2009 Fort Hood shooting

Shootings

Preparations

According to pretrial testimony, Hasan entered the Guns Galore store in Killeen on July 31, 2009, and purchased the FN Five-seven semi-automatic pistol that he would use in the attack at Fort Hood. According to Army Specialist William Gilbert, a regular customer at the store, Hasan entered the store and asked for "the most technologically advanced weapon on the market and the one with the highest standard magazine capacity". Hasan was allegedly asked how he intended to use the weapon, but simply repeated that he wanted the most advanced handgun with the largest magazine capacity. The three people with Hasan—Gilbert, the store manager, and an employee—all recommended the FN Five-seven pistol. As Gilbert owned one of the pistols, he spent an hour describing its operation to Hasan.

Hasan left the store, saying he needed to research the weapon. He returned to purchase the gun the next day, and visited the store once a week to buy extra magazines, along with over 3,000 rounds of 5.7×28mm SS192 and SS197SR ammunition total. In the weeks prior to the attack, Hasan visited an outdoor shooting range in Florence, where he allegedly became adept at hitting silhouette targets at distances of up to 100 yards.

Soldier Readiness Processing Center shootings

At approximately 1:34 p.m. local time, November 5, 2009, Hasan entered the Soldier Readiness Processing Center, where personnel receive routine medical treatment immediately prior to and on return from deployment. He was preparing to deploy to Afghanistan with his unit and had been to the Center several times before. He was armed with the FN Five-seven pistol, which he had fitted with two Lasermax laser sights: one red, and one green. A Smith & Wesson .357 Magnum revolver (an older model) was later found on Hasan's person, but he did not use it to shoot any of the victims.

After entering the building, Hasan went to the first desk to the right of the North doors and asked to see Major Parrish. Parrish worked in the building (and had been assisting Hasan in his deployment preparations). The worker went down the hall to get Parrish. According to eyewitnesses, Hasan then went around behind the desk and bowed his head for several seconds, before he suddenly stood up, shouted "Allahu Akbar! " and opened fire. Witnesses said Hasan initially "sprayed bullets at soldiers in a fanlike motion" before taking aim at individual soldiers. Eyewitness SGT Michael Davis said: "The rate of fire was pretty much constant shooting. When I initially heard it, it sounded like an M16."

Army Reserve Captain John Gaffaney tried to stop Hasan by charging him, but was mortally wounded before reaching him. Civilian physician assistant Michael Cahill also tried to charge Hasan with a chair, but was shot and killed. Army Reserve Specialist Logan Burnett tried to stop Hasan by throwing a folding table at him, but he was shot in the left hip, fell down, and crawled to a nearby cubicle.

According to testimony from witnesses, Hasan passed up several opportunities to shoot civilians, and instead targeted soldiers in uniform, who – in accordance with military policy – were not carrying personal firearms. At one point, Hasan reportedly approached a group of five civilians hiding under a desk. He looked at them, swept the dot of his pistol's laser sight over one of the men's faces, and turned away without firing. While this was going on, an Army Specialist broke a window in the back of the building where Parrish worked. Two soldiers and Parrish exited the building through the broken window on the east side of the building and escaped to the parking lot, though one soldier severely cut his hand on broken glass. All of this happened as Hasan was still roaming the building and shooting.

Aftermath

An investigator later testified that 146 spent shell casings were recovered inside the building. Another 68 casings were collected outside, for a total of 214 rounds fired by the attacker and responding police officers. A medic who treated Hasan said his pockets were full of pistol magazines. When the shooting ended, he was still carrying 177 rounds of unfired ammunition in his pockets, contained in both 20- and 30-round magazines. The incident, which lasted about 10 minutes, resulted in 13 killed—12 soldiers and one civilian; 11 died at the scene, and two died later in a hospital; and 30 people wounded.

Initially, officials thought three soldiers were involved in the shooting; two other soldiers were detained, but subsequently released. The Fort Hood website posted a notice indicating that the shooting was not a drill. Immediately after the shooting, the base and surrounding areas were locked down by military police and U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command (CID) until around 7 pm local time. In addition, Texas Rangers, Texas DPS troopers, deputies from the Bell County Sheriff's Office, and FBI agents from Austin and Waco were dispatched to the base. U.S. President Barack Obama was briefed on the incident and later made a statement about the shooting.

On November 5, 2010, one year later, 52 individuals received awards for their actions in the shooting. The Soldier's Medal was awarded posthumously to Captain John Gaffaney, who died trying to charge the shooter; fifty other medals were presented to other responders, including seven others who were awarded the Soldier's Medal. The Secretary of the Army Award for Valor was awarded to police officers Kimberly Munley and Mark Todd, for the roles they played in stopping the shooter. On May 23, 2011, the Army Award for Valor was posthumously awarded to the civilian physician assistant Michael Cahill, who died trying to charge the shooter with a chair. In May 2012, Senator Joe Lieberman and Representative Peter T. King proposed legislation that would make the victims of the shooting eligible for the Purple Heart. In the 113th Congress, Representative John Carter introduced legislation to change the shooting designation from "workplace violence" to "combat related" which would make the victims of the shooting eligible to receive full benefits and the Purple Heart.

In July 2014, a memorial for those killed during the attack began to be built in Killeen. The dedication ceremony for the memorial was held in March 2016.

Casualties

Thirteen people - 12 soldiers and 1 civilian - were killed in the attack. Over thirty people were wounded; some from gunshots, others from falls or other injuries incurred during the incident, and many suffered psychological trauma or shock. The Army, press, and investigative bodies have reported several numbers for the total number of injured, without indicating what sorts of injuries they were counting, nor how: 29; 30; 31; 32; 38; and 42.

Hasan, the gunman, was taken to Scott and White Memorial Hospital, a trauma center in Temple, Texas, and later moved to Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio, Texas. Hasan was hit by at least four shots. As a result of being shot, he is now paraplegic. He was later held at the Bell County jail in Belton, Texas.

Ten of the injured were also treated at Scott and White. Seven wounded victims were taken to Metroplex Adventist Hospital in Killeen. On November 20, 2009, it was announced that eight of the wounded service members would deploy overseas.

Fatalities

The 13 killed were:

Wounded

The following people suffered gunshot wounds and survived:

Perpetrator

During his court-martial on August 6, 2013, before a panel of 13 officers, Major Nidal Malik Hasan declared that he was the shooter. Hasan is unmarried and was described as socially isolated. Born in the United States, Hasan is a practicing Muslim who, according to one of his cousins, became more devout after the deaths of his parents in 1998 and 2001. His cousin did not recall him ever expressing radical or anti-American views. Another cousin, Nader Hasan, a lawyer in Virginia, said that Nidal Hasan's opinion turned against the United States after he heard stories from his patients, who had returned from fighting in Afghanistan and Iraq. Because of what Hasan said was discrimination and his deepening anguish about serving in a military that fought against Muslims, he told some members of his family that he wanted to leave the military.

From 2003 to 2009, Hasan was stationed at Walter Reed Medical Center for his internship and residency; he also had a two-year fellowship at USUHS completed in 2009. According to National Public Radio (NPR) and the Associated Press (AP), officials at Walter Reed Medical Center repeatedly expressed concern about Hasan's behavior during the entire six years he was there. Hasan's supervisors gave him poor evaluations and warned him that he was doing substandard work. In early 2008 (and on later occasions), several key officials met to discuss what to do about Hasan. Attendees of these meetings reportedly included the Walter Reed chief of psychiatry, the chairman of the USUHS Psychiatry Department, two assistant chairs of the USUHS Psychiatry Department (one of whom was the director of Hasan's psychiatry fellowship), another psychiatrist, and the director of the Walter Reed psychiatric residency program. According to NPR, fellow students and faculty were "deeply troubled" by Hasan's behavior, which they described as "disconnected", "aloof", "paranoid", "belligerent" and "schizoid".

NPR, The Washington Post, and the Associated Press all reported on a presentation by Hasan that was originally planned as a medical lecture for other psychiatrists but instead was about Islam. In that lecture, Hasan said, according to the Quran, non-believers would be sent to hell, decapitated, set on fire, and have burning oil poured down their throats. A Muslim psychiatrist in the audience raised his hand, and challenged Hasan's claims. According to the Associated Press, Hasan's lecture also "justified suicide bombings". In the summer of 2009, after completion of his programs, he was transferred to Fort Hood.

Possible motives

Immediately after the shooting, analysts and public officials openly debated Hasan's motive and preceding psychological state. A spokesperson for U.S. Senator Kay Bailey Hutchison, one of the first officials to comment on Hasan's background, told reporters that Hasan was upset about his pending deployment to Afghanistan on November 28. Noel Hamad, Hasan's aunt, said that the family was not aware he was being sent to Afghanistan.

Citing anonymous sources, ABC News reported on November 16, 2009, that investigators suspect that the shootings were triggered by superiors' refusal to process Hasan's requests that some of his patients be prosecuted for war crimes based on statements they made during psychiatric sessions with him. Fellow psychiatrists complained to superiors that Hasan's actions violated doctor-patient confidentiality.

Duane Reasoner, a convert to Islam whom Hasan was mentoring in the religion, said the psychiatrist did not want to be deployed. "'He said Muslims shouldn't be in the U.S. military, because obviously Muslims shouldn't kill Muslims. He told me not to join the Army.'"

Senator Joe Lieberman called for a probe by the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs, which he chaired. Lieberman said "it's premature to reach conclusions about what motivated Hasan ... I think it's very important to let the Army and the FBI go forward with this investigation before we reach any conclusions." Two weeks later, when opening his committee's hearings, Lieberman labeled the shooting "the most destructive terrorist attack on America since September 11, 2001".

An analyst of terror investigations, Carl Tobias, opined that the attack did not fit the profile of terrorism, and was more similar to the Virginia Tech massacre, committed by a student believed to be severely mentally ill. Brian Mockenhaupt of Esquire commented in November 2010 about Hasan: "...for a lonely, socially maladjusted outcast, righteousness and piety can be a comfortable cloak under which to hide."

Michael Scheuer, the retired former head of the Bin Laden Issue Station, and former U.S. Attorney General Michael Mukasey have called the event a terrorist attack, as has the terrorism expert Walid Phares. Retired General Barry McCaffrey said on Anderson Cooper 360° that "it's starting to appear as if this was a domestic terrorist attack on fellow soldiers by a major in the Army who we educated for six years while he was giving off these vibes of disloyalty to his own force".

Hasan's description of motives

In August 2013, Fox News released documents from Hasan in which he explained his motives. Most of the documents included the acronym "SoA", which is considered shorthand for "Soldier of Allah". In one document, Hasan wrote that he was required to renounce any oaths that required him to defend any man-made constitution over the commandments mandated in Islam. In another document, he wrote "I invite the world to read the book of All-Mighty Allah and decide for themselves if it is the truth from their Lord. My desire is to help people attain heaven by the mercy of their Lord."

In another document, Hasan wrote that there is a fundamental and irreconcilable conflict between American democracy and Islamic governance. Specifically:

... in an American democracy, 'we the people' govern according to what 'we the people' think is right or wrong, even if it specifically goes against what All-Mighty God commands.

He further explained that separation of Church and State is an unacceptable attempt to get along with unbelievers, because "Islam was brought to prevail over other religions" and not to be equal with or subservient to them.

Reaction

Many have characterized the attack as terrorism. A group of soldiers and families have sought to have the defense secretary designate the shooting a "terrorist attack;" this would provide them with benefits equal to injuries in combat.

The FBI found no evidence to indicate Hasan had any co-conspirators or was part of a broader terrorist plot, classifying him as a homegrown violent extremist. Conversely, the Defense Department currently classifies Hasan's attack as an act of workplace violence and would not make further statements until the court martial.

President Obama

The U.S. President's initial response to the attack came during a scheduled speech at the Tribal Nations Conference for America's 564 federally recognized Native American tribes. Obama was criticized by various news outlets for being "insensitive" to viewer's perceived emotional distress, speaking too colloquially by giving a "shout-out" to a member of the audience and assuming a "jocular" tone for the first three minutes of his speech rather than immediately according the moment sufficient gravitas. Later, the President delivered the memorial eulogy for the victims. Reaction to his memorial speech was largely positive, with some deeming it one of his best. The speech was criticized by a reporter from The Wall Street Journal, who found the speech largely absent of emotion, while National Review columnist Andrew C. McCarthy criticized Obama for refusing to acknowledge Islamic terrorism as having a role in the shooting.

On December 6, 2015, in his speech addressing terrorism, Obama included the Fort Hood shooting among Islamic inspired terrorist incidents.

Fort Hood personnel

Retired Army colonel Terry Lee, who had worked with Hasan, said the psychiatrist expressed the hope that Obama would withdraw U.S. troops from Iraq and Afghanistan, and argued with military colleagues who supported the wars.

US Government

A spokesman for the Defense Department called the shooting an "isolated and tragic case", and Defense Secretary Robert Gates pledged that his department would do "everything in its power to help the Fort Hood community get through these difficult times." The chair of the Senate Armed Services Committee, Carl Levin, and numerous politicians, expressed condolences to the victims and their families.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano stated "we object to—and do not believe—that anti-Muslim sentiment should emanate from this ... This was an individual who does not, obviously, represent the Muslim faith." Chief of Staff Gen. George W. Casey, Jr. said "I'm concerned that this increased speculation could cause a backlash against some of our Muslim soldiers ... Our diversity, not only in our Army, but in our country, is a strength. And as horrific as this tragedy was, if our diversity becomes a casualty, I think that's worse."

In January 2010, a senior Obama administration official, who declined to be named, referred to the shooting as "an act of terrorism". However, other administration officials did not refer to the shootings as a terrorist event. Several people, including Senator Joe Lieberman and General Barry McCaffrey, have called the event a terrorist attack. The United States Department of Defense and federal law enforcement agencies had classified the shootings as an act of workplace violence. This was changed by the Fiscal Year 2015 National Defense Authorization Act which broadened the criteria for awarding the Purple Heart to include "an attack by a foreign terrorist organization....if the attack was inspired or motivated by the foreign terrorist organization." This allowed the Army to award the Purple Heart, and its civilian equivalent, The Defense of Freedom Medal, to victims of the attack. The U.S. government declined requests from survivors and family members of the slain to categorize the Fort Hood shooting as an act of terrorism, or motivated by militant Islamic religious convictions. In November 2011, a group of survivors and family members filed a lawsuit against the government for negligence in preventing the attack, and to force the government to classify the shootings as terrorism. The Pentagon argued that charging Hasan with terrorism was not possible within the military justice system and that such action could harm the military prosecutors' ability to sustain a guilty verdict against Hasan.

Victims of the shooting were denied Purple Hearts as well as associate benefits. In 2013, during the 113th United States Congress, Representative Carter submitted the Honoring the Fort Hood Heroes Act for consideration. The bill was referred to committee. In 2015, a similar bill was introduced in the legislature of Texas, to award the Texas Purple Heart Medal to the shooting victims.

Veteran groups

Veterans groups across the United States expressed condolences for victims of the attack. American Legion National Commander Clarence E. Hill stated, "The American Legion extends condolences to the victims and the families of those affected by the shootings at Fort Hood." Veterans of Foreign Wars National Commander Thomas J. Tradewell Sr. states, "The entire military family is grieving right now. I just want them to know they do not grieve alone. Our hearts and prayers are with them."

Military policy on bases

The Army places strict restrictions on personal firearms carried onto Fort Hood and other bases. Military weapons are used only for training or by base security. Personal weapons brought on base are required to be secured at all times and must be registered with the provost marshal. Specialist Jerry Richard, a soldier working at the Readiness Center, said he felt this policy left the soldiers vulnerable to violent assaults: "Overseas you are ready for it. But here you can't even defend yourself." Jacob Sullum, an opponent of gun control, described the base as a "gun-free zone".

Hasan's family

A spokeswoman for the Hasan family said that the actions of their cousin were "despicable and deplorable", and did not reflect how they were raised.

American Muslim groups

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) condemned the shooting and noted that it was not in keeping with Muslim teachings. CAIR president called the shooting a "cowardly attack" and added: "No political or religious ideology could ever justify or excuse such wanton and indiscriminate violence."

Salman al-Ouda, a dissident Saudi cleric and former inspiration to Osama bin Laden, condemned the shooting, saying the incident would have bad consequences:

...undoubtedly this man might have a psychological problem; he may be a psychiatrist but he [also] might have had psychological distress, as he was being commissioned to go to Iraq or Afghanistan, and he was capable of refusing to work whatever the consequences were." The senior analyst at the NEFA Foundation described Ouda's comments as "a good indication of how far on a tangent Anwar al-Awlaki is.

Anwar al-Awlaki

Soon after the attack, Anwar al-Awlaki posted praise for Hasan for the shooting on his website. He wrote, "Nidal Hasan is a hero, the fact that fighting against the U.S. army is an Islamic duty today cannot be disputed. Nidal has killed soldiers who were about to be deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan in order to kill Muslims." In March 2010, Al-Awlaki alleged that the Obama administration tried to portray Hasan's actions as an individual act of violence from an estranged individual, and that it was trying to suppress information for the American public. He said:

Until this moment the administration is refusing to release the e-mails exchanged between myself and Nidal. And after the operation of our brother Umar Farouk the initial comments coming from the administration were looking the same – another attempt at covering up the truth. But Al Qaeda cut off Obama from deceiving the world again by issuing their statement claiming responsibility for the operation. (Note: The US investigation found no evidence that ties Hasan to al-Qaeda. See section below.)

On April 6, 2010, The New York Times reported that President Obama had authorized the targeted killing of al-Awlaki, who had been hunted by the Yemen government since going into hiding. On September 30, 2011, two Predator drones fired missiles at a vehicle with al-Awlaki aboard, killing him and Samir Khan.

Investigation and prosecution

The criminal investigation was conducted jointly by the FBI, the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command, and the Texas Rangers Division. As a member of the military, Hasan is subject to the jurisdiction of the Uniform Code of Military Justice (military law). He was initially represented by Belton, Texas-based John P. Galligan, a criminal defense attorney and retired US Army Colonel. Hasan regained consciousness on November 9, but refused to talk to investigators.

The investigative officer in charge of his article 32 hearing was Colonel James L. Pohl, who had previously led the investigation into the Abu Ghraib abuses, and is the Chief Presiding Officer of the Guantanamo military commissions.

On November 9, 2009, the FBI said that investigators believed Hasan had acted alone. They disclosed that they had reviewed evidence which included conversations from 2008, with someone that an official identified as Anwar al-Awlaki, but that they did not find any evidence that Hasan had received orders or help from anyone. According to a November 11 press release, after preliminary examination of Hasan's computers and internet activity, they had found no information to indicate he had any co-conspirators or was part of a broader terrorist plot, stressing the "early stages" of the review. They said no e-mail communications with outside facilitators or known terrorists were found.

Investigators were evaluating reports that, in May 2001, Hasan had attended a mosque in Virginia for the funeral of his mother, which was attended that spring and summer by two of the 9/11 hijackers. The imam was the American cleric Anwar al-Awlaki, then considered a moderate. Awlaki has since been accused of aiding the 9/11 plot and since 2006–2007 has been identified as radicalized. Investigators were trying to determine if al-Awlaki's teachings influenced Hasan. Hasan attended services at the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring, Maryland.

Army officials operated "on the belief that he acted alone and had no help". No motive for the shootings was offered, but they believed Hasan had written an Internet posting that appeared to support suicide bombings. Sen. Lieberman opined that Hasan was under personal stress and may have turned to Islamic extremism.

Trial

In January 2011, Hasan was judged sane for trial by a sanity board, composed of doctors and psychologists. This allowed a capital trial, and more information about his mental state at the time of the shootings was able to be introduced by the defense during the trial.

He was formally arraigned on July 20, 2011. He did not enter a plea, and the judge granted a request by Hasan's attorneys that a plea be entered later. The judge set a court-martial date for March 5, 2012. Later, the court-martial date was pushed back after Hasan switched lawyers, to provide them time to prepare his defense.

Having previously instructed Hasan to follow Army regulations and shave a beard he had grown, the judge, Colonel Gregory Gross, found him in contempt in July 2012 and fined him. His court-martial was set to begin on August 20, 2012. He was fined again for retaining his beard, and warned that he could be forcibly shaved prior to his court-martial.

On August 14, military judge Col. Gregory Gross declined any further delays to the August 20 court martial date. Hasan objected to being shaved against his will, and his attorney's appealed to the United States Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces. Hasan said having a beard was part of his religious belief. On August 27, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces ruled that the trial could continue but did not rule whether Hasan could be forcibly shaved, having previously rejected previous attempts by Hasan to receive "religious accommodation" from Army Regulation to wear his beard. On September 6, Col. Gross ordered that Hasan be shaved after it was determined that the 1993 Religious Freedom Restoration Act did not apply to this case; however, it will not be enforced until his appeals are exhausted, further delaying the trial.

On September 21, defense attorneys of Hasan filed two appeals with the Army Court of Criminal Appeals regarding his beard, postponing the trial. In mid-October, the Army Court of Criminal Appeals upheld Colonel Gross' decision that Hasan could be forcibly shaved. Hasan's attorneys filed an appeal to the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces seeking to overturn the lower court, and to have Gross removed.

On December 4, 2012, the Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces vacated Major Hasan's six convictions for contempt of court and removed the judge, Colonel Gregory Gross, from the case, stating he had not shown the requisite impartiality. The Court of Appeals overturned an order to have Hasan's beard be forcibly shaven; it did not rule on whether Hasan's religious rights had been violated. The Court of Appeals additionally ruled that it was the military command's responsibility, not the military judge, to ensure Hasan met grooming standards. The Army's Judge Advocate General appointed a new judge to replace Gross, Colonel Tara A. Osborn. The ruling was called "unusual" by Jeffrey Addicott of the Center for Terrorism Law at St. Mary's University, and called "rare" by military defense attorney Frank Spinner.

Conviction and sentencing

On August 23, 2013, following a seven-hour deliberation, the jury convicted Hasan on all charges. Five days later, a U.S. military court sentenced him to death for the shootings. At the time of his sentencing, he became the sixth person on military death row. On October 5, 2026, President Donald J. Trump approved Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth's request that Hasan be executed by Army firing squad.

Internal investigations

The FBI noted that Hasan had first been brought to their attention in December 2008 by a Joint Terrorism Task Force (JTTF). Communications between Hasan and al-Awlaki, and other similar communications, were reviewed and considered to be consistent with Hasan's professional research at the Walter Reed Medical Center. "Because the content of the communications was explainable by his research and nothing else derogatory was found, the JTTF concluded that Major Hasan was not involved in terrorist activities or terrorist planning."

In December 2009, FBI Director Robert Mueller appointed William H. Webster, a former director of the FBI, to establish a commission to conduct an independent review of the FBI's handling of assessing the risk that Hasan posed.

On January 15, 2010, the Department of Defense released the findings of its investigation, which found that the department was unprepared to defend against internal threats. Secretary Robert Gates said that previous incidents had not drawn enough attention to workplace violence and "self-radicalization" within the military. He also suggested that some officials may be held responsible for not drawing attention to Hasan prior to the shooting. The department report did not touch upon Hasan's motives.

James Corum, a retired Army Reserve Lieutenant Colonel and Dean at the Baltic Defence College in Estonia, called the Defense Department report "a travesty" for failing to mention Hasan's devotion to Islam and his radicalization. U.S. Representative John Carter of Texas criticized the report, saying he felt the government was "afraid to be accused of profiling somebody". John F. Lehman, a member of the 9/11 Commission and Secretary of the Navy under Ronald Reagan, said he felt that the report "shows you how deeply entrenched the values of political correctness have become." Debra Saunders of the San Francisco Chronicle wrote in an opinion piece: "Even ... if the report's purpose was to craft lessons to prevent future attacks, how could they leave out radical Islam?"

The leaders of the investigation, former Secretary of the Army Togo D. West, Jr. and retired Admiral Vernon Clark, responded by saying their "concern is with actions and effects, not necessarily with motivations", and that they did not want to conflict with the criminal investigation on Hasan that was under way.

Lawsuit

A lawsuit filed in November 2011 by victims and their family members alleges that the government's failure to take action against Hasan before the attack was willful negligence prompted by "political correctness". The 83 claimants sought $750 million in compensation from the Army.

As of 2012, the Department of Defense classifies the case as one of workplace violence. A spokesman for the department stated,

The Department of Defense is committed to the integrity of the ongoing court martial proceedings of Major Nadal Hasan and for that reason will not further characterize, at this time, the incident that occurred at Fort Hood on November 5, 2009. Major Hassan has been charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder, and 32 counts of attempted murder. As with all pending UCMJ matters, the accused is innocent until proven guilty.

A group of 160 victims and family members have asked the government to declare the Fort Hood attack an act of terrorism, which would mean that injuries would be treated as if the victims were in a combat zone, providing them more benefits. US Representatives John Carter and Michael McCaul wrote, "Based on all the facts, it is inconceivable to us that the DOD and the Army continue to label this attack 'workplace violence' in spite of all the evidence that clearly proves the Fort Hood shooting was an act of terror." Carter and McCaul drew their conclusions from their interpretation of existing investigations.

On November 5, 2012, 148 plaintiffs, including victims and families of victims, filed a wrongful death claim against the United States Government, Hasan, and the estate of Anwar al-Awlaki. Their lawsuit alleges there were due process violations, intentional misrepresentation, assault and battery, gross negligence, and civil conspiracy. The lawsuit was featured on ABC's Nightline on February 12, 2013. Later that year, the case was placed on hold pending the conclusion of Hasan's court martial.

On January 22, 2019, U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly dismissed the wrongful death lawsuit for lack of jurisdiction, because the U.S. government was not named as a defendant.