KILLEEN, Texas – Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan's dingy apartment holds the odd remnants of a solitary military life, with hints of secrets and suggestions of terrible plans Investigators surrendered control of the apartment back to its owner Wednesday morning, nearly a week after the U.S. Army psychiatrist left it and drove to Fort Hood to attack his fellow soldiers and civilian employees, killing 13 and wounding 29. A manager at the Casa Del Norte apartments allowed media into Hasan's one-bedroom, upstairs unit shortly after the owner inspected it, taped one closet shut and left, shaking his head. "The owner feels a little guilty," said manager Alice Thompson.
Patricia Villa, a neighbor, said Hasan left his apartment for the last time about 11 a.m. last Thursday, several hours before the attack. Earlier that morning, the major had brought Villa a large air mattress he had been using as a bed.
Villa said Hasan told her the day before that he was leaving for a deployment. He brought her four wooden bookshelves and cheap folding chairs, three clothes racks and a blue suit, frozen food and a nearly new microwave. Villa recalled that Hasan told her: "It looks like you need furniture. I have some stuff. I could help you."
Federal investigators arrived shortly after the shootings and sealed off the apartment.
Hasan signed a $300-a-month rental contract and moved into the gray, two-story complex just after being transferred to Fort Hood from Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Washington, D.C.
A pile of multiple-choice tests from Hasan's psychiatric training sat on one corner of the apartment's kitchen counter. Topping the pile was an Oct. 16 letter from a budget insurance company in Austin, confirming Hasan's purchase of low-cost auto insurance.
A folding card table near the kitchen was covered in white plastic and a random scattering of belongings. Some hinted of Hasan's Arab roots and Islamic faith: a pile of Jordanian and Israeli coins, an Al Fajr-brand alarm clock and a white knit skull cap. Beside those items was a thin paperback book published in India in 1993, Dreams and Interpretations , by Allamah Muhammed Bin Sireen.
The book's back cover declares it "a must in every Muslim home." Its table of contents promises explanations for 900 dreams – everything from birth to breastfeeding, from seeing Allah to recognizing his messengers.
Hasan was born in the U.S. to Palestinian immigrants. Family members have said his parents weren't observant Muslims, and Hasan became increasingly devout after his mother died in 2001.
Other items on the table hinted of Hasan's professional aspirations. An Army-green business card bore his name under the heading: "Behavioral Health. Mental Health. Life Skills." Beneath Hasan's educational titles – medical doctor, psychiatrist, master of public health – were the letters "SoA (SWT)." Some Islamic Web sites identify those letters as abbreviations for "Servant of Allah" and a series of Arabic words that translate into "Glory to Him, the Exalted." The business card also bore an AOL e-mail address and a still-working cell phone number with a Maryland area code.
In the center of the table was clear-plastic packaging from a Laser Max brand pistol sight. Authorities have said one of the pistols Hasan used in the attack was outfitted with a red-laser sight. The plastic packaging in the apartment bore a $229.99 price tag. That is identical to those on Laser Max pistol sights sold at Guns Galore, a Killeen gun store where authorities say he purchased the weapons used in the attack.
Hanging on a rack in a closet were a tan-colored, knee-length Muslim shirt and pants similar to those that Hasan wore when photographed by security cameras at a convenience store. Clean white underwear and black socks and other clothing were piled in dryer. The only other articles of clothing in the apartment were a blue sweatshirt and Army fatigues piled on a plastic bin near the kitchen.
A Dockers shoebox on top of the dryer was crammed with bottles of vitamins and drugs. Several bottles held prescription antibiotics and cough medications issued to Hasan at Walter Reed in 2005. One bottle, still holding about a dozen pills, had a label stating that the prescription "Combivir" was issued for Hasan in 2001 at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio.
Combivir was commonly used to treat AIDS at the time. It also has been prescribed for health care workers who may have been exposed to the virus in needle sticks.
That prescription bottle had the word "AZT" handwritten in block letters, a possible reference to another anti-AIDS drug. Behind the box of medicine, there was an empty bag with a Crown Royal liquor logo.
Thompson, the apartment manager, said Wednesday was the first time she had been in the unit since Hasan moved in.
"He just said unless he's home, he doesn't want nobody in that apartment – not unless he's here," she said. "I hadn't heard of anybody else who lives here saying that, but he just told the owner when he signed the contract, that that's how he wanted it."
Poster Comment:
"A Dockers shoebox on top of the dryer was crammed with bottles of vitamins and drugs. Several bottles held prescription antibiotics and cough medications issued to Hasan at Walter Reed in 2005. One bottle, still holding about a dozen pills, had a label stating that the prescription "Combivir" was issued for Hasan in 2001 at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio. Combivir was commonly used to treat AIDS at the time. It also has been prescribed for health care workers who may have been exposed to the virus in needle sticks. That prescription bottle had the word "AZT" handwritten in block letters, a possible reference to another anti-AIDS drug. Behind the box of medicine, there was an empty bag with a Crown Royal liquor logo."
I think it's very curious that Hasan had been prescribed AIDS medications. Hasan is a psychiatrist, not a surgeon. No bottles of anti-depressants were found though, the more likely medication considering Hasan's mental issues.
And it's odd that Hasan, who has been described as a devout religious Muslim, has been chugging down Crown Royal hard liquor at home.
Finally why is a psychiatrist living in a $300/per month apartment dive? Military salaries may not be as lucrative compared to private practice psychiatry but as a physician specialist, he must have been earning a 6 figure salary. We have been told that his mental state was deteriorating but Hasan was still trying to pretend he was a functioning officer and MD - but moving into a hovel is not exactly projecting an officer's life style, is it?