Army major accused of murders may be paralysed

THE army psychiatrist accused in the fatal shootings at Fort Hood may be paralysed from the waist down after being shot multiple times during the attack, his attorney said yesterday.

Civilian attorney John Galligan said Maj Nidal Malik Hasan told him that he had no feeling in his legs and extreme pain in his hands.

Hasan, who was shot four times by civilian police officers, said doctors told him the condition may never improve.

Galligan said he spoke with Hasan for about an hour in the intensive care unit at Brooke Army Medical Centre in San Antonio on Thursday, the same day Hasan was charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder.

The attack at the Texas post last week injured 43 people, including 34 who suffered gunshot wounds.

The military initially said 29 people and Hasan had been wounded, but some of the injuries came to the attention of authorities days later as they pieced together what happened the day of the shooting.

Galligan said that his client’s medical condition remains “extremely serious” and that Hasan didn’t flinch when Galligan touched his leg.

One of Hasan’s relatives was able to see him for the first time since he was hospitalised.

Hospital spokesman Dewey Mitchell said he could not confirm whether Hasan was paralysed because Hasan told hospital officials not to release any information about his condition or injuries.

Galligan said military prosecutors have not told him whether they plan to seek the death penalty, but he plans to file motions asking for a second military defence attorney and a civilian investigator to help with the case.

Army officials have said they believe Hasan acted alone when he jumped on a table with two handguns, shouted “Allahu akbar” and opened fire inside a building at Fort Hood.

The 13 people killed included a pregnant soldier and at least three other mental health professionals.

Army Criminal Investigation Command spokesman Chris Grey has said Hasan could face more charges.

It had not been decided whether to charge Hasan with the death of the soldier’s unborn child, officials said.

Galligan said he wasn’t pleased that Hasan was charged in the hospital without his lawyers present.

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama has ordered a review of all intelligence related to Hasan and whether the information was properly shared and acted upon within government agencies.

Members of Congress, particularly Michigan’s Peter Hoekstra, the top Republican on the House Intelligence Committee, have called for a full examination of what agencies knew about Hasan’s contacts with a radical Muslim cleric and others of concern to the US and what they did with the information.

Hoekstra confirmed this week that the government knew of about 10 to 20 emails between Hasan and a radical imam, beginning in December 2008.

“US Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan has been charged with 13 specifications of pre-meditated murder under the military code of justice,” Chris Grey, a spokesman for the army’s criminal investigation division, told reporters.

“We still believe that there was only one gunman at the scene involved in the actual shootings on November 5.”

Grey did not mention whether investigators also planned to indict Hasan over the 42 people wounded in the rampage but said other charges could be forthcoming.

Obama vowed justice on Tuesday as he eulogised the dead in the Fort Hood shootings, promising in front of 15,000 mourners that the killer would “be met with justice, in this world, and the next”.

After regaining consciousness, Hasan, 39, has been able to talk since Thursday but has so far declined to discuss the day’s events with investigators.

Some analysts have questioned why Hasan was not more closely watched and US lawmakers have vowed to probe the handling of the case.

Meanwhile, residents on the largest US military base are attempting to return to going about their normal lives a week after the rampage.

“Fort Hood has gotten its breath back and we continue to move forward,” base spokesman Colonel John Rossi told reporters.

“As part of our healing process, Fort Hood continues to responsibly, respectfully resume normal mission and training activities,” he said.