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Authorities believe Hassan acted alone and was not part of a broader terrorist plot. (Reuters) |
FORT HOOD, Texas – An army psychiatrist accused of a shooting rampage last week at the Fort Hood military base in Texas has been charged with 13 counts of murder.
"US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan has been charged with 13 specifications of premeditated murder under the military code of justice," Chris Grey, a spokesman for the army's criminal investigation division, told reporters.
The Army is not ruling out bringing future charges.
"We are doing everything possible and we are looking at every reason for this shooting," said Grey.
Hasan is the sole suspect in last week’s shooting spree which killed 13 soldiers and wounded more than 30 others.
He has emerged from a coma after being wounded by police gunfire but remains hospitalized at an intensive care unit in guarded condition.
The FBI has said that its investigations indicate Hasan "acted alone and was not part of a broader terrorist plot."
"We still believe that there was only one gunman at the scene involved in the actual shootings," said Grey.
President Barack Obama vowed justice on Tuesday as he eulogized the dead of the Fort Hood shootings.
Standing in front of 15,000 tearful mourners, he said the killer would "be met with justice, in this world, and the next."
Hasan's civilian attorney, retired Army Col. John Galligan, said that he has spoken with his client, but that Hasan was heavily sedated.
Investigation
Obama has ordered a review of how US intelligence agencies handled information they may have gathered about Hasan.
"I directed an immediate review be initiated to determine how any such intelligence was handled, shared, and acted upon within individual departments and agencies and what intelligence was shared with others," Obama said in a statement.
Preliminary results will be provided by November 30 to John Brennan, Obama's assistant for homeland security and counterterrorism.
Intrigue over Hasan mounted after the FBI revealed he had contacts with Anwar Al-Awlaki, an American-born imam of Yemeni background said to have radical views.
Al-Awlaki preached in 2001 at the Dar al Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Va., where Hasan used to pray. Two of the 9/11 attackers reportedly prayed at the same mosque.
Some reports suggested that the imam, who now lives in Yemen, praised what Hasan did and described him as a "hero."
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