Mass Murder – Reflections on the Ft. Hood Shooting

Please note that this blog is based upon the limited information that has been obtained from news media resources over the past 24 hours and is, of course, subject to change.

INITIAL REPORTS – The initial reports regarding the Ft. Hood shooting were, as expected, confusing and contradictory.  I was listening to the original radio reports while driving home and there were some “facts” that, quite frankly, did not make sense.  “Initial reports” indicated that there were possibly two or three shooters and that they were armed with M-16 rifles.  There were, however, no reports of any explosions.  This struck me as odd because, if this was a coordinated terrorist attack on a U.S. Army base by multiple attackers I would have expected the use of explosive devices in an attempt to maximize the body count.  In fact, I really can’t think of any terrorist attacks on government facilities where explosives weren’t used.  When it became clear that the attack was focused on a facility used to prepare soldiers for deployment, this started to sound like the “Disgruntled Employee” Mass Murderer.  I originally felt that this was probably a soldier who did not want to be deployed, perhaps for the second or third time, and had become so frustrated that his objections were not being taken seriously that he decided to “make his point” by shooting people at the location that most threatened him.  In the end, I think my conclusions were only partly correct.

THE SHOOTER – Major Nidal Malik Hasan is being described as a 39-year old Army Doctor/Psychiatrist who was born in the United States (Virginia) and was raised as a Muslim.  After joining the Army as an enlisted soldier, he spent 8 years before, after completing his Bachelor’s Degree at Virginia Tech, he was sent to Medical School and then completed his internship and residency in Psychiatry.  Some reports have indicated that he has had some “difficulties” which may have required counseling and extra supervision. Relatives have indicated that Major Hasan had reported being “harassed” about being a Muslim since September 11th and had wanted to be discharged from the Army and not be deployed to the Middle East. (Initial responses from the Army indicate that Major Hasan had not filed any complaints of harassment.) It has further been reported that he was vehemently against the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and openly criticized U.S. policy in the Middle East. Another important fact is that, as a psychiatrist, Major Hasan had been treating numerous soldiers for post-traumatic stress symptoms and had undoubtedly heard many, many horror stories about combat activities in both Iraq and Afghanistan.

PRE-SHOOTING BEHAVIOR – News outlets have spoken with Major Hasan’s neighbors who report that recently he has been giving away his possessions telling his neighbors that he was about to be deployed.  This is not an uncommon behavior for someone who has decided to commit suicide.  One of the common traits among most mass murderers is that they expect to die at the scene, either at their own hands or the hands of the police.

THE SHOOTING (based on initial reports) - Major Hasan was seated at a desk at the Soldier Readiness Center where approximately 300 soldiers and civilians were in various stages of being medically examined for deployment.  At some point around 1:30 p.m. Major Hasan took two firearms out of the desk (two privately-owned and not military firearms) and began calmly and methodically shooting people.  With that many people in the building, he could hardly miss. It has also been reported by multiple sources that, during his shooting spree, Major Hasan shouted “Allahu Akbar!” (God is Great).  He then moved outside to continue shooting before being confronted by two civilian police officers.  There was an exchange of gunfire and a female police sergeant, Sgt. Kimberly Munley, and Major Hasan, were both wounded.  In the end, Major Hasan fired more than 100 rounds, killing 13 people and wounding more than 30 others.

MASS MURDER TYPOLOGY AND MOTIVATION - This case is an excellent example of how one offender can have multiple motivations.  One one level, Major Hasan is an example of a “Disgruntled Employee Mass Murderer.” This type of offender blames others for his own problems and, in the end, feels that the only way to “get his message across” or “make a statement” is for him to go out in a blaze of glory.  Again, these offenders usually expect to die at the scene and view this as a form of suicide. (There are exceptions, of course, like Jason Rodriguez who, the very next day, killed one person and wounded five at an Engineering firm that had fired him.  He was arrested without incident at his mother’s home.) What is important in this type of shooting is not only who was shot but WHERE the shooting took place.  In this case, Major Hasan shot people at the Soldier Readiness Center, a location which represented to him the impending deployment that he had been unsuccessful in getting out of.

At the same time, Major Hasan has some of the attributes of the “Ideological Mass Murderer.” This type of mass murderer kills to further his religious and/or political agenda (i.e. Timothy McVeigh, or a suicide bomber).  Again we need to look at the target location, a U.S. Army base.  Major Hasan seems to have demonstrated that his actions were designed to support the radical Islamist belief that by killing others while giving up his own life, he would become a martyr to Islam.  Killing soldiers about to deploy to Iraq or Afghanistan would make his actions that much more beneficial.

CONCLUSIONS – In the end, it is my opinion that, first and foremost, Major Nidal Malik Hasan was a coward.  Perhaps, after hearing so many horror stories from returning soldiers, he became deeply afraid of what might happen to him during a deployment, especially if he was captured. He made every effort not to be deployed even going so far, apparently, of offering to repay the Army for his medical education.  In the end, it became apparent that he would rather die than be deployed.  His anger and frustration at the Army for wanting to send him to the Middle East against his will helped him to reach the decision to become a mass murderer.

But even though he, himself, was a trained psychiatrist, he apparently could not come to grips with his own cowardice and had to find another reason to justify his murderous attack.  That reason seems to have been the defense of Islam.  While he could not envision coming face-to-face with his God and explain that he had died a coward, he could very easily convince himself that God would welcome a martyr with open arms.

Major Hasan is currently expected to survive his wounds.  The analysis, and criticism, of this event will go on for months.  He will be described as someone who has “snapped” (see my first blog for my perspective on that) and who suffered from depression and other forms of mental illness.  There will undoubtedly be an effort to invoke the insanity defense.  It will be difficult, in my opinion, for the insanity defense to prevail for it will be hard for a jury, and it will be a military jury in this case, to conclude that a man who would purchase two handguns and over a hundred rounds of ammunition, and who then secretively brought these weapons to Fort Hood, and who then methodically shot over 40 people, was insane at the time.

But, I guess, stranger things have happened.

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