After a preliminary investigation, investigators tentatively concluded that the Fort Hood shooting was not linked to any broader terror plot with extremist organizations. However, they have not ruled out the possibility that he was carrying out an extremist suicide mission.
According to investigators, Nidal Malik Hasan was reacting to the intense counseling work he had been involved in with Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans. Their stories had been allegedly angering him and pulling him toward more militant religious views. His upcoming deployment overseas may have brought him to the point of uncontrollable anger about US involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan, and resulted in the violent incident at Fort Hood.
Hasan was in his office cubicle working when he stood up and began shooting at the hundreds of soldiers in the room. 13 died and 38 are hurt, including Hasan.
Hasan’s life in Fort Hood appeared to be quiet and private. He resided near downtown in an old apartment complex where neighbors describe his life as isolated, anonymous, and lonely. One neighbor said Hasan was laughed at and mistreated by other tenants for wearing Muslim clothes. He had a run-in with a neighbor who keyed his car and destroyed his “Allah is Love” bumper sticker.
On Thursday morning, November 5, he walked over to see a neighbor, a Christian with whom he would occasionally share coffee and discuss God. He said he would soon be deployed to Afghanistan and did not want to go, and gave her a copy of the Koran.
“I’m going to do good work for God,” he said. He then left for work.
Four hours later, he yelled “Allahu Akbar” (Arabic for “God is greatest”) to everyone in the Fort Hood Soldier Readiness Center, and then opened fire upon them.
