MIDDLETOWN, Conn. -- Several soldiers from Connecticut were on base at Fort Hood Thursday when the shootings that left 13 dead began.

A woman from Middletown said her son is stationed at Fort Hood, and described a long, tense day.

Spc. Matthew Santapaola is stationed at Fort Hood, and lives across the parking lot from where the shooting occurred.

“It’s really, really hectic around here. I came out of the room and it was catastrophic, so to speak,” he said. “It’s just a tragedy, people coming back from Iraq, they survived a war, coming over here and lost their lives.”

Santapaola’s mother and brother live in Middletown. Matthew Santapaola said he called them Thursday afternoon to let them know he was safe.

“The entire time he was deployed in Iraq, you would get that fear – is this the dreaded call?” his mother, Nancy Debiasio, said. “He finally gets back and you think he’s safe, and something like this happens."

Maj. Gen. James Sholar happened to be in Hartford at the auto show Thursday, promoting a job partnership between the Army Reserve and Connecticut car dealers. The two-star general found out about the shooting Thursday afternoon.

“I got the phone call … it’s like being hit in the stomach, you know? We didn’t know the details and I still don’t know the details, and we know we have a loss of soldiers,” he said.

He said the military is like a family and the loss of life affects everyone in uniform.

Debiasio said Thursday was to be her son’s last night in the military. He is being discharged and was heading home to Connecticut on Friday.

“Here he is, 24 hours from being out of the military, and coming home, finally coming home, and even that close, something can happen,” she said.