started. Riley's story, and the stories of his roommates and parents, is told from his somewhat unreliable viewpoint. This viewpoint limits the novel, given Riley's early lack of consciousness and his lack of understanding of some of the issues involved in his care and in the dynamics of those around him. The limitation is especially clear when it comes to his mother, a disturbed and disturbing character clearly on the verge of a nervous breakdown. As an adult, the reader is drawn to her, and wants to know more about her and her situation.
GRAND RAPIDS, MI - Andrew Tkaczyk is accustomed to drumming fast. From a young age, playing the drums "just felt right" for the 28-year-old drummer of the metalcore band These days, after a crash late last year that left him severely injured, the Charlotte, Mich., native is slowly but surely getting reacquainted with the physical aspects of his craft thanks to the help of staff at Mary Free Bed Rehabilitation Hospital in Grand Rapids. Tkaczyk suffered traumatic injuries when The Ghost Inside's tour bus crashed in Texas in November. His right leg was amputated above the knee. Among his other medical hurdles was a spinal fracture, as well as a dislocated right shoulder that led to damaged nerves and partial paralysis in his right arm. With determination and a sense of humor, he remains focused on returning to the drums. For the first time since the collision, Tkaczyk lightly tapped drumsticks on a practice pad during a recent therapy session, working through nerve pain in his right arm.
"Those are my lifeline, so it was good to see and even hold a stick again. I lucked out that I had Dr. Drums over here," Tkaczyk said, referring to his doctor, Stephen Bloom. Bloom plays drums for local band Mid-Life Crisis and often says "drummers gotta drum." He nicknamed his patient Dr. Beats, and the two bonded over their common interest. Tkaczyk has a long road ahead toward recovery, but Bloom is confident he'll return to playing. It will take a team of therapists and physicians, as well as a customized drum kit, for Tkaczyk to get back to where he was before his injuries. Down the road, Mary Free Bed will adapt a drum set for Tkaczyk. He will receive a prosthetic leg, which could be customized to attach to the kick drum pedal, or he may retrain to play with his left leg. The drum and cymbal layout may be modified to accommodate limitations in his right arm and shoulder, possibly including a custom orthosis or glove to manipulate the drumstick. "The end goal is to eventually get back on the road, play shows, play drums again," Tkaczyk said.
The first step toward reclaiming his normal life comes Friday, when Tkaczyk is scheduled to go home to family in Charlotte. The crash and its aftermath Tkaczyk remembers waking up in debris, the smell of fumes hitting him after the band's tour bus collided with a semi truck outside El Paso, Texas, on Nov. 19. The band members had been sleeping during the ride as the bus headed to Phoenix, Arizona, for the next stop on their Locals Only tour. The drivers of the tour bus and the semi died in the collision. All five members of the band and the crew were injured. In the wreckage, Tkaczyk could hear his friends' screams. Breathing quickly and in shock, he looked down at his broken leg. His shoulder didn't feel right -- like it had popped out of the socket. "I just remember laying there, telling myself like, just keep breathing. You got to stay alive for mom and dad, for my brothers, for my friends and family," he said. That's the last thing Tkaczyk recalls until he awoke from a medically induced coma 10 days later in the ICU of a Texas hospital.
His leg had been amputated. "Probably a day went by and I didn't even realize I didn't have a leg. My parents, it was really hard for them to tell me," he said. When he heard the news, his focus shifted to returning to his life and drumming. Right away, his mentality was "let's do this." "They told me that my leg had to be amputated and I just looked at them and I was like, 'I'm alive at least,'" he said. Tkaczyk spent about a month in a hospital in El Paso before he was transferred to Mary Free Bed in Grand Rapids. He fell in love with the facility, he said. When he first got to Mary Free Bed, Tkaczyk could barely roll on one side or lift his right arm. He feels stronger now that he can form a fist and has learned to stand and pivot on one leg. He'll return to Mary Free Bed for months of intensive outpatient therapy, Bloom said. Tkaczyk will have a prosthetic leg fitted and work on restoring arm and shoulder function. Bloom said they'll perform task-specific adaptions using a glove or a splint to help him hold a drumstick and stimulate nerve recovery up to his right shoulder, which is an extremely slow process.
"It's going to take months to get through all of this. But he's got great family support, he's got great community, he's got the whole musical world pulling for him," Bloom said. One of the thousands of people who have offered Tkaczyk encouragement is Rick Allen, the drummer for Def Leppard, who famously taught himself to play with a modified drum set after losing his left arm in a car crash. Tkaczyk said they communicated via Twitter direct messaging. Others bands have reached out and donated money. An announcement from the band's label, Epitaph Records, that all The Ghost Inside's album sales will go directly to the band members left Tkaczyk in tears. Fans have also been overwhelmingly supportive of the band members, who Tkaczyk said are doing well in recovery. A GoFundMe launched to help cover the group's medical bills has raised over $155,000. Tkaczyk wants people to remember "it can always be worse." "Focus on the positives in life and you'll get through it.