Fort Hood shooting of 2009 was an incident at a United States Army base near Killeen, Texas, in which 13 people died and more than 30 others were wounded. The mass shooting occurred on Nov. 5, 2009. The shooter, Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan, was wounded in the attack and captured. He was later convicted of murder and sentenced to death. Hasan expressed views in support of radical Islamic extremism, but the shooting was considered an act of workplace violence rather than a terrorist attack. Fort Hood’s name was changed to Fort Cavazos in 2023.
In 2009, Hasan, a U.S.-born Muslim, was serving as an Army Medical Corps psychiatrist at Fort Hood. Hasan’s patients included soldiers recently returned from fighting in Afghanistan, where Hasan was due to deploy the next year. Disturbed by what he heard from his patients, Hasan began communicating via email with a leading al-Qa`ida terrorist figure. Al-Qa`ida is a terrorist organization that supports the activities of Muslim extremists around the world. Hasan decided to attack his fellow soldiers, believing he would be saving Muslim lives in Afghanistan. Hasan prepared for the attack by purchasing a high-powered handgun and training with it at a local firing range.
On November 5, Hasan entered the Soldier Readiness Processing Center, where soldiers received medical checkups before they were sent to combat areas and after they returned. He opened fire in the center with the handgun, killing and wounding several people. He then left the center and continued shooting outside until a civilian police officer shot Hasan and disarmed him.
Hasan’s gunshot wound left him paralyzed from the waist down and unable to walk. At his criminal trial by a military court in 2013, Hasan took responsibility for the shooting. He also claimed to have “switched sides” in what he believed was a U.S. war against Islam. He was found guilty of murder and attempted murder. He was sentenced to die by lethal injection. Since the trial, Hasan has been in prison as his case makes its way through a lengthy, mandatory appeal process.
Another, unrelated shooting took place at Fort Hood on April 2, 2014. In that attack, Army Specialist Ivan Lopez killed three people before killing himself.
