USA TODAY International Edition
Testimony brutal on Fort Hood
Witnesses describe impact of the rampage
FORT HOOD, TEXAS Victims and family members of those killed in the Fort Hood shooting massacre testified Monday about the heartbreaking emotional and physical pain they continue to endure nearly four years since the day 13 people were killed and 31 wounded.
Among those speaking during the sentencing phase of the trial of Maj. Nidal Hasan, the Army psychiatrist found guilty Friday of the November 2009 killing rampage, was Staff Sgt. Patrick Zeigler, who was wounded in the head, shoulder, arm and hip. He said he was left with permanent brain injuries that will force him to take a medical discharge.
“That day, I had emergency brain surgery on right side of my head, which removed approximately 20% of my brain. I was expected to die or remain in a vegetative state the rest of my life,” he told the court.
Zeigler said he was hospitalized for 11 months, during which he had 10 additional procedures on his head. He has the cognitive abilities of a high school student and said it is unclear whether he can ever hold a job. He cannot drive and is partially paralyzed.
Hasan, who admitted the shooting in the name of jihad, could face death by lethal injection or life in prison following Friday’s verdict of guilty on all counts of premeditated murder and attempted murder. Seven witnesses are scheduled to testify this morning when the hearing resumes.
Prosecutors asked each witness to describe the events of Nov. 5, 2009, and to explain how the murder of loved ones has impacted their lives.
Jennifer Hunt, of Noble, Okla., became a widow that day when her husband of 2 ½ months, Spc. Jason Hunt, was killed at age 22.
Hunt said her daughters have “taken it pretty well for as young as they are. Me, on the other hand, I pretty much lost my mind for a while. I got suicidal. I had two suicide attempts.”
Angela Rivera told of how she was notified that her husband, Maj. Libardo Eduardo Caraveo, was killed just a day after arriving at Fort Hood preparing to deploy to Afghanistan.
“It was 5: 25 in the morning when I heard the doorbell and I knew,” she said, choking back tears. “I could see the two guys standing in uniform. All I could say was ‘ I knew it.’ I knew he was dead. As they stood in the living room, I kept saying ‘ I knew it.’ I knew it because he did not call me back and he always did.”
Caraveo, 52, was a clinical psychologist and the father of five, including three at home ages 14, 11 and 2.
She told of how her oldest daughter became suicidal, her younger daughter left for a year to live with her biological father, and her youngest — a son with Caraveo — who every time they passed the airport would ask, “Are we going to pick up daddy now?”
Rivera said she kept her husband’s cellphone activated until just three weeks ago. “My only comfort was to call his cellphone and hear his voice,” Rivera said.
“For almost four years, I kept his cellphone on. Some of his family members would also call to get comfort just by listening to his voice,” she said.
Jurors would habe to agree to the death penalty before Hasan, who represented himself at the trial, could be sent to the military’s death row. No American soldier has been executed in 50 years.