Published: November 06, 2009 11:04 pm      

Fort Hood shootings: Officer’s motive subject of probe

FORT HOOD, Texas — As if going off to war, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan cleaned out his apartment, gave leftover frozen broccoli to one neighbor and called another to thank him for his friendship – common courtesies and routines of the departing soldier. Instead, authorities say, he went on the killing spree that left 13 people at Fort Hood, Texas, dead.

Investigators looked at Hasan’s computer, his home and his garbage Friday to learn what motivated the suspect, who lay in a coma, shot four times.

Hospital officials said some of the wounded had extremely serious injuries and might not survive.

The 39-year-old Army psychiatrist emerged as a study in contradictions: A polite man who stewed with discontent; a counselor who needed to be counseled himself; a professional healer now suspected of cutting down the fellow soldiers he was sworn to help.

Relatives said he felt harassed because of his Muslim faith but did not embrace extremism. Others were not so sure. A recent classmate said Hasan once gave a jarring presentation to students in which he argued the war on terrorism was a war against Islam.

The classmate said Hasan “made himself a lightning rod for things” when he felt his religious beliefs were challenged.

Investigators were trying to piece together how and why Hasan allegedly gunned down his comrades in the worst case of violence on a military base in the U.S.

Hasan’s family said in a statement Friday that his alleged actions were deplorable and don’t reflect how the family was reared.

“Our family is filled with grief for the victims and their families involved in yesterday’s tragedy,” said Nader Hasan, a cousin who lives in northern Virginia. “We are mortified with what has unfolded and there is no justification, whatsoever, for what happened. We are all asking why this happened, and the answer is that we simply do not know.”

The 30 wounded were dispersed among hospitals in central Texas. W. Roy Smythe, chairman of surgery at Scott and White Memorial Hospital, said several patients were still at “significant risk” of losing their lives. Army briefers told lawmakers in Washington eight other people were treated at a hospital for stress and trauma.

Hasan was to be deployed to Afghanistan. He had been saying goodbyes and dispensing belongings to neighbors.

Jacqueline Harris, 44, who lives with her boyfriend, Willie Bell, in the apartment next door to Hasan, said he left a message early Thursday.

“He just wanted to thank Willie for being a good friend and thank him for being there for him,” Harris said. “That was it. We thought it was just a nice message to leave.”

Bell said Hasan offered a farewell, saying, “Nice knowing you, old friend. I’m going to miss you.”

Several hundred people gathered at a base stadium where the Army’s chief chaplain offered prayers for families and victims.

Chaplain Douglas Carver told those at the Friday night vigil – many dressed in fatigues and black berets – to “remember to keep breathing ... keep going.”