Pictures inside the home of the gunman who shot dead 13 US soldiers at Fort Hood show an austere and empty apartment with his few possessions left in disarray.
The paraphernalia of Major Nidal Hasan’s Muslim faith are scattered among other jumble on the kitchen table in the Casa Del Norte apartment complex in Killeen, Texas.
A black and white, crocheted skull cap lies beside the sink; another is thrown next to a handful of foreign coins, some of them from Israel.
A special alarm clock is set to sound a Muslim invocation at the hours of prayer, while the gunman’s prayer mat is lying crumpled against a wall.
The killer shouted the words Allahu akbar (God is greatest) before he opened fire with two handguns on unarmed troops queuing for medical attention in a stress counselling centre on the Texan military base.
Advertisement
Investigators found an assortment of pill bottles in a shoebox, one of them containing a prescription medicine for coughs, another a black cumin oil supplement that Sweet Sunnah, the manufacturer, boasts was recommended by the Prophet Mohammed more than 1,400 years ago.
An official document stamp with Major Hasan’s medical qualifications and job title — army psychiatrist — lies near a book on the interpretation of dreams, written by an author with an Islamic name.
Elsewhere there are few signs of occupation. There is no furniture in the living area, only a rubbish bin, a document shredder and an empty duffel bag.
A handful of clothes are stuffed messily onto shelves in the laundry room and a stray trainer lies on the tiled kitchen floor.
A couple of toothbrushes sit in a glass by the sink in the small, white shower room, while the bathroom cupboard stands open with only one bottle inside, lying on its side.
Advertisement
There are no pictures on the wall, no personal trinkets, barely any evidence of an internal life. There is no sign of the computer with which he kept in touch with the radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, the US-born firebrand who preached jihad against the West from the safe haven of Yemen. It has been taken for analysis by the authorities.
Last night Kimberley Munley, the police officer who ended Major Hasan’s gun rampage by shooting him in the chest, gave her first interview since the atrocity.
Ms Munley was one of the first officers to arrive on the scene, firing at Hasan before he charged and shot at her several times. She suffered bullet wounds in both of her legs and her wrist.
She told the talk show hostess Oprah Winfrey that she had been washing her patrol car at the end of a shift when the call came through.
“I was still unaware completely as to what was going on and what we were up against, who we were up against.
Advertisement
“There were many people outside pointing into the direction that this individual was apparently located and as soon as I got out of my vehicle and ran up the hill is when things started getting pretty bad and we started encountering the fire.”
Once inside the building, Ms Munley, who was armed with just a pistol, said that there was no time to think. “We get so attuned to training and we’re very fortunate that it becomes second nature and kind of reflexive for us to react.”
After she was injured she focused all of her attention on maintaining consciousness. “I wanted to stay awake and know everything that was going on and control my breathing to make sure I was not going to fall into shock.”
Ms Munley said that she was taking her recovery slowly and was looking forward to getting back to a normal life.
“Every day is a progress for me and things are getting better day by day,” she said. “Emotionally, I’m just hoping that the rest of the officers and the injured and the families of the deceased are healing as well.”
Advertisement
Senior Sergeant Mark Todd, another police officer with military service who eventually disarmed the gunman, said that it was the first time that he had ever had to use his weapon in 25 years of law enforcement.
“We’re trained to shoot until there’s no longer a threat. And once he was laying down on his back, his weapon just fell into his hand and I’m like, ‘Okay, now’s the time to rush him and secure him’.
“I ran up and I kicked his weapon away and then we placed him in handcuffs and, after searching him for any other weapons and everything, we started the life-saving measures on him.”
Sergeant Todd said that he thanked God he was able to walk away without injury.
“Directly after it, I sent my wife a text and my sister a text: ‘Shooting at Fort Hood. I’m okay. I’ll call when I can’.
Advertisement
“We’re trained to do whatever we need to do so we can walk home at the end of the day and hug our families and just be normal people.”