Murder In America
EP. 187: TEXAS - The Ft. Hood Mass Shooting: A Terrorist Attack From The Inside (Pt. 1)
Fri, 31 Jan 2025
In today's episode, we examine a disturbing massacre that erupted on the Fort Hood military base outside of Killeen, Texas, during which 13 people were killed and more than 30 people were injured. The story of this mass shooting is dark, and highlights a number of key failures from within the American Intelligence community, and the United States Army itself. You're listening, to MURDER IN AMERICA. - Listen to our new show, "THE CONSPIRACY FILES"!: -Spotify - https://open.spotify.com/show/5IY9nWD2MYDzlSYP48nRPl -Apple Podcasts - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-conspiracy-files/id1752719844 -Amazon/Audible - https://music.amazon.com/podcasts/ab1ade99-740c-46ae-8028-b2cf41eabf58/the-conspiracy-files -Pandora - https://www.pandora.com/podcast/the-conspiracy-files/PC:1001089101 -iHeart - https://iheart.com/podcast/186907423/ -PocketCast - https://pca.st/dpdyrcca -CastBox - https://castbox.fm/channel/id6193084?country=us - Stay Connected: Join the Murder in America fam in our free Facebook Community for a behind-the-scenes look, more insights and current events in the true crime world: https://www.facebook.com/groups/4365229996855701 If you want even more Murder in America bonus content, including ad-free episodes, come join us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/murderinamerica Instagram: http://instagram.com/murderinamerica/ Facebook:https://www.facebook.com/people/Murder-in-America-Podcast/100086268848682/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/MurderInAmerica TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@theparanormalfiles and https://www.tiktok.com/@courtneybrowen Feeling spooky? Follow Colin as he travels state to state (and even country to country!) investigating claims of extreme paranormal activity and visiting famous haunted locations on The Paranormal Files Official Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/TheParanormalFilesOfficialChannel - (c) BLOOD IN THE SINK PRODUCTIONS 2025 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Chapter 1: What was the Luby's Massacre?
But despite this, Nadal did well in school. He was an eager student who was very serious about his education. And when he wasn't studying, he was helping his parents with their family business. Like in high school, Nadal did not socialize with anyone. Every day, he would travel from his parents' house to Virginia Tech. Then after his classes, he would work, study, and spend time with his family.
But other than that, he didn't do much. Even when the biochemistry department would get together for outings at bars or restaurants, Nadal always refused the invitation. He just wasn't one to socialize. Dr. Bunce would later say, quote, Nadal seemed to me to be hardworking, but not an especially imaginative young man. He was not outgoing, but neither did he appear to be antisocial.
I did not detect any pathological characteristics. He gave no indication of being particularly religious, or hostile." Now in 1995, after years of hard work, Nadal would graduate from Virginia Tech with a degree in biochemistry. And luckily for him, because of his time in the military, his entire college education had been paid for in full by the United States Army.
A few weeks after his college graduation, Nadal was ready to get back into the military. And soon enough, he was placed on active duty in Fort Sam Houston, near San Antonio. This time, Nidal wanted to pursue medical training. Throughout his life, learning had always been his strong suit. And if the army was going to pay for his schooling, then why not become a doctor? Nidal Hasan had a good plan.
Things were going well for him. But all of that would change in April of 1998, when his father, 51-year-old Malik, suddenly passed away from a heart attack inside the family home on Ramada Road. When Nadal learned that his father passed, he was devastated. Malik was the backbone of their family. From that moment on, everything seemed to fall apart for them.
Nadal's mother Nora was heartbroken after her husband's death. Eventually, she would even sell their home and move into a one-bedroom apartment in the Washington D.C. suburb of Kensington, Maryland. But she was really struggling. So much so, Nadal decided to move back home for a while to care for his mother.
And to help her cope with the loss, Nadal started taking his mom to the local mosque in Falls Church, Virginia. Now, throughout their life, the Hassan family identified as Muslim, but they were never really religious. Upon moving to America, they actually distance themselves from religion in order to fit in.
However, death tends to bring people closer to God, and with the death of his father, they search for comfort at their mosque. But Nidal Hasan would find much more than just comfort in God. He would find a mentor named Anwar al-Awlaki.
Anwar al-Awlaki was born on April 21, 1971, in Las Cruces, New Mexico, so he was a United States citizen. But when Anwar was just 7 years old, he and his family would move to Yemen, and they would stay there for the next 13 years. However, in 1991, Anwar decided to come back to the United States, where he enrolled at Colorado State University.
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Chapter 2: What happened during the Fort Hood shooting?
Now, on March 23rd, 2003, a tragedy would take place at an American military base in the Middle East that would leave Nadal Hassan feeling inspired. That morning, at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait, A military sergeant from Los Angeles named Hassan Akbar would sneak over to the power generators and turn them off so that the base went completely dark.
He then threw four M67 hand grenades into the tents of soldiers while they slept. As the grenades exploded, many people tried to run for safety, but Akbar was waiting for them with an M4 rifle. Ultimately, he killed two officers and wounded 14. The incident was eye-opening for America. Sergeant Hassan Akbar was one of their own. and after the tragedy, they would make a disturbing discovery.
As it turned out, he had been keeping a journal for 13 years, and it would later be used in his trial. In 1992, he wrote, I made a promise that if I am not able to achieve success because of some Caucasians, I will kill as many of them as possible. In 1993, he wrote, A Muslim should see himself as a Muslim only. His loyalty should be to Islam only.
On February 4th, 2003, he wrote, I suppose they want to punk me or just humiliate me. Perhaps they feel that I will not do anything about that. They're right about that. I'm not going to do anything about it as long as I stay here. But as soon as I am in Iraq, I'm going to try and kill as many of them as possible.
A few weeks before the attack, Akbar wrote, I may not have killed any Muslims, but being in the army is the same thing. I may have to make a choice very soon on who to kill. When the news spread about this story, Americans were horrified, but not Nadal. He was inspired, and he wouldn't stop talking about it with anyone who would listen.
One of his supervisors even stated that afterwards, Nadal really wanted to study more stories of Muslim soldiers who had committed fratricide, which is the killing of one's own forces in war.
Now, during his residency, Nadal actually had to counsel soldiers who were coming home from Iraq, many of whom were suffering from PTSD. However, in these sessions, he started talking to the soldiers about Islam and it almost felt like he was preaching to them. When his supervisors found out about this, he clearly got into some trouble.
They even had to have meetings with him about, quote, inappropriately discussing religious topics with his assigned patients, end quote. But after a while, it was time for Nadal to take his mandatory United States medical licensing exam. However, he didn't show up for it, which resulted in him being put on probation. And from here, Nadal began neglecting his studies. He started skipping classes.
He would show up late to morning reports, which again, were mandatory. It was obvious to everyone that Nadal no longer wanted to be a top student. He also failed to show up for the mandatory psychiatry resident in-service training examination. His supervisors tried to work with him. They had multiple meetings to discuss his regression, but Nadal didn't seem to care.
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