Hasan was cool, calm, and smiling before he went on a murder spree... and smiling before he went on to massacre his fellow soldiers.
Fort Hood, Texas (CNN) -- A picture began to emerge Thursday of the suspect in the Fort Hood shootings as a mental health professional who worked to help others in high-stress situations.
The gunman was identified as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, a law enforcement source told CNN. Hasan's office at the base's Darnall Army Medical Center is about a mile from the shootings, where 13 people were killed and 30 were wounded.
Hasan had been telling his family since 2001 that he wanted to get out of the military, said a spokeswoman for his cousin, Nader Hasan. Hasan told his family he had been taunted after the September 11 attacks, the spokeswoman said.
"He was mortified by the idea of having to deploy," his cousin told the New York Times. "He had people telling him on a daily basis the horrors they saw over there."
An owner of a 7-Eleven at Fort Hood said Hasan -- whom he knows as "Major Nidal" -- came in for coffee and hash browns most mornings, including the morning of the shootings. Surveillance video from the store obtained by CNN shows a man who according to the store owner is Hasan at the cashier's counter at about 6:20 a.m. Thursday, about seven hours before the mass shooting. He was carrying a beverage and dressed in traditional Arab garb. Another surveillance video from Tuesday showed the man in scrubs.
"He looked normal," the owner said. "Came in had his hash browns and coffee as you see in the surveillance video."
so he went about his business as usual, going and getting his morning cup of coffee and whatnot... talking and smiling, before he turned around and went on a murder spree of his fellow soldiers.. there really is some sick fucking irony here, in that he didn't want to be deployed to Iraq so he turns around and starts killing everybody.
the whole thing is still kinda unreal... and yeah, it's all over the news over here — i wonder if the reports of him yelling out "Allah!" or "Allah Ackbar!" before shooting is true.
p.s. Peaceful preaching inside, violent message outside a New York mosque
