GEORGE HUTCHINS

"The November 5, 2009, Fort Hood, Texas SHOOTINGS, were a TERRORIST ATTACK upon a U.S. Military Base."

"ALL 'INJURED and KILLED' U.S. Military Personnel, who were victims of the November 5, 2009, Fort Hood, Texas TERRORIST ATTACK, MUST be Awarded the U.S. Military PURPLE HEART, to receive all full benefits."

=[[ Please Read Below Article for further Documentation. ]]=

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Fort Hood Shooting

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Hood_shooting

The Fort Hood shooting was a mass murder that took place on November 5, 2009 at Fort Hood near Killeen, Texas.[1]

In the course of the shooting, a single gunman killed 13 people and over 30 people were injured. It is the worst shooting ever to take place on an American military base.[2]

Several individuals, including Senator Lieberman,[3] General McCaffrey,[4] and others have called the event a terrorist attack.[5][6]

The Department of Defense and federal law enforcement agencies have classified the shootings as an act of workplace violence.

They have declined requests from survivors and family members of the slain to categorize it as act of terrorism, or motivated by militant Islamic religious convictions.[7]

In November 2011 a group of survivors and family members filed a lawsuit against the government for negligence in preventing the attack, and to force the government to classify the shootings as terrorism.

The sole suspect is Nidal Malik Hasan, a 39-year-old U.S. Army major serving as a psychiatrist. He was shot and taken into custody by Department of the Army Civilian Police officers.[8]

Due to injuries from being wounded, he is paralyzed from the waist down.[9]

Hasan was arraigned by a military court on July 20, 2011 and was charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder under the Uniform Code of Military Justice; he may face additional charges at court-martial. If he is convicted, he could be given the death penalty.[10][11]

Days after the shooting, reports in the media revealed that a Joint Terrorism Task Force had been aware of e-mail communications between Hasan and the Yemen-based cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, who had been monitored by the NSA as a security threat, and that Hasan's colleagues had been aware of his increasing radicalization for several years. The failure to prevent the shootings led the Defense Department and the FBI to commission investigations, and Congress also held hearings.

Shootings 

 An FN Five-seven pistol similar to that used by Hasan.[12]

Preparations

According to pretrial testimony, Hasan entered the Guns Galore store in Killeen on July 31, 2009, and purchased the FN Five-seven semi-automatic pistol that he was to use in the attack at Fort Hood.[13]

According to Army Specialist William Gilbert, a regular customer at the store, Hasan entered the store and asked for "the most technologically advanced weapon on the market and the one with the highest standard magazine capacity."[13]

Hasan was allegedly asked how he intended to use the weapon, but said that he wanted the most advanced handgun with the largest magazine capacity.[13]

The three people with Hasan—Gilbert, the store manager, and an employee—all recommended the FN Five-seven pistol.[14]

As Gilbert owned one of the pistols, he spent an hour describing its operation to Hasan.[15]

Hasan left the store, saying he needed to research the weapon.[15]

He returned to purchase the gun the next day, and visited the store on a weekly basis to buy extra magazines, along with hundreds of rounds of 5.7×28mm SS192 and SS197SR ammunition.[14]

In the weeks prior to the attack, Hasan visited an outdoor shooting range in Florence, where he allegedly became adept at hitting silhouette targets at distances of up to 100 yards.[13]

Soldier Readiness Processing Center Shootings

At approximately 1:34 p.m. local time, Hasan entered his workplace, the Soldier Readiness Processing Center, where personnel receive routine medical treatment immediately prior to and on return from deployment. He was armed with the FN Five-seven pistol, which he had fitted with two Lasermax laser sights: one red, and one green.[16][17]

A Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum revolver (an older model) was later found on Hasan's person, but he did not use it to shoot any of the victims.[12][18]

According to eyewitnesses, Hasan had taken a seat at an empty table and bowed his head for several seconds when he suddenly stood up, shouted "Allahu Akbar!"[19][20] and opened fire.[21]

Witnesses said Hasan initially "sprayed bullets at soldiers in a fanlike motion" before taking aim at individual soldiers.[22]

Eyewitness Sgt. Michael Davis said: "The rate of fire was pretty much constant shooting. When I initially heard it, it sounded like an M16."[23]

Army reserve Captain John Gaffaney tried to stop Hasan by charging him, but was mortally wounded before reaching him.[24] Civilian physician assistant Michael Cahill also tried to charge Hasan with a chair, but was shot and killed.[25]

Army reserve Specialist Logan Burnett tried to stop Hasan by throwing a folding table at him, but he was shot in the left hip, fell down, and crawled to a nearby cubicle.[26]

According to testimony from witnesses, Hasan passed up several opportunities to shoot civilians, and instead targeted soldiers in uniform.[27]

These soldiers were not allowed to carry personal firearms on the base due to military policy.[28]

At one point, Hasan reportedly approached a group of five civilians hiding under a desk.[29]

He looked at them, swept the dot of his pistol's laser sight over one of the men's faces, and turned away without firing.[29]

Base civilian police Sergeant Kimberly Munley, who had rushed to the scene in her patrol car, encountered Hasan in the area outside the Soldier Readiness Processing Center.[30]

Hasan fired at Munley, who exchanged shots with him using her 9mm M9 pistol. Munley's hand was hit by shrapnel when one of Hasan's bullets struck a nearby rain gutter, and then two bullets struck Munley: the first bullet hit her thigh, and the second hit her knee.[17][27]

As she began to fall from the first bullet, the second bullet struck her femur, shattering it and knocking her to the ground.[17][27]

Hasan walked up to Munley and kicked her pistol out of reach.[31]

As the shooting continued outside, nurses and medics entered the building, secured the doors with a belt and rushed to help the wounded.[32]

According to the responding nurses, there was so much blood covering the floor inside the building, that they were unable to maintain balance, and had difficulty reaching the wounded to help them.[33]

In the area outside the building, Hasan continued to shoot at fleeing soldiers, and civilian police Sergeant Mark Todd arrived and shouted commands at Hasan to surrender.[27]

Todd said: "Then he turned and fired a couple of rounds at me. I didn't hear him say a word, he just turned and fired."[34]

The two exchanged shots, and Hasan was felled by five shots from Todd,[8][35] who kicked the pistol out of his hand and put handcuffs on him as he fell unconscious.[36]

An investigator later testified that 146 spent shell casings were recovered inside the building.[31]

Another 68 casings were collected outside, for a total of 214 rounds fired by the attacker and responding police officers.[31][37]

A medic who treated Hasan said his pockets were full of pistol magazines.[38]

When the shooting ended, he was still carrying 177 rounds of unfired ammunition in his pockets, contained in both 20- and 30-round magazines.[31]

The incident, which lasted about 10 minutes,[39] resulted in 13 killed—12 soldiers and one civilian; 11 died at the scene, and two died later in a hospital; and 30 people wounded.[40][41]

Initially, officials thought three soldiers were involved in the shooting;[42] two other soldiers were detained, but subsequently released. The Fort Hood website posted a notice indicating that the shooting was not a drill. Immediately after the shooting, the base and surrounding areas were locked down by military police and U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID) until around 7 pm local time.[43]

In addition, Texas Rangers, Texas DPS troopers,[44] deputies from the Bell County Sheriff's Office, and FBI agents from Austin and Waco were dispatched to the base.[45]

President Obama was briefed on the incident and later made a statement about the shooting.[46]

On November 5, 2010, one year later, 52 individuals received awards for their actions in the shooting.[47]

The Soldier's Medal was awarded to 10 soldiers, including Captain John Gaffaney, who died trying to charge the shooter.[48]

The Secretary of the Army Award for Valor was awarded to police officers Kimberly Munley and Mark Todd, for the roles they played in stopping the shooter.[47]

On May 23, 2011, the Army Award for Valor was posthumously awarded to the civilian physician assistant Michael Cahill, who died trying to charge the shooter with a chair.[49]

In May 2012, Senator Joe Lieberman and Representative Peter T. King proposed legislation that would make the victims of the shooting eligible for the Purple Heart.[50]

In the 113th Congress, Representative John Carter introduced legislation to change the shooting designation from "workplace violence" to "combat related" which would make the victims of the shooting eligible to receive full benefits and the Purple Heart.[51]

Casualties

Thirteen people were slain in the attack. Over thirty people were wounded; some from gunshots, others from falls or other injuries incurred during the incident, and many suffered psychological trauma or shock. The army, press, and investigative bodies have reported several numbers for the total number of injured, without indicating what sorts of injuries they were counting, nor how: 29;[52] 30;[1][53][54] 31;[55][56] 32;[57][58][59] 38;[54] and 42.[60]:1 Fort Hood is the most populous U.S. military installation in the world.[61]

Hasan, the alleged gunman, was taken to Scott & White hospital, a trauma center in Temple, Texas, and later moved to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas, where he was held under heavy guard.[9] Hasan was hit by at least four shots.[62]

As a result of bullet wounds to his spine, he is now paraplegic.[9]

He is currently being held at the Bell County jail in Belton, Texas.

Ten of the injured were also treated at Scott & White Memorial hospital.[63] Seven wounded victims were taken to Metroplex Adventist Hospital in Killeen.[63]

Eight others received hospital treatment for shock.[64]

On November 20, 2009, it was announced that eight of the wounded service members will deploy overseas.[65]

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NOTE:

All stated Fort Hood Shooting Links of reference can be found through:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fort_Hood_shooting

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-- Edited by REAL REPUBLICAN on Thursday 23rd of May 2013 04:24:40 PM