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Tuesday 4pm
It may have been the first, small clue that an apparently ordinary week at the world's largest army base was about to become something horrifically different, when neighbours saw Major Nidal Hasan escorting a visitor into his flat.
Other residents at the Casa del Norte apartment complex were surprised to see the mild-mannered army officer accompanied by another man in Islamic dress.
Alice Thompson, 53, who manages the two storey block of simple dwellings with her husband John, told The Sunday Telegraph: "It was very unusual because he had never had anyone round before. His visitor had long black hair and a moustache and a dark complexion. He stayed about five minutes and then left. We'd never seen him before."
Hasan had paid six months money upfront for the flat after being transferred to Fort Hood in July, and insisted to the Thompsons that nobody could enter his apartment, even to do repairs, when he was out.
What his neighbours could not know is that within less than 48 hours, Hasan was to shatter the peace and security of the Fort Hood base by slaughtering 13 people - all but one of them soldiers - and force America to confront some of its deepest fears.
Now investigators are trying frantically to identify Hasan's visitor, as they seek to unravel the hours that led up to his deadly attack.
Wednesday 9.30am
Hasan starts emptying his flat and saying his goodbyes, telling other residents that he would be deploying to Afghanistan on Friday. He knocked on the door of his next door neighbour Patricia Villa, 47. She said: "I opened the door and he was carrying two bags. He looked in and saw my apartment was empty and he said 'You need some furniture.'
"Then he asked me if I wanted some vegetables. There was broccoli and spinach in the bags. He had five or six T-shirts and a suit as well. He said he was going to give them to the Salvation Army but then he said, 'If you want you can have them'."
He also gave her a copy of the Koran. At around the same time, he knocked on the doors of two other neighbours and gave them each a Koran as well. Mrs Thompson said: "That did seem a bit strange. He was friendly but he told them 'Please read it'."
THURSDAY
2.37am: Hasan telephones Willie Bell, 51, who lives next door and whose laptop he sometimes borrowed, to ask him to switch on his wireless internet connection.
5am: He phones Mr Bell again, who recalled: "He said, 'Nice knowing you, friend. I wish you'd plug up your internet system so I could get online. Goodbye good buddy, I'll be moving'." Mr Bell now believes that Hasan had often logged on to his internet service
About 5.30am: He makes his way to the town mosque, the Islamic Community of Greater Killeen, where he worshipped for three months, for pre-dawn Fajr prayers with around 10 other worshippers, all but one other civilians. He usually wore regular clothes and sometimes a uniform, but this time is dressed in a white Arab dishdash and skull cap. He is relaxed, engaging in a friendly competition with a fellow officer from Fort Hood - a recent convert to Islam - to see who could first recite the Azan, the call to prayer. At around 6.15am Hasan leaves, as others stay behind to read parts of the Koran. He "appeared relaxed and not in any way troubled or nervous", according to the officer.
Fort Hood shooting: inside story of how massacre on military base happened - Telegraph
It may have been the first, small clue that an apparently ordinary week at the world's largest army base was about to become something horrifically different, when neighbours saw Major Nidal Hasan escorting a visitor into his flat.
Other residents at the Casa del Norte apartment complex were surprised to see the mild-mannered army officer accompanied by another man in Islamic dress.
Alice Thompson, 53, who manages the two storey block of simple dwellings with her husband John, told The Sunday Telegraph: "It was very unusual because he had never had anyone round before. His visitor had long black hair and a moustache and a dark complexion. He stayed about five minutes and then left. We'd never seen him before."
Hasan had paid six months money upfront for the flat after being transferred to Fort Hood in July, and insisted to the Thompsons that nobody could enter his apartment, even to do repairs, when he was out.
What his neighbours could not know is that within less than 48 hours, Hasan was to shatter the peace and security of the Fort Hood base by slaughtering 13 people - all but one of them soldiers - and force America to confront some of its deepest fears.
Now investigators are trying frantically to identify Hasan's visitor, as they seek to unravel the hours that led up to his deadly attack.
Wednesday 9.30am
Hasan starts emptying his flat and saying his goodbyes, telling other residents that he would be deploying to Afghanistan on Friday. He knocked on the door of his next door neighbour Patricia Villa, 47. She said: "I opened the door and he was carrying two bags. He looked in and saw my apartment was empty and he said 'You need some furniture.'
"Then he asked me if I wanted some vegetables. There was broccoli and spinach in the bags. He had five or six T-shirts and a suit as well. He said he was going to give them to the Salvation Army but then he said, 'If you want you can have them'."
He also gave her a copy of the Koran. At around the same time, he knocked on the doors of two other neighbours and gave them each a Koran as well. Mrs Thompson said: "That did seem a bit strange. He was friendly but he told them 'Please read it'."
THURSDAY
2.37am: Hasan telephones Willie Bell, 51, who lives next door and whose laptop he sometimes borrowed, to ask him to switch on his wireless internet connection.
5am: He phones Mr Bell again, who recalled: "He said, 'Nice knowing you, friend. I wish you'd plug up your internet system so I could get online. Goodbye good buddy, I'll be moving'." Mr Bell now believes that Hasan had often logged on to his internet service
About 5.30am: He makes his way to the town mosque, the Islamic Community of Greater Killeen, where he worshipped for three months, for pre-dawn Fajr prayers with around 10 other worshippers, all but one other civilians. He usually wore regular clothes and sometimes a uniform, but this time is dressed in a white Arab dishdash and skull cap. He is relaxed, engaging in a friendly competition with a fellow officer from Fort Hood - a recent convert to Islam - to see who could first recite the Azan, the call to prayer. At around 6.15am Hasan leaves, as others stay behind to read parts of the Koran. He "appeared relaxed and not in any way troubled or nervous", according to the officer.
Fort Hood shooting: inside story of how massacre on military base happened - Telegraph
