Injured Fort Hood soldier NC native

Saturday, November 07, 2009

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local/state

ROXBORO -- One of the soldiers shot and wounded during the Fort Hood rampage was born in Roxboro.

Staff Sergeant Alonzo Lunsford Junior, who's been in the Army for nearly 20 years, was shot four times in the massacre at Fort Hood. His father says he was hit twice in the stomach and glancing blows to his side and head area.

He spent a long time in surgery and had part of his colon removed.

His dad, who still lives in Person County, says he talked to Lunsford from his hospital bed at Fort Hood Friday afternoon.

"It was wonderful hearing his voice," Lunsford said.

Alonzo Lunsford Sr. says learning his son survived the shooting and then hearing his voice was a blessing.

"Just a few words, 'Dad, I'm doing good. I'll be alright'," Lunsford said. "I said, 'like I told you son, put your faith in God, you'll come through. Doctor does the treatment, but God does the healing'."

He says he's still having a hard time believing what happened and is praying for the families who lost loved ones.

Lunsford and Alonzo Lunsford Junior's half brother, Tony Lunsford, says they watched hours of news coverage Thursday from their Roxboro home.

They said their first concern was for Alonzo's two children Tres and Adrianna.

Once they found out the kids were okay, they figured Alonzo, a former basketball star and a big strong man nearly seven feet tall, was probably alright too.

"Even then, I was like, he couldn't have been involved in it, or like he couldn't have been anywhere around it," Tony Lunsford said.

But they later found out he was.

"I went into a daze, wondering, how bad? What happened," Lunsford said.

He says he is thankful his son's injuries are not life-threatening, learning more about what happened Thursday, and Lunsford says he wonders how it was that the suspected shooter, Major Nidal Hasan, was able to inflict so much carnage.

"Seeing him on base, knowing the condition he was in, somebody dropped the ball," he said.

A nurse at Fort Hood says Alonzo Lunsford Jr. has since been moved out of the intensive care unit.

Meanwhile, parents of another soldier shot at Fort Hood also live in North Carolina.

Specialist Matt Cooke's parents live in Stanly County.

They say their son woke-up from a coma Friday morning after being shot several times in the stomach. His mother says the 30-year-old lost most of his colon and his bladder and doctors worked on his intestines.

Cooke was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan in January.