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Shooting defies explanation, area psychologist says

Dr. Milt Becknell

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By John Nolan, Staff Writer Updated 9:54 PM Friday, November 6, 2009

The killing of 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, by an Army psychiatrist is bound to prompt new precautions to be taken, a former clinical psychologist at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base said Friday, Nov. 6.

“I would think there will be more scrutiny for mental health providers after an incident like this,” said Milt Becknell, now chairman of the psychology department at Cedarville University.

“Something went terribly wrong,” Becknell said. “This is a psychiatrist. This is one of our helpers. The very nature of what we do is to help people, and to invite them to live.”

The man identified as the Fort Hood shooter, Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, had faced deployment to Iraq or Afghanistan as soon as Friday, and had told a family member he was apprehensive about being deployed, according to news reports.

Becknell, who served with the Army and later the Air Force, said his personal involvement with counseling in cases of tragedy had been limited to those involving suicides. He has a private, part-time psychology practice in Centerville.

He recalled that security in base medical facilities — including locking entry doors into counseling offices — was improved after a former Air Force airman shot and killed four people at a base hospital at Fairchild Air Force Base near Spokane, Wash., in June 1994. A military police officer then shot the gunman.

Wright-Patterson officials said they would not discuss whether the base had made any security changes in response to the Fort Hood shooting. The public is unlikely to detect any changes in procedure, Wright-Patterson spokesman Daryl Mayer said.

Contact this reporter at (937) 225-2242 or jnolan@DaytonDailyNews.com.

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