Wounded Soldiers Recall Fort Hood Rampage Terror

An unidentified man is checked by military personnel behind a security fence at the U.S. Magistrate...

An unidentified man is checked by military personnel behind a security fence at the U.S. Magistrate court where an Article 32 hearing for Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan is scheduled to be held, Tuesday, Oct. 12, 2010, in Fort Hood, Texas. Hasan, 40, is charged with premeditated murder and attempted premeditated murder in a Nov. 5 attack , which killed 13 people and wounded 32 others in a processing center where soldiers were making final preparations to deploy. The Article 32 hearing will determine whether there is enough evidence to put the Army psychiatrist on trial. (AP Photo/Eric Gay)

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A sergeant shot five times during last year's rampage at Fort Hood said Wednesday he recalled lying on the floor and locking eyes with Maj. Nidal Hasan after the Army psychiatrist cried out "Allahu Akbar" and unleashed a burst of gunfire into a crowd of soldiers preparing for deployment.

Sgt. Alonzo Lunsford said the light from a laser-guided weapon soon trained on him, and he closed his eyes before being shot in the head. He made his way outside, not realizing he'd been shot four more times, and heard a woman screaming about the gunman: "He's one of ours! He's one of ours!"

Lunsford, who lost most of the sight in his left eye in the attack, was the first in a string of victims who came face-to-face with Hasan at a military hearing to determine whether he should stand trial on 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.

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Hasan, 40, wore his Army combat uniform and looked on intently as fellow soldiers described diving wounded to the ground, crawling through pools of blood and struggling to pull friends to safety. He showed no emotion as several identified him in the courtroom as the gunman in the worst mass shooting ever at an American military base.

Staff Sgt. Alvin Bernard Howard said he was playing solitaire on a computer when he heard yelling and gunshots he thought were part of a training exercise. He realized it wasn't when a bullet casing landed on his laptop, and then turned around.

"We looked eye to eye and he just shot me," the now-retired Howard testified, later standing up and pointing at Hasan. "I will never forget his face."

Hasan sat in a wheelchair just a few feet away from where eight witnesses took the stand Wednesday. He has been paralyzed from the chest down since Fort Hood police officers fired on him during the Nov. 5 attack.

Lunsford testified he saw Hasan earlier that day in Fort Hood's Soldier Readiness Processing Center, where soldiers go for medical screening immediately before and after deploying. Lunsford said Hasan that morning received vaccines and other routine tests ahead of a deployment to Afghanistan scheduled for the next month.