(JTA) — Military prosecutors charged the alleged Fort Hood shooter with 13 counts of premeditated murder.
The charges against Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a U.S. Army psychiatrist of Palestinian descent, were announced at a news conference Thursday afternoon. Additional charges could still be levied.
Prosecutors plan to seek the death penalty for the murders, The Wall Street Journal reported.
Hasan was born in the United States to Palestinian parents living in Virginia. They are both dead. Another brother also lives in Virginia. Hasan’s grandfather, uncle and another brother reportedly live in Ramallah in the West Bank.
Several solders reported that he shouted Allahu Akbar (Arabic for "God is great") before opening fire in a medical clinic at Fort Hood on Nov. 5. He was hit four times by a civilian police officer. On Sunday he was removed from a respirator at a San Antonio hospital.
Also on Thursday, President Obama ordered the FBI and other U.S intelligence agencies to review how information about Hasan was handled, The Wall Street Journal reported.
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