SAN DIEGO - An Army reservist from Serra Mesa who worked for San Diego County for two decades was among the 13 people killed in Thursday's shooting rampage at a Texas military base, a county official said Friday.
John Gaffaney, 56, who was a psychiatric nurse by training, most recently served as a supervisor for the county Adult Protective Services Department, according to Ellen Schmeding, assistant deputy director of the county Aging and Independence Services Department.
The Pentagon has not released a list of the victims yet, but Schmeding sent an e-mail Friday to county staff saying Gaffaney had been killed in the massacre at Fort Hood.
Gaffaney had traveled to Fort Hood just this week to prepare for a year-long overseas deployment, according to county officials.
In his civilian job with the county, Gaffaney helped elderly victims of abuse and neglect, Schmeding said.
The husband and father of a grown son previously had been with the county Mental Health Services Department.
John Gaffaney and co-worker Nancy Garcia-DrewBefore working for the county, he had been in the Army, earning the rank of major, Schmeding said.
Gaffaney was enthusiastic about his military-reservist role and "really felt he could make a difference'' serving armed-forces personnel, Schmeding said.
His county colleagues were stunned to learn of his death Thursday evening, she said.
"Everybody is quite shocked and shook up over what happened,'' Schmeding said, adding that Gaffaney will be "sorely missed.''
In all, 13 people were killed when a gunman -- identified by military authorities as Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan -- opened fire Thursday in a packed health-services building at Fort Hood, the largest military base in the United States. Thirty-one others, including Hasan, were wounded in the rampage.
Hasan, a 39-year-old military psychiatrist, was born in the United States. He is a Muslim of Palestinian descent.
Authorities have not released a motive for the attack, but media outlets have reported Hasan was upset about being deployed to Iraq. He had reportedly been disciplined in the past for proselytizing, and had been harassed by his peers for his religion, especially after 9/11.
As a psychiatrist, he worked with soldiers traumatized by their war experiences.
After opening fire, he was shot multiple times by a female civilian police officer. He is expected to live but has been in a coma, and authorities have been unable to question him.
The police officer is reportedly in stable condition and expected to survive, although some of the other wounded victims may not, according to a physician.
Schmeding wrote in an email to county workers, “We all admired and respected John so very much for his commitment to do what he could to help during the current conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq. He was an inspiration to all of us in so many ways.”
A 5.7-millimeter pistol used in the Fort Hood shooting was purchased legally by suspect Nidal Hasan at a Texas gun shop, law enforcement officials said Friday.
The officials spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss the case.
Records indicate Hasan bought the FN 5.7 at store called "Guns Galore" in Killeen, Texas, in recent months and that gun was used in the attack that left 13 people dead, one of the officials said. The pistol has been dubbed a "cop killer" by those who have tried to stop its use.
Army officials said Hasan also was carrying another handgun.
One of the law enforcement officials said that gun was an older model Smith & Wesson .357-caliber revolver, but the official added there's nothing so far to indicate the second weapon was fired. The official said the revolver was so old, investigators doubt it could be traced to a specific purchase.
The most powerful type of ammunition for the FN 5.7 gun is available only to law enforcement and military personnel. Gun control advocates call it a "cop killer" weapon because that ammo can pierce bulletproof vests, and its use by Mexican drug cartels worries police.
It is not clear what kind of ammunition was used in the Fort Hood attack.
Agents with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, as well as the Texas Rangers have interviewed store personnel about Hasan's gun purchase. One official said the store records do not indicate Hasan purchased any ammo when he bought the gun.
Also Friday, it was learned Hasan cleaned out his apartment, gave leftover frozen broccoli to one neighbor and called another to thank him for his friendship — common courtesies and routines of the departing soldier.
Investigators examined Hasan's computer, his home and his garbage Friday to learn what motivated the suspect, who lay in a coma, shot four times in the frantic bloodletting. Hospital officials said some of the wounded had extremely serious injuries and might not survive.
The 39-year-old Army psychiatrist emerged as a study in contradictions: a polite man who stewed with discontent, a counselor who needed to be counseled himself, a professional healer now suspected of cutting down the fellow soldiers he was sworn to help.
Relatives said he felt harassed because of his Muslim faith but did not embrace extremism. Others were not so sure. A recent classmate said Hasan once gave a jarring presentation to students in which he argued the war on terrorism was a war against Islam, and "made himself a lightning rod for things" when he felt his religious beliefs were challenged.
Investigators were trying to piece together how and why Hasan allegedly gunned down his comrades in the worst case of violence on a military base in the U.S. The rampage unfolded at a center where some 300 unarmed soldiers were lined up for vaccines and eye tests.
Soldiers reported that the gunman shouted "Allahu Akbar!" — an Arabic phrase for "God is great!" — before opening fire Thursday, said Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, the base commander. He said officials had not confirmed Hasan made the comment.
Hasan's family said in a statement Friday that his alleged actions were deplorable and don't reflect how the family was reared.
"Our family is filled with grief for the victims and their families involved in yesterday's tragedy," said Nader Hasan, a cousin who lives in northern Virginia. "We are mortified with what has unfolded and there is no justification, whatsoever, for what happened. We are all asking why this happened, and the answer is that we simply do not know."
The wounded were dispersed among hospitals in central Texas. W. Roy Smythe, chairman of surgery at Scott and White Memorial Hospital, said several patients were still at "significant risk" of losing their lives. Army briefers told lawmakers in Washington that 38 people were wounded, eight more than officials had reported previously.
The dead included a pregnant woman who was preparing to return home, a man who quit a furniture company job to join the military about a year ago, a newlywed who had served in Iraq and a woman who had vowed to take on Osama bin Laden after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
Army Chief of Staff George Casey said he asked bases around the country to assess their security. He also said he was worried about a backlash against the thousands of Muslim soldiers serving dutifully in uniform.
Hasan was due to be deployed to Afghanistan to help soldiers with combat stress, a task he'd done stateside with returning soldiers, the Army said. Army spokeswoman Col. Cathy Abbott was uncertain when Hasan was to leave but he was in the preparation stage of deployment, which can take months.
In any event, the major was saying goodbyes and dispensing belongings to neighbors.
Jose Padilla, the owner of Hasan's apartment complex, said Hasan gave him notice two weeks ago that he was moving out this week.
Earlier this week, Hasan asked Padilla his native language. When Padilla said it was Spanish, Hasan immediately went up to his apartment to get him a Spanish-language Quran. Padilla said Hasan also refused to reclaim his deposit and last month's rent, surrendering $400 that the major said should go to someone who needed it.
"I cannot comprehend that the enemy was among us," Padilla said, as he teared up. "I feel a little guilt that I was basically giving housing to someone who is going to do so much destruction."
Neighbor Patricia Villa said Hasan came to her apartment the day of the shooting, and before, to give her vegetables, an air mattress, T-shirts, a Quran and offer her $60 to clean his Killeen, Texas, apartment after he left.
Jacqueline Harris, 44, who lives with her boyfriend Willie Bell in the apartment next door to Hasan, said he called Thursday at 5 a.m. and left a message.
"He just wanted to thank Willie for being a good friend and thank him for being there for him," Harris said. "That was it. We thought it was just a nice message to leave."
Bell said Hasan offered a farewell, saying "nice knowing you, old friend. I'm going to miss you."
According to a Killeen police report in August, an Army employee was charged with scratching Hasan's car, causing $1,000 in damage. Apartment manager John Thompson said the man charged was a soldier back from Iraq, who objected to Hasan's faith and ripped a bumper sticker off the major's car that said: "Allah is Love."
Kim Rosenthal, another neighbor, said Hasan didn't seem too upset by his scratched vehicle, even though it was damaged so badly that he got a new one. "He said it was Ramadan and that he had to forgive people," Rosenthal said. "He forgave him and moved on."
Hasan appeared less forgiving to Dr. Val Finnell when they were classmates in a 2007-08 master's public health program at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences in Bethesda, Md.
He said that at a class presentation by public health students, at which topics like dry cleaning chemicals and house mold were discussed, Hasan talked about U.S. military actions as a war on Islam. Hasan made clear he was a "vociferous opponent" of U.S. wars in Muslim countries, Finnell said.
"He made himself a lightning rod for things," Finnell said. "No one picked on him because he was a Muslim."
Law enforcement officials said they are trying to confirm if Hasan wrote Internet postings that include his name about suicide bombings and other threats, equating suicide bombers to soldiers who throw themselves on a grenade to save the life of fellow soldiers.
Hasan is the Arlington, Va.-born son of Palestinian parents who ran a restaurant and bar in Roanoke, Va., from 1987 to 1995, and owned a small grocery store in that city.
His relatives in the West Bank said they had heard from family members that Hasan felt mistreated in the Army as a Muslim.
"He told (them) that as a Muslim committed to his prayers he was discriminated against and not treated as is fitting for an officer and American," said Mohammed Malik Hasan, 24, a cousin. "He hired a lawyer to get him a discharge."
Mohammed Hasan said outside his home in Ramallah that he heard about the shooting from a relative. "I was surprised, honestly, because the guy and his brothers are so calm, and he, as I know, loves his work."
Nidal Hasan is the eldest of three brothers. One brother, Annas, lives in Ramallah with a wife and daughter, and practices law. The youngest brother, Eyad, lives in Virginia.
"We don't mix with them a lot," Mohammed said. "Nidal like to stay alone, he was very calm. He minded his own business."
Hasan graduated from medical school at the Uniformed Services University in 2003, said Sharon K. Willis, speaking for the school.
He then entered a psychiatry residency program at Walter Reed Army Medical Center, which he completed in 2007. He returned to the university for the disaster and military psychiatry fellowship in 2007.
Phase one of that the fellowship is earning a master of public health degree, which he completed in 2008. He completed the fellowship program in June.
A month later, Hasan reported for duty at Fort Hood.
