FBI: Doctor Killed at Fort Bliss El Paso VA Named

FBI says shooter at Texas VA clinic was ex-employee 
Associated Press
By RUSSELL CONTRERAS and SETH ROBBINS
January 7, 2015

EL PASO, TEXAS — An Army veteran who fatally shot a psychologist at a West Texas veterans' hospital before killing himself was a former clerk at the clinic and had threatened the doctor in 2013, the FBI said Wednesday. 

The FBI identified the gunman in Tuesday's shooting as Jerry Serrato, a 48-year-old who was medically discharged from the Army in 2009 after serving in Iraq two years earlier.

Douglas Lindquist, who heads the FBI's El Paso office, said Serrato used a .380-caliber handgun to shoot Dr. Timothy Fjordbak, 63, and himself at the El Paso Veterans Affairs Health Care System at Fort Bliss.

Fjordbak was a psychologist who left private practice after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks because he wanted to work with military veterans, officials said. 

Serrato had served in the Ohio Army National Guard from 1985 to 1993, then enlisted in the Army in July 2006, military records show. He served in Iraq for five months in 2007.
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VA Secretary Bob McDonald visits El Paso clinic after fatal shooting of doctor
Washington Post
By Emily Wax-Thibodeaux
January 8, 2015

With a promise to ramp up security, Veterans Affairs Secretary Robert McDonald visited the El Paso VA clinic Thursday after an agency psychologist was fatally shot by an Iraq war veteran and former employee of the clinic.

“The entire Veterans Affairs family is here to show their empathy for the employees here and the veterans here that we care so much about,” McDonald said. “I’m here to talk to employees today and to tell that that whatever support they need they will get.”

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A security assessment is underway at the El Paso clinic following the shooting

Texas VA shooter named as a 48-year-old former clinic clerk and Iraq veteran who threatened his victim before at nearby supermarket
Daily Mail
By OLIVER O'CONNELL FOR MAILONLINE
January 7, 2015

A security assessment is underway at the clinic following the shooting, which comes four months after it was found that the base was not compliant with Department of Defense directives

Jerry Serrato, 48, shot Dr Timothy Fjordbak, 63, before turning the gun on himself at the Fort Bliss veterans' clinic near El Paso, Texas
Serrato had previously worked as a clerk at the clinic, but authorities believe he did not have a working relationship with the victim
The shooting triggered a 'code white' active shooter alert as hundreds of patients and staff sought shelter
Serrato verbally threatened Fjordbak at an El Paso supermarket in 2013
He reportedly said to him: 'I know what you did and I will take care of it'
Fort Bliss had yet to implement new Department of Defense security measures, despite an announcement four months ago that it would
The clinic is also under fire for having the longest wait times for veterans to see a mental health professional, and longer to see a physician

An Army veteran who fatally shot a psychologist at a West Texas veterans' hospital before killing himself was a former clerk at the clinic.

He had publicly threatened the doctor in 2013, the FBI said on Wednesday.

The gunman in Tuesday's shooting, which caused hundreds of patients and staff to seek shelter, was Jerry Serrato, 48, who was medically discharged from the Army in 2009 after serving in Iraq two years earlier. Serrato used a .380-caliber handgun to shoot Dr Timothy Fjordbak, 63, and himself at the El Paso Veterans Affairs Health Care System at Fort Bliss, Texas.
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Shooter at El Paso VA Dead, Doctor Shot

Clemency Sought for Vietnam Veteran on Death Row with PTSD

Vietnam vet with PTSD on death row seeks clemency
USA TODAY
Gregg Zoroya
January 7, 2015

Lt. Andrew Brannan during the Vietnam War.(Photo: Handout image)

Family and lawyers of a Vietnam veteran facing execution in Georgia next Tuesday for murdering a deputy sheriff in 1998 are pleading that he be spared because his actions were linked to severe post-traumatic stress disorder.

In clemency papers filed Wednesday, lawyers for Andrew Brannan argue that "our knowledge of PTSD and the frightful toll that it can exact on veterans has grown exponentially as a result of ... wars in Iraq and Afghanistan."

This level of understanding, particularly within the public, didn't exist when Brannan stood trial in 2000, they argue.

"It's not right to execute a decorated veteran for a crime that stemmed, without question, from the mental suffering that he incurred from serving his country,'' Brannan lawyer Tom Lundin said in a phone interview.

The killing of Laurens County Deputy Sheriff Kyle Dinkheller during a traffic stop for speeding was captured on a video camera mounted on the officer's patrol car.

The video shows a confrontation quickly escalating with Brannan shouting obscenities, dancing around, daring the officer to shoot and then retrieving a rifle from his pickup truck. A gunfight erupted and a wounded Dinkheller can be heard pleading with Brannan to stop as the veteran reloads and keeps shooting.

Dinkheller, who was 22 and a father-to-be, suffered nine gunshot wounds. Brannan was hit once in the stomach.
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Army Chaplain Finds Faith Again After War

An Army Chaplain, First Tested By War, Finds His Faith Renewed
NPR
John Burnett
JANUARY 06, 2015

As an Army chaplain in Iraq, David Peters administered last rites and grieved with survivors. When he came home, he says, he "fell apart emotionally and spiritually." Courtesy of Robert K. Chambers

David Peters' life was supposed to be one continuous arc of piety and service.

But for the U.S. Army chaplain, it's ended up a more circuitous route. Peters lost the very faith he was supposed to embody for his soldiers — but has also found his way back.

Peters grew up in a fundamentalist evangelical church in Pennsylvania, served as youth minister and then went to war in Baghdad as a chaplain in the U.S. Army in 2005.

At the age of 30, he was serving as a chaplain for the 62nd Engineer Combat Battalion, a unit that built guard towers and repaired roads. "So they were operating all around Baghdad, at night, in the streets, in the neighborhoods — and it really exposed [them] to an incredible amount of danger," he says.

Peters' duties included administering last rites, grieving with survivors and listening to soldiers lament their broken marriages back home.

After 12 months in a combat zone, it was time for Peters to go home. But when he arrived back in Texas, Peters realized that he had changed.

"I found that going to war was really pretty easy and it was kind of exciting, and there was a lot of energy around it," he says. "But when I came home, I really fell apart emotionally and spiritually."

He had symptoms of PTSD, and his own marriage had shattered while he was away at war.
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Iraq Veteran Hired by Orlando WESH 2 News

WESH hires Iraq veteran as anchor 
Orlando Sentinel
By Hal Boedeker
Staff writer
January 7, 2014

WESH-Channel 2 has revealed the other anchor in its new weekend evening team: Iraq veteran Adrian Whitsett will join the NBC affiliate.

"Adrian's experiences as a Marine and as a seasoned journalist give him a unique point of view that will connect with Central Florida's large military community," news director Kirsten Wolff said in announcing the hire.

He joins the station Jan. 27 and will report during the week.

WESH on Tuesday announced that Summer Knowles, who has worked at CBS-owned WFOR in Miami, will join the station as a weekend anchor. She starts Jan. 26.

Whitsett served four years of active duty in the Marine Corps from 1999 to 2003, WESH said, and provided support for light-armored vehicles in Iraq.
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