Victims Prepare to Face Ft. Hood Gunman in Court

KILLEEN, Tex. — Staff Sgt. Alonzo M. Lunsford Jr. usually worked in the back of the Soldier Readiness Processing Center, giving smallpox shots to deploying and returning troops at the Fort Hood Army base here. But on Nov. 5, 2009, he was standing at the counter at the building's entrance after 1 p.m., so that his colleagues could take a lunch break.

A soldier whom Sergeant Lunsford recognized, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, walked in front of him. Moments later, Sergeant Lunsford said, Major Hasan twice shouted "Allahu akbar," Arabic for "God is great," and opened fire.

In a matter of minutes, 100 rounds were fired, 13 people were fatally wounded and more than 30 others were injured. Sergeant Lunsford, who was unarmed, was shot once in the head and six times in the body. He had played dead, and then tried to exit the building, but Major Hasan followed him outside and shot him in the back, he said.

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