FORT HOOD, Texas — The killings of Nov. 5, 2009, are seared into the consciousness of this Army base: 13 fatally shot, more than 30 others injured.
All were shot by one of their own, Army psychiatrist Nidal Hasan, then 39.
"I got hit. One right here, and one right there, and it came out here," shooting survivor Alan Carroll said. Three of his friends, also soldiers, were killed.
"Me and him just looked at each other. And the only thing I could think is '#$!, dammit, i'm dead,' " said Carroll, now 24. "And then he fired off two shots."
Hasan fired more than 100 shots in just minutes, and in contrast to many public acts of rage, this accused killer was captured alive. Almost four years later when Hasan stood for court-martial, he admitted his guilt and was sentenced to die.
"So many casualties — and I'm pulling guys out of the ambulance every 2 minutes, every 5 minutes," said Sgt. Howard Appleby, now 35.
At around 6 a.m. CT that Thursday, Hasan, a devout Muslim who was born in the United States of Palestinian parents, left his apartment to go to morning prayers. By a little after 1:30 p.m., he entered his workplace, Fort Hood's Soldier Readiness Processing Center, where he was scheduled to meet with soldiers who receive routine medical checkups before their deployments.
Instead, Hasan arrived with two weapons ready to use.
"Out of nowhere, a man stood up in uniform, screamed 'Allah Akbar' and proceeded to open fire on myself and the rest of my fellow soldiers sitting there — all defenseless, no weapons," said Spc. Logan Brunett, who witnessed the rampage.
Hasan reportedly tried to leave the Army but could not cut short his assignment. He was scheduled to be deployed to Afghanistan less than a month later, and investigatorslater learned that he had grown increasingly vocal online in support of extremism against the United States.
He was upset about the possibility of killing fellow Muslims and was found to have communicated extensively via e-mail with jihadist Anwar al-Awlaki, a New Mexico native turned Islamic-militant imam.
On the day of the shooting, Hasan entered the soldier processing center, sprayed a round of bullets at bystanders and then began targeting individual soldiers in uniform.
A civilian base police sergeant encountered him as he left the center in pursuit of a wounded soldier. A second police sergeant shot Hasan five times after telling him to surrender.
Hasan, who had hoped to be killed in the attack, was severely wounded, paralyzed from the waist down.
"Today a weight has been lifted from my shoulders," Joleen Cahill, whose husband, Michael Cahill had survived a heart attack but died in the shootings, said Aug. 23, 2013, when Hasan was sentenced to death. "He has been held accountable ... justice."
Hasan's actions constituted the largest massacre on a U.S. military base.
A second Fort Hood attack occurred earlier this year, on April 2, when gunman Ivan Lopez, 34, killed four people including himself and injured 16 others.
Several fundraisers have raised money for a Fort Hood memorial that eventually will be constructed in Killeen, Fort Hood's base town. Bronze statues already have been made for the victims.
Those involved in the memorial want to make sure that no one is forgotten.
"We will not allow Maj. Hasan or anyone that's following him or anyone that he has followed (to) strike any fear on our beloved citizens of the United States of America," said retired Staff Sgt. Alonzo Lunsford, who was shot seven times and survived.
