Fort Hood Shootings
Recently, a tragic occurrence happened in Fort Hood, Texas, the most populous United States military base in the world. On November 5, 2009, a gunman shouted “Allahu Akbar” and opened fire in the Soldier Readiness Center of Forthood. The gunman is identified as Major Nidal Malik Hasan, an army psychiatrist, and an American-born Muslim of Palestinian descent. Hasan was born in Virginia, and his family is believed to have come from Jordan.
The shooting killed 13 US soldiers and one civilian, there were also 31 others who were wounded. However, there were suggestions that some of the dead might have been shot by the authorities in their attempt to stop the gunman. Hasan, armed with two handguns, walked into a training center and opened fire on fellow soldiers who were having last-minute medical check-ups before being deployed to Afghanistan. The gunman was shot but captured alive, military officials said late Thursday. Hasan was wounded at the scene but was captured alive despite being shot four times in the incident and was in stable condition.
Hasan is expected to face at least 13 counts of murder, one for each of the victims who died, as well as numerous assault and weapons charges in a court-martial. He may face additional charges at court-martial. It has been estimated that Hasan, 39, would spend between five and 15 years in the military’s court martial system. Only ten members of the American military have been put to death with approval from the president since 1951 under the Uniform Code of Military Justice — the armed services’ legal system. The massacre at Fort Hood has been called the worst mass shooting ever on an American military base.
Source(s): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Hood_shooting
http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/11/05/texas.fort.hood.shootings/index.html
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