The suspected Fort Hood gunman is alive and in custody.

Officials say the suspected gunmen is Major Nidal Malik Hassan. He was a psychiatrist at Walter Reed Army Medical Center who was transferred to Fort Hood in July. Officials are also saying tonight the major was about to deploy overseas to either Afghanistan or Iraq.

One of those on base at Ft. Hood today was Chancellor native Candra Calhoon and her four children.
The shootings happened a little more than a mile from her home on the base.
She hid herself and her kids, to protect them from a man with a gun on a rampage.

The warning alarms were triggered at Ft. Hood about 1:30 Thrusday afternoon, when the first shots began ringing out at a base processing center for soldiers.
Candra Calhoon was inside her home on the base and got a text message from a friend about gunshots and danger. "It's crazy. it's just crazy is the only word I have to describe what has happened today."

Candra says she hid herself and her kids as she heard sirens moving all around the base.
She got another message saying a gunman was seen in her area.
Her only thought the entire time: to keep her kids safe and to not become victims of a man who intended to harm others.
It soon became clear she and her kids would be OK. "We're doing all right and, I mean I was very nervous earlier today but it's...it's starting to calm down and it's starting to be a little more normal."

A little more normal, but nothing replaces the fear of knowing someone who was supposed to be peaceful picked up a weapon and used it on U-S soldiers. "I don't know i'm very nervous to let me kids go to school tomorrow."

Candra's husband is serving overseas in Iraq.
She has not talked to him but sent him an e-mail to let him know she and the kids are all right.
And one reason Candra talked with us was to let her friends and family back here know that she is OK.

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