November 6, 2009
AP
FBI agents seized the computer Friday of the Army psychiatrist suspected of a horrific massacre at Fort Hood, Texas, as the family of Major Nidal Malik Hasan called the crime he is accused of "despicable and deplorable."
It was not immediately known if FBI agents found anything suspicious on Hasan's computer files that might explain the rampage that killed 13 and wounded 30, including the gunman.
Photo: Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, the suspected Fort Hood shooter in a massacre on the Army base that left 13 dead and 30, including the gunman, wounded
A military official said investigators also are sifting through materials Hasan, 39, carried with him during the massacre and other evidence left in his vehicle, which was found parked at the base.
Authorities searched his apartment early Friday for clues but haven't yet been able to talk to Hasan, who survived the shootings but remains in a coma in a Texas hospital, according to a federal law enforcement official. He was due to be deployed any day to the war zone in Afghanistan, Army officials said.
Survivors of the rampage said the suspect shouted "Allahu Akbar!" — "God is great!" in Arabic — before opening fire, according to Fort Hood base commander Lt. Gen. Robert Cone. Cone said officials had not yet confirmed that Hasan made the comment.
"That was reported by a few of the witnesses that were at the scene," Cone's deputy, Col. John Rossi, told Fox News.
Military officials were piecing together what pushed a man who helped troubled soldiers to turn on his comrades. The Army wouldn't discuss a motive in an early-morning press conference, but initial reports suggested he feared his imminent deployment to Afghanistan and had been critical of the wars there and in Iraq.
"He was mortified by the idea of having to deploy,” Hasan's cousin Nader Hasan told The New York Times. “He had people telling him on a daily basis the horrors they saw over there.”
Thursday's massacre was the worst mass killing ever to take place on a U.S. military base. A female civilian police officer who shot Hasan, identified as Kim Munley, was credited with stopping the spree. She survived, contrary to earlier reports that she had died, and was in stable condition.
"It was an amazing and an aggressive performance by this police officer," Cone said.
President Obama said authorities were working to figure out how the tragedy could have happened — but warned against rushing to judgment.
"We don't know all the answers yet and I would caution against jumping to conclusions until we have all the facts," Obama said in brief comments at the White House Friday.
"What we do know is that there are family, friends and an entire nation grieving right now for the valued men and women who came under attack yesterday in one of the worst mass shootings ever to take place on an American military base," the president added.
In honor of those mourning the victims, Obama said he has ordered all flags at the White House and other federal buildings to be flown at half staff until Veteran's Day, Nov. 11.
Kim Fuller, a spokeswoman for the Hasan family, issued a statement Friday saying "the actions of their cousin are despicable and deplorable."
Relatives in Northern Virginia are trying to offer insight to investigators, she said, adding that Hasan's suspected crime doesn't reflect how he was raised in the United States.
Federal law enforcement officials told The Associated Press that Hasan had come to their attention at least six months ago because of Internet postings that discussed suicide bombings. The officials said they are still trying to confirm that he was the author.
One of the Web postings that authorities reviewed is a blog that equates a suicide bomber to a soldier throwing himself on a grenade to save the lives of his comrades.
"To say that this soldier committed suicide is inappropriate. Its more appropriate to say he is a brave hero that sacrificed his life for a more noble cause," the Internet posting reads. "Scholars have paralled (sic) this to suicide bombers whose intention, by sacrificing their lives, is to help save Muslims by killing enemy soldiers."
Hasan was working with soldiers at Darnall Army Medical Center on Fort Hood after being transferred in July from Walter Reed Army Medical Center, where he had worked for six years before recently receiving a poor review.
The initial investigation shows that Hasan allegedly used only one gun during the attack — a 5.7-caliber semiautomatic pistol.
Army officials said Hasan also was carrying another handgun. But the law enforcement official speaking on condition of anonymity said there's nothing so far to indicate the second weapon was fired.
Cone said one of the two guns used was a semi-automatic weapon, adding there was no indication they were military weapons.
Soldiers at Fort Hood don't carry weapons unless they are doing training exercises.
"We are trying to make sense of all this," the suspect's cousin told Fox News. "He wasn't even someone who enjoyed going to the firing range."
Hasan was not known to be a threat or risk, Fort Hood officials said.
"We had no problems with job performance while he was working at Darnall," said Col. Steve Braverman, Fort Hood's hospital commander. When pressed, Braverman added, "Not here. ... I'm not aware of any problems here."
An imam from a mosque Hasan regularly attended said Hasan, a lifelong Muslim, was a committed soldier, gave no sign of extremist beliefs and regularly wore his uniform at prayers.
Cone said witnesses spoke of the methodical way Hasan conducted the rampage, what he called a "very calm and measured approach" in carrying out the mass shooting. About 300 soldiers were lined up to get shots and eye-testing at a Soldier Readiness Center when gunfire erupted.
"It seems like a very high number of people for a single shooter," Cone told Fox News Friday. "This is a very small area. ...In talking to the soldiers last night who were present, the shooter could move in very close distances and fire at very close range and hit a number of people."
All but two of the injured — 28 total — were still hospitalized, including Hasan, and all were in stable condition, Braverman told reporters.
One soldier who was shot said that he "made the mistake of moving and I was shot again," Cone told CBS' "The Early Show." Those present during the massacre "would scramble to the ground and help each other out," he added.
Braverman said at a news conference early Friday that Hasan was on deployment orders to Afghanistan. A military official later told The Associated Press that Hasan was to be deployed to Iraq. It was not immediately possible to verify the discrepancy.
The military official, who did not have authorization to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity, said Hasan had indicated he didn't want to go to Iraq but was willing to serve in Afghanistan.
A neighbor at the apartment building near Fort Hood where Hasan lived said they had recently discussed his impending deployment to Afghanistan.
"He seemed OK with it," said Edgar Booker, a 58-year-old retired soldier who now works in a cafeteria on the post. "I asked him how he felt about going over there, with their religion and everything, and he said, 'It's going to be interesting.'"
Hasan was unconscious in a hospital after being shot four times 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.
A police source told FoxNews.com that Hasan's vital signs failed while he was being transported by ambulance to the hospital after the rampage but he was revived.
Video grab: A frame grab from a security video provided by CNN shows suspected Fort Hood gunman Maj. Nadal Malik Hasan in a convience store in Killeen, Texas early Thursday morning, just hours before the attack.
Federal law-enforcement agents ordered an evacuation of the apartment complex where Hasan lived in Killeen, Texas, and conducted a search of his home, said Hilary Shine, director of public information for the city.
Before Thursday's shooting, Hasan reportedly gave away all of his furniture along with copies of the Koran to neighbors, KXXV-TV reported.
Authorities have not ruled out that Hasan was acting on behalf of some unidentified radical group, a senior U.S. official in Washington said. He would not
Retired Army Col. Terry Lee, who said he worked with Hasan, told Fox News that Hasan had hoped President Barack Obama would pull troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq. Hasan got into frequent arguments with others in the military who supported the wars, Lee said, and had tried hard to prevent his pending deployment.
The shooting took place 1:30 p.m. Thursday at the Readiness Center, where soldiers undergo medical screening before being deployed or after returning from overseas.
The shooter's cousin said Hasan, who was born and raised in Virginia and graduated from Virginia Tech University, turned against the wars after hearing the stories of those who came back from Afghanistan and Iraq.
Nader Hasan said his cousin, who was raised a Muslim, wanted to go into the military against his parent's wishes — but was taunted by others after the terror attacks of Sept. 11.
A former neighbor of Hasan's in Silver Spring, Md., told Fox News he lived there for two years with his brother and had the word "Allah" on the door.
FoxNews.com's Jana Winter, Catherine Donaldson-Evans, Michelle Maskaly and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,572571,00.html