Fort Hood shootings: Utah families on base

SALT LAKE CITY (ABC 4 News) - The rampage on Fort Hood army base has affected families across the country and here in Utah. ABC 4 talked with the wife of a Utah soldier who was on base at the time of the shootings.

Alice Metcalf was just a couple miles away from the scene and had to spend hours inside her home as the base was locked down. Within minutes of the shooting families living on base were told to go home and stay inside.

Metcalf and the family’s kids live on base. She gave us a first hand account of the chaos this afternoon. She says, “There’s a siren that goes off then an announcement goes off that says ‘Please go indoors this is not a drill.’”

For hours Metcalf followed those orders and didn't leave the house. During that time she was separated from her son who was kept at his high school which was also on lockdown. Metcalf says, “Any children that weren't home from school because it was an early out today were going to be locked down at school and that they were not going to be allowed to come home.”

Metcalf says news of 12 dead and 31 injured at the hands of a fellow soldier is tough to process, “You do generally feel really safe being on a military establishment and you don't expect something like that to happen.”

Security on base will be increased in the coming days. A day of mourning will be held Friday at Fort Hood.