Fort Hood gunman gave his belongings to neighbour before rampage
Washington | November 07, 2009 11:13:08 AM IST
 

The US Army psychiatrist, who allegedly killed 13 soldiers and injured 30 others at the Fort Hood military base in Texas, gave his belongings to a neighbour, saying that he would be gone to Iraq or Afghanistan for six months.

On Thursday morning, Major Nidal Malik Hasan gave his neighbour Patricia Villa some items, including an air mattress, a steamer and men's clothing for her husband, some still in dry cleaning bags marked "Hasan."

A day before, he had brought over a copy of the Koran and bags of vegetables that he said he would not be able to eat.

"He said he was ready. I said, 'For real?' He said, 'I'm ready.' I figured, he's with God. He's ready to go fight," The New York Times quoted Villa, as saying.

A few hours later, Hasan was shot down by two civilian police officers after a shooting rampage at Fort Hood that left 13 people dead and at least 28 others wounded.

Villa recounts, when Hasan gave her his things, he told her: "'You need them.' I was so grateful to him. You think you know a person by seeing them, by how they act, but sometimes you're wrong."

While investigators continue to comb through the evidence to find out why he might have opened fire on his fellow soldiers, Hasan, a Virginia native and a Muslim, reportedly was against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and had been the target of harassment for his ethnicity.

Another neighbour Willie Bell, 51, who lived on the other side of Major Hasan's flat at the Casa Del Norte Apartments, called him "the nicest guy you'd want to meet."

When Bell bought a laptop computer a few months ago, he asked Hasan for help setting up his wireless Internet service, and gave Hasan his password. He now believes that Hasan has since been tapping into his wireless service.

Around 5 a.m. on Thursday morning, Bell said, his phone rang. It was Hasan. "He said, 'Nice knowing you, friend. I wish you'd plug up your Internet system so I could get online. Goodbye, good buddy. I'll be moving.' "

The FBI has taken his laptop computer for investigation. (ANI)

 

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