Fort Hood slayings hit close to home for UTPB volleyball player

Jamie Rodell had no idea what to think.

All she had was a text from her little brother, a student at Killeen High, and another text from her best friend telling Rodell to call her mom, her dad, her boyfriend, anybody from back home.

Fort Hood had been locked down.

“My mom works on Fort Hood,” Rodell said. “My father works on Fort Hood. Everyone I know works on Fort Hood. Next thing you know, I turn on the TV.”

Rodell, a freshman volleyball player at UTPB, is from Nolanville, a mere 10-minute drive from Fort Hood.

And she watched the coverage of the shooting all day without being able to talk to her family and friends.

“I couldn’t call my mom or my dad or anybody like that,” Rodell said. “It was really hard, because I just wanted to know where the shooting was.”

Turns out the shooting — Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is suspected of opening fire at a Fort Hood military processing center, fatally wounding 12 and injuring 31 others — happened right next to the barracks that house Rodell’s boyfriend.

Right down the street, her mom works in a hospital near the site of the shooting.

For most civilians, watching the coverage of the shooting was horrifying. Knowing the buildings and streets by heart made it that much worse for Rodell.

Two hours after the shooting began, Rodell still hadn’t heard from her family.

Until she got a text from her mother around 4 p.m telling her the family was OK.

“Texts kept rolling in after that,” Rodell said. “My mom had to work in the ER, because of all the injuries — it was just a flood. I was so shaken up. I haven’t even talked to my dad.”

Rodell still can’t believe the shooting happened.

“Fort Hood is so safe, and Killeen is one of those really nice towns where anyone would help out,” Rodell said. “It’s a shock to hear that one of your own would do something like that.”