Suspect in Hood shootings remains in coma - Navy News | News from Afghanistan & Iraq - Navy Times

Suspect in Hood shootings remains in coma

FORT HOOD, Texas — As if going off to war, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan cleaned out his apartment and called another to thank him for his friendship — common courtesies and routines of the departing soldier. Instead, authorities say, he went on the killing spree that left 13 people — 12 service members and one civilian — at Fort Hood, Texas, dead.

Investigators examined Hasan’s computer, his home and his garbage Friday to learn what motivated the suspect, who lay in a coma, shot four times in the frantic bloodletting that also wounded 30. Hospital officials said some of the wounded had extremely serious injuries and might not survive.

The 39-year-old Army psychiatrist emerged as a study in contradictions: a polite man who stewed with discontent, a counselor who needed to be counseled himself, a professional healer now suspected of cutting down the fellow soldiers he was sworn to help.

Relatives said he felt harassed because of his Muslim faith but did not embrace extremism. Others were not so sure. A recent classmate said Hasan once gave a jarring presentation to students in which he argued the war on terrorism was a war against Islam, and “made himself a lightning rod for things” when he felt his religious beliefs were challenged.

Pistol bought legally, sources say

Investigators were trying to piece together how and why Hasan allegedly gunned down his comrades in the worst case of violence on a military base in the U.S. The rampage unfolded at a center where some 300 unarmed soldiers were lined up for vaccines and eye tests.

Soldiers reported that the gunman shouted “Allahu Akbar!” — an Arabic phrase for “God is great!” — before opening fire Thursday, said Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the base commander. He said officials had not confirmed Hasan made the comment.

The gunman was struck four times by a civilian police officer who was wounded herself.

The 5.7-mm pistol used in the Fort Hood shooting was purchased legally by Hasan at a Texas gun shop well before the attack, law enforcement officials said Friday, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.

Army officials said Hasan also was carrying another handgun. But a law enforcement official said there’s nothing so far to indicate the second weapon was fired.

Hasan’s family said in a statement Friday that his alleged actions were “despicable and deplorable” and don’t reflect how the family was reared.

Hasan was due to be deployed to Afghanistan to help soldiers with combat stress, a task he’d done stateside with returning soldiers, the Army said. The timing of his departure was not disclosed.

In any event, the major was saying goodbyes and dispensing belongings to neighbors.

‘I cannot comprehend that the enemy was among us’

Jose Padilla, the owner of Hasan’s apartment complex, said Hasan gave him notice two weeks ago that he was moving out this week.

Earlier this week, Hasan asked Padilla his native language. When Padilla said it was Spanish, Hasan immediately went up to his apartment to get him a Spanish-language Quran. Padilla said Hasan also refused to reclaim his deposit and last month’s rent, surrendering $400 that the major said should go to someone who needed it.

“I cannot comprehend that the enemy was among us,” Padilla said.

Neighbor Patricia Villa said Hasan came to her apartment the day of the shooting, and before, to give her vegetables, an air mattress, T-shirts, a Quran and offer her $60 to clean his Killeen, Texas, apartment after he left.

Jacqueline Harris, 44, who lives with her boyfriend Willie Bell in the apartment next door to Hasan, said he called Thursday at 5 a.m. and left a message.

“He just wanted to thank Willie for being a good friend and thank him for being there for him,” Harris said. “That was it. We thought it was just a nice message to leave.”

Bell said Hasan offered a farewell, saying “nice knowing you, old friend. I’m going to miss you.”

According to a Killeen police report in August, an Army employee was charged with scratching Hasan’s car, causing $1,000 in damage. Apartment manager John Thompson said the man charged was a soldier back from Iraq, who objected to Hasan’s faith and ripped a bumper sticker off the major’s car that said: “Allah is Love.”

Kim Rosenthal, another neighbor, said Hasan didn’t seem too upset by his scratched vehicle, even though it was damaged so badly that he got a new one. “He said it was Ramadan and that he had to forgive people,” Rosenthal said. “He forgave him and moved on.”

Angry after presentation

Hasan appeared less forgiving to Dr. Val Finnell when they were classmates in a 2007-08 master’s public health program at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md.

She said that at a class presentation by public health students, at which topics like dry cleaning chemicals and house mold were discussed, Hasan talked about U.S. military actions as a war on Islam. Hasan made clear he was a “vociferous opponent” of U.S. wars in Muslim countries, Finnell said.

“He made himself a lightning rod for things,” she said. “No one picked on him because he was a Muslim.”

Law enforcement officials said they are trying to confirm if Hasan wrote Internet postings that include his name about suicide bombings and other threats, equating suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the life of fellow soldiers.

Hasan is the Arlington, Va.-born son of Palestinian parents who ran a restaurant and bar in Roanoke, Virginia, from 1987 to 1995, and owned a small grocery store in that city.

His relatives in the West Bank said they had heard from family members that Hasan felt mistreated in the Army as a Muslim.

“He told [them] that as a Muslim committed to his prayers he was discriminated against and not treated as is fitting for an officer and American,” said Mohammed Malik Hasan, 24, a cousin. “He hired a lawyer to get him a discharge.”

Mohammed Hasan said outside his home in Ramallah that he heard about the shooting from a relative. “I was surprised, honestly, because the guy and his brothers are so calm, and he, as I know, loves his work.”

Nidal Hasan is the eldest of three brothers. One brother, Annas, lives in Ramallah with a wife and daughter, and practices law. The youngest brother, Eyad, lives in Virginia.

“We don’t mix with them a lot,” Mohammed said. “Nidal liked to stay alone, he was very calm. He minded his own business.”

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Blackledge reported from Washington. Associated Press writers Lara Jakes, Lolita C. Baldor, Cal Woodward, Devlin Barrett, Brett Zongker and Jessica Gresko in Washington; Sue Lindsey in Roanoke, Va.; April Castro and Jeff Carlton in Killeen, Texas; Dalia Nammari in Ramallah, West Bank; and AP’s News Research Center in New York contributed to this report.

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The deceased

The following have been identified by their families as among the dead, according to The Associated Press.

• Michael Grant Cahill, 62, of Cameron, Texas, was a physician assistant who worked at the base as a contracted civilian. His daughter, Keely Cahill Vanacker, said Cahill was among 13 killed in the shooting spree.

• Kham Xiong, of St. Paul, Minn., died in the attack, said Tim McGowan, principal of Community of Peace Academy, a school attended by Xiong. McGowan said Xiong's father informed the school of his son's death.

• Francheska Velez, 21, of Chicago, was pregnant and preparing to return home. Family members said Velez had recently returned from deployment in Iraq and had sought a lifelong career in the Army.

• Pfc. Aaron Thomas Nemelka, 19, of West Jordan, Utah, was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan in January, his family said in a statement. Nemelka had enlisted in the Army in October 2008, Utah National Guard Lt. Col. Lisa Olsen said.

• Pfc. Michael Pearson, 21, of Bolingbrook, Ill. “He felt he was in a rut. He wanted to travel, see the world,” his mother, Sheryll Pearson, told the Chicago Tribune. “He also wanted an opportunity to serve the country.”

• Spc. Jason Dean Hunt, 22, of Frederick, Okla., had served 3½ years in the Army, including a stint in Iraq. Gale Hunt said two uniformed soldiers came to her door late Thursday night to notify her of her son’s death.

• Sgt. Amy Krueger, 29, of Kiel, Wis., joined the Army after the 2001 terrorist attacks and had vowed to take on Osama bin Laden, her mother, Jeri Krueger said. Amy Krueger arrived at Fort Hood on Tuesday and was scheduled to be sent to Afghanistan in December, her mother told the Herald Times Reporter of Manitowoc.

• Juanita Warman, 55, was a military physician assistant with two daughters and six grandchildren. Her sister, Margaret Yaggie of Roaring Branch in Pennsylvania, told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette that her sister attended Pittsburgh Langley High School and put herself through school at the University of Pittsburgh. She said her sister spent most of her career in the military.

• Capt. John Gaffaney, 56, of San Diego, was a psychiatric nurse who his family said was killed at Fort Hood a day after arriving at the base on his way to Iraq. In a statement read by the California National Guard Friday, the family said Capt. Gaffaney was an avid baseball card collector and fan of the San Diego Padres. He liked to ride his Harley-Davidson motorcycle, restore his 1965 Ford Mustang and read military novels. The Williston, N.D., native served in the Navy from 1973 to 1978 and the California National Guard from 1984 to 1999. He was a supervisor for the San Diego County Adult Protective Services agency. He is survived by a wife and son.