FORT HOOD, Texas — A soldier opened fire at a U.S. Army base in Texas this afternoon, unleashing a stream of gunfire that left 12 people dead and 31 wounded. Authorities killed the gunman, and apprehended two other soldiers suspected in what appears to be the worst mass shooting at a U.S. military base.

The shooting at Fort Hood began around 1:30 p.m., Lt. Gen. Bob Cone said at a news conference. The shootings happened at the base’s Soldier Readiness Center, where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening.

“It’s a terrible tragedy. It’s stunning,” Cone said.

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Officials told the Associated Press on condition of anonymity that the slain suspect has been identified as Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan, who they say was an Army mental health professional.

A law enforcement official identified the shooting suspect as Hasan, who was believed to be in his late 30s, and said he was killed after opening fire at the base. The official says investigators are trying to determine if Hasan was his birth name, or if he changed his name and converted to Islam at some point in his life.

A defense official speaking on condition of anonymity says Hasan was a mental health professional — an Army psychologist or psychiatrist. It was not known whether he was treating people at the base.

The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

Cone said the soldier used two handguns in the attack. It was not clear if the gunman had stopped to reload.

A graduation ceremony for soldiers who finished college courses while deployed was going on in an auditorium at the Readiness Center at the time of the shooting, said Sgt. Rebekah Lampam, a Fort Hood spokeswoman.

Greg Schanepp, U.S. Rep. John Carter’s regional director in Texas, was representing Carter at the graduation, said John Stone, a spokesman for Carter, whose district includes the Army post.

The base was locked down after the shootings. The wounded were dispersed among hospitals in central Texas, Cone said.

The shootings on the Texas military base stirred memories of other recent mass shootings in the United States, including 13 dead at a New York immigrant center in March, 10 killed during a gunman’s rampage across Alabama in March and 32 killed in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history at Virginia Tech in 2007.

Around the country, some bases stepped up security precautions, but no others were locked down.

In Washington, President Barack Obama called the shooting “a horrific outburst of violence.” He said it’s a tragedy to lose a soldier overseas and even more horrifying when they come under fire at an Army base on American soil.

“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.”

Covering 339 square miles, Fort Hood is the largest active duty armored post in the United States. Home to about 52,000 troops as of earlier this year, the sprawling base is located halfway between Austin and Waco.

Fort Hood officially opened on Sept. 18, 1942, and was named in honor of Gen. John Bell Hood. It has been continuously used for armored training and is charged with maintaining readiness.

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