A husband is accused of shooting his wife to death inside a military base store.Military police cars surround the post exchange on Fort Bliss, near El Paso, as officials investigate the shooting death of a 19-year old female soldier.
Police say the soldier's husband, a civilian who lives off-base, came into a store at the PX on Saturday, shot his wife in the head and then shot himself.
Private First Class Cassaundra Beckel of Seattle, Washington died 45 minutes after the shooting at the hospital.
Her husband, whose name has not been released, is still alive, but in critical condition.
The shooting at Fort Bliss has the community on the base wondering about their safety.
Witnesses say it sounded almost like a balloon popping when four shots ring out and along with a thud in the back of the store, sounding like a body hitting the floor.
Witnesses say customers dropped to the ground before running out to safety as military police went in.
The alleged shooter was believed to be the husband of the victim who is a soldier at Ft. Bliss.
Fort bliss officials say the husband showed upsurprising her at the PX then gunned her down in the middle of the store, before shooting himself.
The 19-year old soldier was here for training and lived in the Barracks.
Her husband, a civilian, lived off post but access wasn't a problem because he's family.
The question nowhow did the gun make on post.
"We have a random access program that we conduct random checks to make sure people don't bring in weapons, etc. If he didn't get stopped for a random check and had a military id card as a family member he probably wouldn't have been caught," says Col. Ed Manning, Ft. Bliss Garrison Commander.
The tragedy has left some questioning the security on post and their safety.
They go to war zone and not scared to go there but when you're scared to go shopping that's a completely different story.
The FBI is stepping in to investigate because of the civilian involvement.
