Nidal Hasan

Maj. Nidal Hasan Says 'I Am the Shooter' at Ft. Hood Trial

A U.s. Guard staff sergeant professedly shot seven times by a companion, specialist Maj. Nidal Hasan, in a savage 2009 shooting frenzy at Ft. Hood, affirmed today that in the wake of being hit in the head and back, he played dead to abstain from being killed. 

In full dress-uniform, Staff Sgt. Alonzo Lunsford stood before a military court and the man blamed for shooting him, and sharp out the seven spots slugs punctured his physique. 

"We were all in a state of stun. It was a state of frenzy," Lunsford said existing apart from everything else Hasan entered the fortress' Soldier Readiness Processing Center, an occupied with building where unarmed fighters were getting prepared for upcoming organizations to Afghanistan, yelling "Allahu akbar," Arabic for "God is extraordinary," and starting to shoot. 

"The leading adjust, I'm hit in the head. At that point I hit the floor. I'm then hit again in the back. ... I chose to play dead," Lunsford said. "At the same time I acknowledged dead men don't sweat." 

Hasan is on trial for his existence, blamed for a shooting frenzy that left 13 individuals dead and more than 30 wounded at Ft. Hood in Texas. 

Hasan is speaking to himself, and was relied upon to interview witnesses. The show of blamed standing up to the schmucks for his ambush, on the other hand, did not come today on the grounds that Hasan picked not to address Lunsford, the first witness called by the indictment. 

Hasan, a Muslim American, does not deny being the shooter. In a short opening articulation today at his trial, which opened at the stronghold where his shooting spree occurred, he proclaimed: "The confirmation will obviously demonstrate that I am the shooter." 

Hasan called himself a "mujahedeen," or a Muslim sacred warrior. 

"We mujahedeen are defective officers attempting to structure an ideal religion. I apologize for any oversights I made in this attempt," he said. 

Prosecutors blamed Hassan for needing to slaughter Americans as a major aspect of an arrangement to direct a Muslim blessed war or jihad. 

"He would like to send and he came to accept he had a jihad calling to homicide officers," said Col. Steve Henricks. He needed to "execute the same number troopers as he could." 

The trial, which is evaluated to cost the central government $5 million, opened under substantial security. Outfitted watchmen ringed the courthouse, encompassed by a wall of metal sending compartments stacked three high and exceptionally built sand-filled hindrances. 

Hasan is wheelchair-bound since he was deadened when police shot him. He gets traveled to the fortification by helicopter from the close-by Bell County Jail. He should take a 15-moment break to extend about like clockwork, and needs to lift himself off his wheelchair for a moment each half hour to abstain from improving bruises. 

Judge Col. Tara Osborn told a jury of 12 Army officers that the trial could take months to finish. 

Provided that discovered liable, Hasan faces capital punishment. The court might not permit him to concede, along these lines immediately staying away from trial and, accordingly, the conceivability of a capital punishment. 

The military has not executed an animated calling U.s. serviceman since 1961.