Fort Hood survivors have been forced to recall the massacre that claimed 13 lives at the Texas military facility last November in a military hearing. Meanwhile, two former U.S. military officials said ordering a soldier to erase cellphone videos of the mass shooting could be a crime.
Pfc. Lance Aviles, who escaped the shooting at Fort Hood last year that left 13 dead and at least 32 injured, said during an evidentiary hearing Friday for the accused, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, that an officer and a non-commissioned officer ordered him to delete the video on the day of the shooting, reported the San Antonio Express-News.
"It could be obstruction of justice because it could be potentially destruction of important evidence," Washington attorney F. Whitten Peters told the newspaper. Peters was was the Pentagon's No. 2 lawyer from 1995 to 1997, then became the Air Force's top civilian leader.
Morris Davis, who served as the third chief prosecutor in the Guantanamo military commissions, said those involved in the video destruction could be held criminally liable, the report said.
Aviles didn't mention the videos when he met with Texas Rangers days after the Nov. 5 shooting, Hasan's lawyer, retired Army Col. John Galligan said, but did during a Dec. 9 interview with Fort Hood's Criminal Investigation Division.
Witnesses compared the scene to a horror movie. The Article 32 hearing will determine whether Hasan will be court-martialed and face a possible death penalty.Staff Sgt. Paul Martin testified Thursday he tried to play dead after he was shot in the arm. But when he was shot again in the leg, Martin said, "I got to get out of the building. I won't survive if I stay," the Austin American-Statesman reported. Martin said he ran for the door and was shot in the back and "hit the floor like a rock." Moments later he was able to regain his footing and flee the building.Spc. Alan Carroll, who was shot in the leg and back, testified Thursday via video link from Afghanistan, saying the shooting was "continuous" and "non-stop." He told the hearing he quit seeing a counselor before going to Afghanistan, adding, "I just want to forget about it."U.S. Army Col. James Pohl, the investigating officer, began Wednesday's proceeding by denying a defense request for a delay, the San Antonio Express-News reported. Pohl, who will advise commanders if they should order a court-martial, didn't explain what the request was for.During his testimony, Army Reserve Spc. James Armstrong said Hasan fired "as fast as someone can pull a trigger" and that he saw Hasan withdraw a magazine from the left cargo pocket of his camouflage uniform.
Asked to describe the scene, Armstrong said it was the "worst horror movie you could ever see. There were bloody handprints on the walls from people trying to get up."Witnesses testified Hasan, an Army psychiatrist scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan, targeted soldiers waiting to see physicians for their final medical clearance before deploying or returning from war, the American-Statesman reported. Several witnesses heard Hasan shout "Allahu Akbar" ("God is great") before firing dozens of rounds at the victims.Hasan, 40, faces 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. Attorneys are expected to call dozens of victims, first responders and witnesses in the next five weeks.
Source: UPI
