Ft. Hood gunman Maj. Nidal Hasan charged with 13 counts of premeditated murderThe blood-thirsty Army major accused of carrying out the Fort Hood massacre was charged Thursday with 13 counts of premeditated murder, officials said.
Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan will be eligible for the death penalty, if convicted.
The 39-year-old army psychiatrist will face justice in a military court, and prosecutors are expected to begin setting in motion the military equivalent of a grand jury.
Under the military system, Hasan's fellow Army officers will decide whether he is guilty of mass murder, and, if so, on his punishment. He would be put to death by lethal injection.
Additional charges could be filed against Hasan, said Chris Grey, spokesman for the U.S. Army Criminal Investigation Command.
Officials are weighing whether to charge Hasan with a fourteenth count of murder in connection with the death of a pregnant victim's unborn child.
Hasan was captured alive after the feds say he killed 13 people and wounded 42 others at the Texas army installation last week.
Armed with two handguns, Hasan opened fire inside a medical office waiting room packed with unarmed soldiers.
His rampage ended when he was wounded in a shootout with civilian cops.
FBI and Army investigators tried to interview Hasan on Sunday at a military hospital, but he refused and demanded a lawyer.
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