According to witnesses, as he strode into Fort Hood's Soldier Readiness Center, where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening, ready to shoot, Major Nidal Malik Hasan gave a calm presence. Then, shouting 'Allahu Akbar,' he attacked.
After killing 13 others and wounding 30, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, is on a ventilator and unconscious in an off-base hospital, in stable condition. He himself was shot four times during his rampage on the U.S. Army's Fort Hood, its largest base in the world.
Initial reports identified the shooter as Major Malik Nadal Hasan, and also that the shooter had been killed. It was only later, after the chaos ended, that the truth emerged, and his actual name was revealed.
A senior U.S. official in Washington noted the error in identifying Hasan's body. He said authorities at Fort Hood initially thought one of the victims who had been shot and killed was the Major Nidal Malik Hasan. The mistake resulted in hours of delay in identifying Hasan as the suspected shooter.
Hasan is reportedly originally from Virginia. He is the son of Palestinians from a village near Jerusalem. He is also a board-certified psychiatrist, and reportedly worked at Walter Reed Army Hospital, one of the U.S. Army's largest treatment centers for PTSD, where he heard of the horrors of war from his patients.
Earlier this year, FBI had investigated postings on the document posting website Scribd in which a writer who called himself as Nidal Hasan made defended suicide bombers. He wrote: "If one suicide bomber can kill 100 enemy soldiers because they were caught off guard that would be considered a strategic victory." However, the FBI did not pursue the case as it could not verify who wrote the posts.
Witnesses said that Hasan shouted "Allahu Akbar," which means "God is Great" in Arabic, before he opened fire at the Soldier Readiness Center at Fort Hood. Approximately 300 soldiers were in the center, awaiting inoculations and eye-testing prior to being shipped overseas.
While it has been publicly noted that Major Nidal Malik Hasan was upset about being shipped overseas, and angry about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan (he had come to Fort Hood, TX after serving six years at Walter Reed Army Hospital), authorities have not ruled out that he was acting on behalf of some yet unidentified radical group. They also have not yet determined if any of the shootings in the Center may have been due to "friendly fire."
Meanwhile, all but two of the Ft Hood shooting victims remain hospitalized. In fact, Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple has 10 victims, and hospital officials still say it is too early to determine if all of them will survive.
While the full list of victims names have not been released, some have leaked, as a result of individual reports. Some of the names that have trickled out include:
Matthew Cook, son-in-law of Jamie and Scotty Casteel, from New York State and home from Iraq for about a year.
Amber Bahr, 19, was shot in the stomach and in stable condition. She was pointed about specifically by U.S. Army authoritites, as having helped wounded soldiers during the attack, only to realize later that she herself was wounded.
Ashley Saucedo told WOOD-TV in Michigan that her husband was shot in the arm. No specifics were given.
Specialist Keara Bono, 21, of the Army Reserve, had been shot in the back, according to CNN. She had arrived at Fort Hood a day before the shootings was scheduled to deploy to Iraq on Dec. 7.
Written by Michael Santo
Exclusively for HULIQ.com
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