2009 Fort Hood Shooting

On November 5, 2009, a mass shooting occurred at Fort Hood near Killeen, Texas, when U.S. Army Major Nidal Hasan, a psychiatrist preparing for deployment to Afghanistan, opened fire inside the Soldier Readiness Processing Center. Hasan had purchased an FN Five-seven semi-automatic pistol in July 2009 and acquired thousands of rounds of ammunition in the weeks before the attack. At approximately 1:34 p.m., after asking for a specific officer, Hasan stood, shouted "Allahu Akbar," and began firing on soldiers and civilians in the building.

Several people attempted to stop him, including Army Reserve Captain John Gaffaney and civilian physician assistant Michael Cahill, both of whom were killed while trying to charge Hasan. Base civilian police Sergeant Kimberly Munley engaged Hasan outside the building and was wounded by gunfire. Sergeant Mark Todd subsequently exchanged fire with Hasan and shot him five times, ending the attack after roughly ten minutes. Investigators later recovered 214 spent shell casings; Hasan still carried 177 unfired rounds when apprehended.

The attack killed 13 people—12 soldiers and one civilian—and wounded more than 30 others. Hasan was struck by at least four bullets and was left paraplegic. He was treated at Scott and White Memorial Hospital and later Brooke Army Medical Center before being held at the Bell County jail.

Investigations by the FBI and Army Criminal Investigation Command found no evidence that Hasan had co-conspirators, and the FBI classified him as a homegrown violent extremist acting alone. Media reporting revealed that Hasan had exchanged nearly 20 e-mails with Yemen-based cleric Anwar al-Awlaki between December 2008 and June 2009, which a Joint Terrorism Task Force had reviewed without initiating a broader investigation. Colleagues at Walter Reed Medical Center had previously raised concerns about Hasan's professional conduct and expressions of Islamist views over several years.

Hasan was arraigned in 2011 and charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. His court-martial faced repeated delays over disputes about his beard and other pretrial motions, and his original judge was removed by an appeals court for lack of impartiality. At his court-martial, which began in 2013, Hasan declared himself the shooter and stated his motive was to defend Taliban leadership in Afghanistan. He was found guilty on all counts on August 6, 2013, and sentenced to death.

The U.S. government classified the shooting as "workplace violence" rather than terrorism, a designation survivors and victims' families challenged in a 2011 lawsuit seeking recognition of the attack as terrorism and associated benefits. In February 2015, following changes under the National Defense Authorization Act, the Department of the Army approved awarding Purple Hearts to victims, which were presented in April 2015. A memorial to those killed was dedicated in Killeen in March 2016.