Fort Hood shooter has D.C.-area ties

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By Sarah Abruzzese and David C. Lipscomb

The Army officer suspected in the shooting rampage at Fort Hood, Texas, that left 13 people dead and dozens wounded had longtime ties to the D.C. area.

Born in Arlington, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan grew up around Roanoke and attended college at Virginia Tech. He has relatives, including an aunt, several cousins and a brother, who have lived in the area.

On Friday, his aunt's Falls Church home was besieged by reporters and photographers.

His cousin, Nader Hasan, issued an e-mail statement to the Associated Press in which he said the family was cooperating with authorities.

"We are all asking why this happened," he said. "And the answer is that we simply do not know."

According to public records, Maj. Hasan, 39, lived as recently as April just outside the Capital Beltway on a tree-lined suburban street in the 9300 block of Cedar Lane in Bethesda. A woman at the address declined to speak with a reporter.

Maj. Hasan lived at the White Oak Towers apartments in Silver Spring from 2004 to 2008 and spent four years before that at a townhouse in Kensington.

He routinely attended prayer services at the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring. On Friday, the imam at the center held a press conference, telling reporters that Maj. Hasan was "not friendly."

"His personality was not violent," the imam said. "He was calm. He came here every day."

Maj. Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, worked from 2003 to 2008 at Walter Reed Army Medical Center in Northwest Washington, where he consulted with wounded patients who were returning from combat tours overseas.