Neighbors of suspected Fort Hood shooter say they knew a different man

By Chris Vaughn, Fort Worth Star-Telegram, Texas

Nov. 7--KILLEEN -- Neighbors who lived in the same apartment complex as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan say he was friendly and generous -- a far different portrait of a man who authorities say gunned down 13 people in cold blood at Fort Hood on Thursday.

Hasan even went as far as to leave a message on one neighbor's voice mail Thursday morning, thanking him for being a "good friend."

"It's very scary," said John Thompson, who manages the Casa del Norte apartments, where Hasan had lived since midsummer. "He lived 30 feet from us. It could have happened here. It makes you think about who you're living next to. You wouldn't think something like that could have come out of him, especially a major in the Army."

Hasan lived in Apt. 9, an upstairs one-bedroom unit that cost $350 a month. The modest apartment complex in an older section of Killeen has only 28 units, and everyone typically knows everyone else.

Neighbors described him as quiet but friendly, and everyone knew he was Muslim. He wore the traditional clothing often, and he drove a Honda car with a bumper sticker that said, "Allah is love."

While his faith was obvious -- he often replied "I am blessed" when people asked how he was doing -- he was somewhat private with other information.

No one said they even knew he was a physician. He only told people he was an officer in the military.

"He's a psychiatrist?" Thompson said when he learned of Hasan's credentials.

He had paid the rent on his apartment through the end of the year, although he had been telling people in recent days that he would be deploying to Afghanistan this weekend for six months.

On Tuesday night, he knocked on the door of his next-door neighbor, Patricia Villa, and gave her a Spanish version of the Quran.

"I told him, I'm Hispanic but I don't read Spanish," she said.

When he came back Wednesday to give her one in English, he noticed her rather bare apartment. He gave her three bags of vegetables from his refrigerator, a set of bookshelves and two sitting chairs.

"He said he was going to give them to the Salvation Army when he saw that I needed them," she said. "He seemed so kind.

"I said, 'Where are you leaving to?' He said, 'I'm leaving to Afghanistan.'â"

Villa said she could not believe this was the same man who went on the shooting rampage. Hasan, who was shot by a police officer about three minutes into his attack, remained hospitalized.

"It shocked me because he was so nice to me," she said.

The neighbor on the other side, Jacqueline Harris, said her boyfriend and Hasan were casual friends. Hasan had repaired her boyfriend's laptop recently and was very friendly to them both.

"He called on the phone Thursday morning and left a message," Harris said. "He thanked Willie for being a good friend. We thought it was a nice message."

Harris, who works at Fort Hood in the mess hall, said she was "still in shock."

"He was my neighbor," she said. "He seemed like such a nice guy."

Renee Knapp, who also lived in the complex, called the episode "dumbfounding."

"He was pretty ordinary," she said. "He was quiet. He was nice. He didn't make any crap for anyone."

Another resident, Cynthia, who declined to give her last name, said police officers showed up with guns drawn about 5 p.m. Thursday while she was washing her car in the parking lot.

Police evacuated the complex for about seven hours before letting everyone back in. The manager said he did not know what the police might have taken from the apartment, and he had not gone into to check.

"Not until the police say it's OK," Thompson said.

Several others in the complex also received Hasan's bed and his microwave in the days leading up to Thursday. But no one thought anything of it since he said he was deploying for six months.

Cynthia said she was scared to find out someone so apparently dangerous could fool so many people.

"You never know who you're living next door to," she said.

CHRIS VAUGHN, 817-390-7547

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