William Ellis, center, observes a moment of silence, with fellow soldiers at the Fort Hood Army Post in Ft. Hood, Texas.
The suspect allegedly shouted 'Allah Akbar' before opening fire and shooting till a police officer felled him. A recent classmate says he doubted the doctor's loyalty but didn't expect violence.
Reporting from Ft. Hood, Texas, and Los Angeles - As the death toll in the Ft. Hood shooting rampage rose to 13, new details emerged today about the timeline of the attack -- and the character of the Army psychiatrist accused of carrying it out.
The shooting, which also left 30 wounded, came down to a gunfight between the suspect, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, and a 35-year-old Army police officer named Kimberly Munley, said Chuck Medley, Ft. Hood's director of emergency services.
The drama began Thursday afternoon, military officials said, when Hasan, a Muslim who family members and colleagues say was critical of America's wars in the Middle East and unhappy about being deployed to Afghanistan, entered the Soldier Readiness Center and sat down at a table.
It seemed as if he was there to help soldiers undergoing their medical exams and finishing their paperwork before being deployed, according to investigators, who relayed the events to Rep. John Carter (R-Texas), whose district includes Ft. Hood.
Hasan mumbled something to himself -- it may have been a prayer -- jumped up and said "Allah Akbar," Arabic for "God is great."
Then he opened fire.
Stopping periodically to reload his two pistols, Hasan moved around the crowded room in a half-moon pattern before going outside into a courtyard. It was at that point, officials said, while Hasan was shooting at a wounded soldier, that Munley rounded a corner between two buildings and spotted him.
The officer shot at him twice, Medley said, and then Hasan charged her. In the ensuing gun battle, Munley took a bullet in each thigh and one in her wrist. Hasan was hit in his upper torso -- and he went down.
Hasan was taken to the hospital, base commander Lt. Gen. Robert Cone said at a news conference today, and was unconscious and on a ventilator. Twenty-eight of the victims also remained hospitalized. Munley was in stable condition.
Exactly 24 hours after the shooting began, military bases around the world observed four minutes of silence in honor of the victims. On the grounds of Ft. Hood, Army Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey Jr. spoke to reporters.
"I will tell you candidly," Casey said, "this was a kick in the gut, not only for the Ft. Hood community but also for our entire Army."
President Obama saluted the courage of the victims today in a proclamation ordering flags at all federal facilities in the U.S. and abroad to be flown at half-staff until sunset Tuesday.
"The brave victims, who risked their lives to protect their fellow countrymen, serve as a constant source of strength and inspiration to all Americans," Obama said in the proclamation. "We ask God to watch over the fallen, the wounded and all those who are suffering at this difficult hour."
In a news conference Friday in the Rose Garden, Obama cautioned against potential backlash in the wake of the shootings.
"We don't know all the answers yet, and I would caution against jumping to conclusions until we know all the facts," he said.
A senior U.S. counter-terrorism official said Thursday night that the Army and FBI were looking into whether Hasan had previously come to the attention of federal law enforcement officials as the suspected author of inflammatory Internet comments likening suicide bombers to heroic soldiers who give their lives to save others.
The official, who spoke on condition of anonymity because the investigation was ongoing, said that authorities would examine Hasan's actions in the months leading up to the rampage in part to determine whether authorities had missed warning signs. "This is going to be a long and convoluted and messy investigation," the official said.
Hasan was born in Virginia and grew up with two brothers in suburb of Roanoke.
From 1987 to 1995, his parents, who were Palestinian immigrants, ran Capitol Restaurant in Roanoke, a place described by the local newspaper as "infamous . . . a dive beer hall and diner with a bad reputation and a lot of down-and-out regulars."
Neighbors remembered Hasan as a "studious" boy who went by the name Michael. "He was a nice-looking young man. Shook my hand," said neighbor Harry "H.L." Offenbacker in a phone interview.
Hasan attended college at Virginia Tech in Blacksburg, Va., where he majored in biochemistry.
He joined the military in 1997 at age 27. The Army sent him to the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences to study medicine. He graduated in 2001.
He worked at Walter Reed Army Medical Center for six years before transferring to Ft. Hood in July. At Walter Reed, Hasan was reportedly disciplined for proselytizing.
One of Hasan's classmates while they were getting their master's degrees in public health at the Uniformed Services University in Bethesda, Md., said that he had doubted the man's commitment to the military.
"He told students, 'I'm a Muslim first and an American second,' " said Dr. Val Finnell, who is a lieutenant colonel at the Los Angeles Air Force Base. "I really questioned his loyalty."
Finnell first became suspicious of Hasan shortly after the program began, when Hasan gave a provocative presentation in an environmental health class.
Other students had done projects on things like mold and water contamination, Finnell said. Hasan's project asked "whether the war on terror is a war against Islam," Finnell said.
"It was very off-topic," Finnell said. "I raised my hand and said, 'What does this have to do with environmental health?' "
Finnell said Hasan became agitated when he was challenged and became "sweaty and nervous and emotional."
Finnell said that he and his classmates never brought up Hasan's faith and never asked him about his views of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
"If those topics came up in conversation it was because he brought those things up," Finnell said. "It was a self-fulfilling prophesy. He made himself a lightning rod by making his extreme views known to everyone."
Finnell said that for his final project in 2008, Hasan planned to do a survey about the treatment of Muslims in the Army.
But Finnell said that Hasan never did anything that suggested he might turn violent.
Still, Finnell said, he was "not surprised" when he learned that Hasan was the suspect in the Ft. Hood shootings.
---
---
RELATED POSTS:-
- Young soldiers show heroism in Fort Hood tragedy-Save cilivians and wounded soldiers from Major Hassan gun rampage killed 12 wounded 31
- Suspect, a devout Muslim, asked Army to discharge him, aunt said
- Army: Fort Hood shooting rampage suspect is alive-12 dead ,31 wounde worst gun rampage in USA military base.
- Reports: At least 15 hurt in Pakistan explosion
- Executed in broad daylight: The chilling moment a Mafia hitman strikes outside a Naples bar... but no-one saw a thing
- Coroner says 6 women whose bodies were found at home died violently
- Calif. searchers seek survivors after air crash-Midair crash betw CoastGuard aircraft and Marine Helicopter
- UN chief slams deadly attack on UN guest house in Kabul
- At least 155 killed in two Baghdad suicide bombings Al Qaeda linked group claims responsibility
- Garbage trucks lead to discovery of dead Fla. girl
- Scenes of carnage in Peshawar bazaar Pakistan
- US condemns bombing outside Indian embassy in Kabul
- Typhoon Ketsana and Typhoon Parmma sent storms and flooding devastating Philipina.
- Muslim Population in the Military Raises Difficult Issues -Fort Hood suspect's religion was an issue, family says
- Four dead, at least 10 people after gunman shoots up all-female dance class at Pittsburgh gymg
- Millions of Muslim celebrate the end of the Holy Month Ramadan with Festival -Eid al-Filr
- Mr Obama Wish Muslim world Happy Fasting for the holy month of Ramadan
- Fort Hood shooting: Officials detail attack, gunfight-Shouted Allah Akbar and started shouting murder 12 and wounded 31
- Fort Hood suspect said methodical goodbyes-Major Hasan give away possesions before gun rampage at Fort Hood kill 12 wounds 31
0 comments:
Post a Comment