Fort Hood Soldier Ordered to Delete Video of Rampage

FORT HOOD, Texas — A US soldier who captured a deadly 2009 rampage at Fort Hood with his cell phone camera testified Friday that he was ordered to erase the video by his commanders.

The video could have provided key evidence at the trial of Major Nidal Hasan, a US Army psychiatrist who faces 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted murder.

But it may not be necessary for prosecutors. They presented 20 witnesses who identified Hasan as the shooter, in the first three days of what is expected to be a lengthy hearing to determine whether there is sufficient evidence for a court martial.

The November 5, 2009 rampage shocked the nation and military officials have faced intense criticism for missing an array of warning signs about the accused shooter.

Hasan, 40, has been tied to Islamic extremism, including contact with a radical cleric now in Yemen who blessed the killing spree.

While the US Army has not said whether it will seek the death penalty, lead defense attorney John Galligan has said he faces an uphill battle to save his client's life.

Private Lance Aviles, the 20th witness, described a scene of stupefaction, followed by the shocked realization that the crowded army deployment center in Texas was under attack.

"There was a loud shout, 'Allahu akbar,' and then gunshots," Aviles said.

Like others who testified before him, Aviles said he initially thought the shooting was a training exercise. Then he saw friends and fellow soldiers lying on the floor in pools of blood.

One soon died of a bullet wound to the head, he said.

Aviles said he looked up from the floor and tried to tackle the shooter once he saw that the gun's magazine had dropped to the ground.

"I'm trying to take a left turn to go toward the shooter, and when I took that left turn he had already reloaded," Aviles testified.

The witness then ran out the front door, passing soldiers rushing in to help those who had been injured.

Defense attorney Galligan asked Aviles if he had taken a video of the shooting with his cell phone and if he deleted the footage at the instruction of his superiors.

"Yes, sir," Aviles replied.

It wasn't immediately clear if military authorities had investigated the video deletion incident, or if they would. In US civilian courts, destruction of evidence can be a crime.

Oklahoma City Marks 15 Years Since Bombing

OKLAHOMA CITY — It's been 15 years since a terrorist's bomb destroyed the Oklahoma City federal building, killing 168 people and injuring more than 600 others.

The passage of time hasn't made mourning any easier for many victims' family members.

"Time heals nothing," said Debi Burkett Moore, whose brother, U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development worker David Burkett, was killed. She and other family members placed flowers on an empty chair meant to honor her brother that's among a field of chairs at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.

"It makes it a little more bearable, but it heals nothing," Moore said.

About 2,000 people gathered at the memorial Monday to honor those killed and injured in the April 19, 1995, bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building. At the time, it was the deadliest terrorist attack on U.S. soil.

For many in attendance, a visit to the memorial is an annual rite — a way to pause and remember a loved one, former colleague, friend or neighbor who died in the attack.

Kathryn Burkett, the mother of David Burkett, said she grows sadder by his absence with each passing year.

"Why it is sadder? I don't know why," Burkett said. "You just live with it."

Other victims' family members said they, too, still feel a deep sense of grief 15 years after the bombing.

"I don't make it here every year. It's just too hard. It's just like yesterday," said Cornelius Lewis III, who wore a T-shirt and medallion that bore the portrait and nickname, "Puddin," of his late sister, Social Security Administration employee Charlotte Thomas.

"In 15 years, I would never miss it," said her mother, Bettie Lewis. "This is part of our lives. I would never miss it."

Another of Thomas' brothers, Guy Lewis, said his sister's life will never be forgotten thanks to new curriculum guidelines for Oklahoma students that mandate instruction about the Oklahoma City bombing and its aftermath.

"She's going to be in the history books. Her memory is going to live forever," he said.

Vickie Lykins and her sister, Angela Richerson, placed a rose, an American flag and a colorful purple ribbon on the chair honoring their mother, Norma "Jean" Johnson, a former Defense Security Service worker who was killed.

"This is our mother's favorite color," Lykins said as she solemnly secured the ribbon to the chair. Lykins said she misses her mother "very much" but preferred to keep her feelings about the bombing anniversary and her mother's death to herself.

"There's a lot of things we could say. But we won't," she said.

During a ceremony for bombing victims and survivors, U.S. Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano said the city's spirit in the wake of the tragedy served as an example to the nation.

Napolitano also said the bombing anniversary was a reminder of "the continued need for vigilance against the violent ideologies that led to this attack, so that we can recognize their signs in our communities and stand together to defeat them."

"We cannot put a glass dome over our country. We cannot guarantee there will not be another attack. No one can," Napolitano said. "But we are a strong and resilient country. And we can resolve that even a successful attack will not defeat our way of life."

Across Oklahoma City, people observed 168 seconds of silence to honor the dead. Some dabbed away tears as the ceremony closed with family members reading a roll call of those who died.

"What defines us as a nation, as a people and as communities is not what we have suffered, but how we have risen above it, how we've overcome," Napolitano said. "We can resolve that the Oklahoma Standard becomes the national standard."

Attending the ceremony was Charlie Hangar, the Oklahoma Highway Patrol trooper who stopped bomber Timothy McVeigh on Interstate 35 the day of the blast because his 1977 Mercury Marquis did not have a license plate.

Hangar, now the Noble County sheriff, read the memorial's mission statement at the start of the service. U.S. Rep. Mary Fallin, R-Okla., the state's lieutenant governor at the time of the bombing, read a congressional resolution commemorating the anniversary.

Prosecutors said McVeigh's plot was an attempt to avenge the deaths of nearly 80 people in the government siege at the Branch Davidian compound in Waco, Texas, exactly two years earlier.

McVeigh was convicted on federal murder charges and executed in 2001. McVeigh's Army buddy, Terry Nichols, was convicted on federal and state bombing-related charges and is serving multiple life sentences at a federal prison in Colorado.