(Thumbnail image: The Austin American-Statesman)
“It’s a day of mourning today in Fort Hood Texas, the scene of the worst killing spree ever at a U.S. military base. There was a single shooter that was shot multiple times at the scene, however, he was not killed as previously reported. Authorities say the shooter was 39-year-old Major Nidal Maalik Hasan, a military psychiatrist who was reportedly about to be shipped overseas. He apparently walked into a processing center Thursday afternoon and opened fire on his fellow comrades. At least 13 people died and 31 others were wounded.” (WRPI)
We are following media coverage of the deadly shooting at the army base Fort Hood in Texas on Thursday. This video, released by the Department of Defense, shows the police and paramedics responding to the deadly incident. (Footage from CNN)
We are analyzing who the shooter was and how the shooter’s Muslim beliefs are causing controversy.
We track video perspectives on the shooting from CNN, WPRI, CBS, Fox 5 News, and FOXNews.
CBS has a perspective from a forensic psychologist who believes that the shooter, because of his religious beliefs, identified with the people in Iraq- not U.S. soldiers.
“This is how it fits together, we heard someone who was on the scene said that he heard allah hua acba being shouted. Now, there are ideological mass shootings. A person who is treating a person with post-traumatic stress disorder is in an environment where they verbalize, so he is dealing with victims who may have verbalized a tremendous amount of resentment for people he identified with. And we know about mass shooters that they are alienated, and it is their alienation that enables mass shootings. You have to hate everyone, to feel comfortable killing anyone.”
FOX 5 in Washington D.C. reports that the shooter's Muslim beliefs might cause reactionary violence against Muslims.
“Local Arab American leaders are calling for calm. They do, in fact, believe that there will be a backlash. In fact, they tell us the hate calls, the hate emails have already begun. Now, at a news conference tonight at the headquarters of the Counsel American Islamic Relations, those leaders say they fear there could be attacks against Muslims across the country and particularly the estimated 11,000 Muslims serving in the branches of the military.”
FOX News interviews the shooter's cousin who says that it was Hassan’s fear of going to Iraq that caused the shooting, not his Muslim beliefs.
“I just want to make sure everybody understands he is a good American, and we are shocked. We just found out on the news that he was being deployed. He never even told us, because we've known for the last five years that was probably his worst nightmare. He deals with stories, he would tell us how he would hear horrific things, but even before things from the war that was probably affecting him psychologically, he was dealing with some harassment with some of his military colleagues. I’m baffled and if anyone wants to try to suggest that it has something else to do with being afraid of going to war... that’s it.”
So what do you think? Do you think the shooters religious beliefs caused the shooting? And do you believe there will be backlash against the Muslim community?
