Army Has Paid Ft. Hood Suspect over $278,000 Since Shooting

Accused shooter Major Nidal Hasan “has been paid more than $278,000” since the November 2009 attack on soldiers at Fort Hood, according to Dallas/Fort Worth’s NBC 5.

That attack resulted in 13 deaths and another 32 wounded.

The Army contends that until Hasan is found guilty–if he is found guilty–the Military Code of Justice does not allow for his salary to be suspended. 

Surviving victims of the Ft. Hood shooting are “outraged.” Because the Army classified the shooting as “workplace violence” rather than a “terrorist attack,” these victims are unable to collect the benefits and financial help commensurate with combat injuries.

Thus, while many of the shooting victims struggle to make ends meet, Hasan has drawn nearly $300,000 from the Army in the last three and a half years.

Rep. Thomas Rooney (R-FL), “a former prosecutor at Ft. Hood,” is part of bi-partisan group of Representatives who have signed a letter to Secretary of Defense Chuck Hagel urging him to “reclassify the Ft. Hood victims’ deaths and injuries as ‘combat related.'”

Said Rooney: “We’re giving the defendant in this case every benefit of the doubt. But we’re not giving the benefits to the victims.”