When the shooter walked into the room, “it was chaos,” according to the younger brother of an Independence soldier who was wounded in a Thursday shooting rampage on a Texas Army base.
Keara Bono, 21, Independence, was one of at least 31 wounded in a shooting on the Fort Hood Army Base in central Texas. The shooter, a U.S. Army major, reportedly killed 12 people in the rampage.
Bono was in her room when the shooter walked in and started blasting, according to her younger brother, Dustin Bono, also of Independence. She also has four sisters.
“She said when he walked in, it was chaos,” Dustin said. “Everybody just started jumping around, and all you heard was the gun going off.”
A bullet sliced into her right shoulder. She also suffered abrasions on her face. “I believe another bullet skimmed her head,” Dustin said.
“I was the first one to talk to her,” Dustin said. “She called me and said she got shot. I was stunned at first. I was like ‘Are you OK? Are you going to make it?’ I really didn’t know what to say.”
But Dustin said Keara expressed anger at the situation, telling him that the “son of a (expletive) shot me.”
Bono has been in the Army for three years. She was supposed to be deployed to Iraq for one year.
“She was just about to leave,” Dustin said.
Bono was born and raised in the Kansas City area. The family moved a lot, he said. Keara graduated from Olathe South High School. She worked at Hooters in Independence, her most recent city of residency.
NBC said that Bono, who works with soldiers dealing with stress, arrived in Fort Hood Wednesday from her previous posting in Topeka, Kan., according to NBC station KSN-TV of Wichita, Kan.
Reports say the shooter was Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a psychiatrist about to be deployed to the Middle East. Authorities initially said they had killed Hasan but later said he was in stable condition at a hospital.
The shooting started about 1:30 p.m. in the Fort Hood Soldier Readiness Center, where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening. The shooter used two handguns.
Hasan was scheduled to be deployed to Iraq “and appeared to be upset about that,” Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said.
About 40,000 troops are stationed at Fort Hood. It is home to the 1st Cavalry Division and elements of the 4th Infantry Division, as well as the 3rd Armored Cavalry Regiment and the 13th Corps Support Command.
Jeff Fox contributed to this article.
