Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist who allegedly opened
fire on dozens of people at Fort Hood Army Post, cleaned out his
apartment the morning of the shootings, his neighbors said Friday.
Several
residents at the apartment complex in Killeen, Texas, said he also gave
them copies of the Quran hours before Thursday's massacre that killed
13 people and wounded 38.
FBI agents helping investigate the
shootings at the largest U.S. military base searched Hasan's apartment
while investigators pieced through the gruesome crime scene, Fort
Hood's military processing center, where soldiers report before they go
to war.
Hasan, who worked at a hospital on the base, is accused of using two
handguns to fatally shoot 12 soldiers and one Army civilian employee,
military officials said. He was transported by air Friday afternoon to
Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, and was in critical
condition but stable, a spokesman said.
Two law enforcement
sources told CNN that one of the weapons used was an FN 5.7-millimeter
pistol, a semiautomatic purchased legally at Guns Galore, a Killeen gun
shop. Details on the other gun, identified only as a type of revolver,
were not immediately available.
Fort Hood's commanding general
said witnesses have reported that the gunman yelled "Allahu Akbar,"
Arabic for "God is great," during the rampage. However, Lt. Gen. Robert
Cone said investigators had not confirmed that.
The
police officer who shot Hasan, ending the massacre, was among the
wounded. Officer Kimberly Munley of the Fort Hood Police Department
"just happened very fortunately to be very close to the incident
scene," Cone told CNN's "American Morning," calling it "a pretty
amazing and aggressive performance by this police officer."
Most of the wounded required hospitalization. About half required
surgery, and all were in stable condition Friday morning, said Col.
Steven Braverman, hospital commander at Fort Hood.
Officials were looking into whether some soldiers may have been shot accidentally by others trying to shoot the gunman.
President
Obama, in remarks Friday morning, cautioned against "jumping to
conclusions" about what had triggered "one of the worst mass shootings
ever to take place on an American military base."
He ordered
that flags at the White House and other federal buildings be flown at
half staff until Veterans Day, on Wednesday of next week. "This is a
modest tribute to those who lost their lives, even as many were
preparing to risk their lives for their country," the president said.
"It's also a recognition of the men and women who put their lives on
the line every day to protect our safety and uphold our values. We
honor their service, we stand in awe of their sacrifice, and we pray
for the safety of those who fight and for the families of those who
have fallen."
Obama said he met with FBI Director Robert Mueller
and representatives of other relevant agencies to discuss the
investigation. And he promised that his administration will provide
updates.
Hasan's next door neighbor, Patricia Villa, said he gave her his
furniture and paid her $60 to clean his apartment hours before the
shooting rampage.
"He told me he was leaving for Iraq or somewhere," Villa said. "I didn't think much of it."
Miguel Rivera, another resident of the apartment complex, said he saw Hasan throwing items away the morning of the shooting.
FBI agents searched an outdoor trash bin and removed a second bin from the apartment complex.
Hasan's
next-door neighbor, Willie Bell, said Hasan had helped him set up his
laptop and regularly tapped into Bell's wireless service. Bell, a
maintenance man who didn't show up for work Thursday, said he was
interviewed by the FBI for four hours that day and the laptop was
seized.
He said he received two calls from Hasan early Thursday,
one at 2:37 a.m. asking Bell to turn on the wireless service, and again
at 5 a.m. to say he was moving.
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