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Military trying to find motive for ex-Roanoke resident's shooting rampage that killed 12, wounded 31 at Fort Hood
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army psychiatrist accused of shooting 12 people to death and wounding 31 others at Fort Hood, Texas, on Thursday, was the son of Roanoke merchants and restaurateurs, lived in Vinton and graduated from Virginia Tech. Read the full report at the Roanoke's Times' Web site.
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FORT HOOD, Texas (AP) -- Military officials were starting Friday to piece together what may have pushed an Army psychiatrist trained to help soldiers in distress to turn on his comrades in a shooting rampage that killed 12 people and wounded 31 in Texas.
The suspected shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, was on a ventilator and unconscious in a hospital after being shot four times during the shootings at the Army's sprawling Fort Hood, post officials said. In the early chaos after the shootings, authorities believed they had killed him, only to discover later that he had survived.
In Washington, a senior U.S. official said authorities at Fort Hood initially thought one of the victims who had been shot and killed was the shooter. The mistake resulted in a delay of several hours in identifying Hasan as the alleged assailant.
Authorities have not ruled out that Hasan was acting on behalf of some unidentified radical group, the official said. He would not say whether any evidence had come to light to support that theory.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters that were under investigation.
Officials are not ruling out the possibility that some of the casualties may have been victims of "friendly fire," that in the mayhem and confusion at the shooting scene some of the responding military officials may have shot some of the victims.
The gunfire broke out around 1:30 p.m. at the Soldier Readiness Center, where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening. Nearby, some soldiers were readying to head into a graduation ceremony for troops and families who had recently earned degrees.
Pastor Greg Schannep had just parked his car along the side of the theater and was about to head into the ceremony when a man in uniform approached him.
"Sir, they are opening fire over there!" the man told him. At first, he thought it was a training exercise - then heard three volleys and saw people running. As the man who warned him about the shots ran away, he could see the man's back was bloodied from a wound.
Schannep said police and medical and other emergency personnel were on the scene in an instant, telling people to get inside the theater. The post went into lockdown while a search began for a suspect and emergency workers began trying to treat the wounded. Some soldiers rushed to treat their injured colleagues by ripping their uniforms into makeshift bandages to treat their wounds.
Fort Hood Lt. Gen. Bob Cone praised the soldiers for their quick reaction.
"God bless these soldiers," Cone said. "As horrible as this was it could have been worse."
Video from the scene showed police patrolling the area with handguns and rifles, ducking behind buildings for cover. Sirens could be heard wailing while a woman's voice on a public-address system urged people to take cover. Schools on the base went into lockdown, and family members trying to find out what was happening inside found cell phone lines jammed or busy.
"I was confused and just shocked," said Spc. Jerry Richard, 27, who works at the center but was not on duty during the shooting. "Overseas you are ready for it. But here you can't even defend yourself."
The wounded were dispersed among hospitals in central Texas, Cone said. Their identities and the identities of the dead were not immediately released.
Jamie and Scotty Casteel stood outside the emergency room at the hospital in Temple waiting for news of their son-in-law Matthew Cooke, who was among the injured.
"He's been shot in the abdomen and that's all we know," Jamie Casteel told The Associated Press. She said Cook, from New York state, had been home from Iraq for about a year.
Amber Bahr, 19, was shot in the stomach but was in stable condition, said her mother, Lisa Pfund of Random Lake, Wis.
"We know nothing, just that she was shot in the belly," Pfund said. She couldn't provide more details and only spoke with emergency personnel.
Ashley Saucedo told WOOD-TV in Michigan that her husband was shot in the arm, but she couldn't discuss specifics. Saucedo said she and the couple's two children weren't permitted to leave their home at Fort Hood during the shootings.
The motive for the shooting wasn't clear, but Hasan was apparently set to deploy soon, and had expressed some anger about the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Sen. Kay Bailey Hutchison, R-Texas, said generals at Fort Hood told her that Hasan was about to deploy overseas. Retired Col. Terry Lee, who said he had worked with Hasan, told Fox News he was being sent to Afghanistan.
Lee said Hasan had hoped Obama would pull troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq and got into frequent arguments with others in the military who supported the wars.
For six years before reporting for duty at Fort Hood, in July, the 39-year-old Army major worked at the Walter Reed Army Medical Center pursuing a career in psychiatry, as an intern, a resident and, last year, a fellow in disaster and preventive psychiatry. He received his medical degree from the military's Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md., in 2001.
But his record wasn't sterling. At Walter Reed, he received a poor performance evaluation, according to an official who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly. And while he was an intern, Hasan had some "difficulties" that required counseling and extra supervision, said Dr. Thomas Grieger, who was the training director at the time.
At least six months ago, Hasan came to the attention of law enforcement officials because of Internet postings about suicide bombings and other threats, including posts that equated suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the lives of their comrades.
Investigators had not determined for certain whether Hasan was the author of the posting, and a formal investigation had not been opened before the shooting, said law enforcement officials who spoke on condition of anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss the case.
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Oliver: You're spot on in your assessment.
That is all.
I KNEW someone would accuse me of making excuses for the man! You all can't read or comprehend worth a damn, can you?
The accusation was that this was a conspiracy by Muslims and all that garbage. Once more of the facts started coming to light, YOU learned that he did all these things you mentioned that makes it look as though he killed because he's a Muslim and because he hates Americans.
I merely pointed out that he IS an American who is also a Muslim, and that he tried repeatedly to get out of the military - repeatedly - and they wouldn't let him.
He had been harassed mercilessly because of his name and because he was a Muslim (something you all seem to understand quite well when we who are not professing Christians make fun of you who are rabid christians).
He had counseled veterans who returned from Iraq and Afghanistan, even talking to one man whose "face had melted" and all of whom hated the war and felt they'd been sacrificed for money and oil.
He TRIED to get out of the military. Had they let him out, or had they realized how much of a boiling rage he was experiencing, the military powers that be might have prevented this massacre. They simply ignored all the warning signs - signs that had been there for several YEARS.
There's another point that you all have chosen to ignore: the people who "came to the rescue" probably shot some of the innocent bystanders, because they thought there was a GROUP of shooters. They admitted that early on, but now it's being kept hush-hush.
Just gang up now, and attack the avowed liberal, accusing him of being a coward, a weakling, etc.
Never mind that HE served in the military - granted, during peace time (but could have been called at any minute to go fight someone somewhere).
Never mind that I simply used good old-fashioned logic. Wait until all the facts are in before you shoot off your opinion.
Never have I nor would I condone this insanity. Never have I nor would I take sides with this poor man.
Point out the FACTS? That, I'll do. If you choose to ignore the facts in spite of the evidence, that's YOUR shortcomings, not mine.
Attack me. Go ahead. It's all you know.
I forgot one. It seems that Michael Johnson doesn't like either side.
Number 1. He was Muslim. Number 2. He killed American Military men and women. Number 3. He bought guns and gave away his personal belongings. Number 4. He was harrased..Uh--oh. We are all in trouble. We harass you left wingers on here all the time. We call you all kind of names (that we can get printed). You call us every rotten name you can come up with and then make up new ones. That's because we feel deeply about things. But if I run into you out in the world and you are in trouble I will help you not shoot you. I don't think you would shoot me either.(I could be wrong on that one). When it comes down to it we just hate ideals not each other. I hope.
It's obvious that the reason he did this was because he had been in the military all these years and had only acheived the rank of major. Seriously, he is a wolf in sheeps clothing.
I'm certainly no expert, but I know a couple of things. Below is a partial list of persons in the U.S. who have either been arrested, indicted, convicted, or otherwise involved in an investigation regarding the plotting of a terrorist attack, supporting the conduct of a terrorist attack, or have actually conducted an attack on U.S. in the last decade (this excludes the 9/11 hijackers and their support cell, by the way – that would add at least another 25 names that we know about).
If you wish, feel free to add McVeigh, Eric Rudolph, and Seung-Hui Cho to the list. I'll even give you Terry Nichols, and any ALF and ELF kid who likes to set caged animals free, vandalize SUV lots, or burn down ski resorts in the name of “animal and earth liberation," but it would pretty much just be a drop in the bucket. Draw your own conclusions... they're mostly listed in chronological order beginning in 1999.
Ahmed Ressam
Abdul Raheem (Richard Reid)
Abdullah al-Muhajir (Jose Padilla)
Patrice Lumumba Ford
Jeffrey Leon Battle
October Martinique Lewis
Muhammad Ibrahim Bilal
Ahmed Ibrahim Bilal
Habis Abdulla al Saoub
Maher Hawash
Farouk Ali-Haimoud
Ahmed Hannan
Karim Koubriti
Abdel Ilah Elmardoudi
James Ujaama
Ahmed Hijazi
Yahya Goba
Shafal Mosed
Yasein Taher
Faysal Galab
Mukhtar Al-Bakri
Sahim Alwan
Jaber A. Elbaneh
Iyman Faris (Mohammad Rauf)
Randall Todd Royer
Ibrahim Ahmed Al-Hamdi
Masoud Ahmad Khan
Yong Ki Kwon
Mohammed Aatique
Seifullah Chapman
Hammad Abdur-Raheem
Donald Thomas Surratt
Caliph Basha Ibn Abdur-Raheem
Khwaja Mahmood Hasan
Sabri Benkhala
Syed Haris Ahmed
Ehsanul Islam Sadequee
Dhiren Barot
Mohammed Naveed Bhatti
Abdul Aziz Jalil
Omar Abdul Rehman
Junade Feroze
Zia ul Haq
Qaisar Shaffi
Nadeem Tarmohammed
Hamid Hayat
Umer Hayat
Derrick Shareef (Talib Abu Salam Ibn Shareef)
Mohammad Zaki Amawi, Marwan Othman El-Hindi
Wassim Mazloum
Narseal Batiste
Patrick Abraham
Stanley Grant Phanor
Naudimar Herrera
Burson Augustin
Lyglenson Lemorin
Rotschild Augustine
Assem Hammoud
Dritan Duka
Shain Duka
Eljvir Duka
Mohamad Ibrahim Shnewer
Serdar Tatar
Agron Abdullahu
Russell Defreitas
Abdul Kadir
Kareem Ibrahim
Abdel Nur
Abdul Hakim Mujahid Muhammad
Daniel Patrick “Saifullah” Boyd
Dylan "Mohammad" Boyd
Zakariya Boyd
Anes Subasic
Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan
Ziyad Yaghi
Hysen Sherifi
Jude Kenan Mohammad
Najibullah Zazi
Mohammed Wali Zazi
Ahmad Wais Afzali
Nidal Hasan
sorry leftys.no cigar to you guys on this one!he was a nut job,,and jihad was his game! mabye he was from hawkins county,,mmmmmm?????the left needs to be re-vamped with some gonads before that reneck white trash diva palin women takes the white house away from you guys.i mean if you want to go toe to toe with the rightwingers and the fox news watchers get it together guys and stop defending whack jobs,or at least whack jobs that murder in the name of god. very weak leftys,,,,and olie my man as much as i hate glen beck he would be laughing his ass off at you if he read that crap you wrote!good ole woody guthrie would turn over in his grave if he saw the yuppie left wing gibberish in this day and age! very weak,,very weak!sad and funny to watch!
Amazing! A man passes out Korans, dresses in arabic garb, tells his family and coworkers that he disapproves of what the US military is doing, then screams "Allah Akbar" while shooting soldiers left and right.
All of this and Oliver Douglas believes there is no reason to suspect that his muslim faith had anything to do with this mass murder.
Whew! With all the Islamic and Muslim experts here, I don't see much reason to post a comment, except to quote from the Roanoke newspaper:
"Since Sept. 11, 2001, (his) aunt said, he had been harassed about his Muslim faith and sought to be discharged from the military.
He went as far as retaining a lawyer to see if he could get out of the Army before his contract was up, The Associated Press reported."
Well, no. He just wanted to kill Americans. Never mind that he WAS an American. Never mind that he volunteered for the military. Never mind that he had been a model citizen. Never mind that all you experts know practically nothing about the case.
Just keep on telling yourselves he was a Muslim and so he wanted to kill Americans.
Sheesh!
(BTW: no one addressed the Eric Rudolph question - just the Timothy McVeigh experts chimed in. If the people who post comments were the experts (on EVERYTHING) they profess to be, they'd not really have time to post comments here, would they?)
Motive?
Islamic terrorists' motives are pretty well-stated at this point. Something about "death to the infidels" and the institution of Sharia law worldwide.
They talk as if finding out if he's linked to some larger network is some critical ordeal. It doesn't matter. This is yet another example of Islamic terrorism on U.S. soil, but everyone's so terrified of offending some one, or being sued by CAIR, that no one can call a spade a spade anymore.
These days, people are more afraid of being sued than being dead, and it's an absolute shame. Until we all wisen up and face the facts, Islamic terrorists will continue to inflict casualties on U.S. soil.
Trying to find motive? Are you kidding me? When a man screams "Allah Akbar" while shooting people, I believe it is fairly evident. Our liberal media is determined to cover what this is... a Muslim that wanted his virgins.
Wiki Wiki Wiki WOO!
"Timothy McVeigh (an Irish Catholic)"
McVeigh may have been raised Catholic, but his inspiration was islamic terrorists.
McVeigh even wrote a letter to Rita Cosby of Fox defending World Trade Center bomber and Muslim Cleric Ramsey Yousef, who also was the muslim to come up with the original plan to hijack airliners and fly them into the WTC.
His associate and technical advisor in the bombing, Terry Nichols got his bomb making training at the radical islamic training camp of Abu Sayyaf Group on the island of Mindanao in the Phillipines. He was put in touch with them through his islamic filipina wife Marife Torres who was also having sex with McVeigh, according to her own testimony in court.
Oklahoma City was an islamic operation from start to finish.
Motive, he was nuts.
Uh-huh. And if he had been a Christian? Like Timothy McVeigh (an Irish Catholic); or Eric Rudolph, a believer in the "Christian Identity" movement (a group with the belief that non-Caucasian peoples have no souls, thus they cannot ever be "saved.")
There are terrorists in every religion. This man, however, is an American. He was born in Roanoke, and has been an American his entire life.
If there is a "Muslim conspiracy," it must have begun at his birth - kind of like Obama's conspiracy to take over the world, from birth.
Before anyone decides to jump my case, I'm just stating the obvious - that no one has mentioned as yet.
As for the killing and wounding of many of the victims - "Officials are not ruling out the possibility that some of the casualties may have been victims of "friendly fire," that in the mayhem and confusion at the shooting scene some of the responding military officials may have shot some of the victims."
Maybe if we wait until more details are released, we won't have to take back anything we've already said (as if THAT ever happens).
Whatever happened, there's been another shooting - in Orlando - just this afternoon, in an office.
If we live by the gun, I guess it stands to reason we'll die by said gun, huh?
I'm ready. Let the attacks begin.
"Authorities have not ruled out that Hasan was acting on behalf of some unidentified radical group"
Given the trending from the leftists, it seems likely they will discover he was acting on behalf of Operation Rescue, or some pro-US Constitution group.
"When someone screams Allah Akbar before they break out killing mass amounts of people"
Don't you go jumping to conclusions. For all we know Allie Akba was the name of his beloved pet goldfish. He was merely expressing grief at her loss.
Can't imagine what motive there could be given that he handed out Korans to his neighbors, dressed in traditional arab garb, then showed up at work and shouted slogans in Arabic as he was firing the guns.
Nope, no idea. Motive could have been anything. Maybe he was unhappy with the sauce on his spaghetti dinner he had the week before. Or maybe his pet goldfish died and he was sad. They should look into that.
One thing is for certain, this had nothing to do with his being a muslim. Nothing at all, and anyone who even suggests that is involved in hate speech and should be arrested.
Spent 9 years in the Corps,, cant imagine, an officer, who you are trained from day 1 at MCRDPI, to respect, and obey, and they are trained to do the same to you, turn a gun on you, and kill fellow comrads.. So sad, what have we come too...
Semper Fi
It was planned. Motive should be known...
http://www.kdhnews.com/news/story.aspx?s=36899
I agree Tracy...all I needed to see was the name...sorry people common sense here! I'm afraid this is part of a plan and we are going to see more and more of this. When someone screams Allah Akbar before they break out killing mass amounts of people, it's a plan people!
I cannot express my anger nor my sadness at this event! My prayers go out to all the soldiers and their families!
Military trying to find motive ?
Heck it in the Story.