An army psychiatrist who allegedly went on a shooting rampage Thursday, killing 13 people and wounding dozens of others, was traumatized by stories he heard from soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder.
Maj. Malik Nadal Hasan, 39, "had people telling him on a daily basis the horrors they saw over (in Afghanistan and Iraq)," Nader Hasan, a cousin, told the New York Times.
The base at Fort Hood, Texas is rife with suicide and substance abuse, an anonymous soldier told CBC correspondent Paul Hunter.
"You see people, they have a smile on their face, but you don't know what's going on on the inside," the soldier reportedly told Hunter.
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Suspected shooter Hasan, 39, was about to be deployed to Iraq, a military official said. He indicated he didn't want to go but was willing to serve in Afghanistan, said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.
CBC reports that Hasan had previously tried to get discharged from the military but was unsuccessful. His cousin told the Times that Hasan started having second thoughts about the military when other soldiers harassed him for being Muslim a few years ago.
Death toll rises A military official says a 13th person has died after Hasan turned on his colleagues in a shooting rampage.
Officials Friday raised the toll after one of victims who was originally reported wounded died. Officials had said 30 were injured during the assault.
Hasan was on a ventilator and unconscious in a hospital after being shot four times. Military officials had originally reported Hasan dead, but a senior U.S. official in Washington later said authorities had mistaken one of the victims who had been shot and killed as the shooter.
The official spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss matters that were under investigation.
The official said authorities have not ruled out the possibility that Hasan acted on behalf of some unidentified radical group, though he would not say whether any evidence supported that theory.
Hasan was a doctor and a fellow in disaster and preventive psychiatry in the department of psychiatry at the F. Edward Hébert School of Medicine.
Hasan was about to be sent to war, and was reportedly unhappy about the prospect. Retired colonel Terry Lee, who said he had worked with Hasan, told Fox News Hasan was being sent to Afghanistan.
Lee said Hasan had hoped Obama would pull troops out of Afghanistan and Iraq and got into frequent arguments with others in the military who supported the wars.
Suspicious internet postings The officials said Hasan had come to their attention at least six months before the attack because of internet postings that appeared to come from him that discussed suicide bombings and other threats. Officials are still working to confirm Hasan's connection to the postings, but an official investigation was never opened.
One of the postings that authorities reviewed is a blog that equates suicide bombers with a soldier throwing himself on a grenade to save the lives of his comrades.
"He is a brave hero that sacrificed his life for a more noble cause," the posting says.
Faizul Khan, a former imam at a mosque Hasan attended in Silver Spring, Md., said he spoke often with Hasan about how Hasan wanted to find a wife. Hasan was a lifelong Muslim and attended prayers regularly, often in his army uniform, Khan said.
U.S. President Barack Obama called the Texas shooting "a horrific outburst of violence" and pledged support for the Fort Hood community.
"It's difficult enough when we lose these brave Americans in battles overseas," Obama said. "It is horrifying that they should come under fire at an army base on American soil."
With files from The Associated Press
