Here is a look at soldier on soldier attacks in the US military.
2009 Fort Hood Shooting
November 5, 2009 - Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan kills 13 people and an unborn child and injures 32 more during a shooting rampage at Fort Hood military base (now Fort Cavazos) in Texas.
November 12, 2009 - Hasan is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder.
December 2, 2009 - Hasan is charged with 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.
July 6, 2011 - Lt. Gen. Donald M. Campbell Jr. refers Hasan’s case to a general court-martial and rules that he is eligible for the death penalty.
July 20, 2011 - Hasan is arraigned.
June 8, 2012 - Col. Gregory Gross reschedules Major Hasan’s hearing. The decision is made by the judge after Hasan shows up in court with a beard, which is in violation of military regulations.
August 17, 2012 - A military appeals court halts the murder case against Hasan indefinitely, to determine whether the Army can forcibly shave Hasan’s beard.
October 18, 2012 - A military appeals court decides that Hasan can be forcibly shaved, despite his assertion that his religion requires he wear a beard.
November 19, 2012 - The US government asks a military appeals court to deny Hasan’s request to keep his beard and to reject the defense motion to remove Col. Gross as the judge overseeing the court-martial proceedings.
December 3, 2012 - A military appeals court removes Col. Gross as the judge in Hasan’s court-martial, saying he is biased. The ruling makes the judge’s order for Hasan’s beard to be shaved invalid.
December 4, 2012 - Col. Tara Osborn is appointed as the new judge in Hasan’s case.
June 3, 2013 - Col. Osborn rules that Hasan is physically fit to represent himself during his court-martial. Hasan was shot and paralyzed from the chest down on the day of the massacre in which he is accused of killing 13 people. He can only sit for limited periods of time.
August 6, 2013 - Hasan’s court-martial begins. During opening statements, Hasan declares, “The evidence will clearly show that I am the shooter.”
August 23, 2013 - A military jury convicts Hasan of 13 counts of murder and 32 counts of attempted murder, making it possible for the death penalty to be considered as a punishment.
August 28, 2013 - After less than two hours deliberating privately, the military jury recommends the death penalty for Hasan.
December 11, 2020 - The US Army Court of Criminal Appeals upholds Hasan’s conviction and sentence.
Timeline of Other Soldier on Soldier Attacks (Selected)
October 27, 1995 - Sgt. William Kreutzer, using a sniper rifle, kills one soldier and injures 18 others at Fort Bragg (now Fort Liberty) in North Carolina. He is sentenced to death in 1996. In 2009 he is resentenced to life in prison.
March 5, 1996 - Marine Sgt. Jessie A. Quintanilla shoots and kills his executive officer, Lt. Col. Daniel W. Kidd, then shoots and seriously wounds his commanding officer, Lt. Col. Thomas A. Heffner, at Camp Pendleton in California. He is convicted and sentenced to death. His death sentence is reduced to life in prison in 2010.
March 23, 2003 - Army Sgt. Hasan Akbar launches a rifle and grenade attack on officers’ tents at Camp Pennsylvania in Kuwait, during the first days of the Iraq War. Two officers are killed and 14 others are wounded. In April 2005, he is convicted and sentenced to death. Akbar’s conviction and sentence are affirmed by the US Army Court of Criminal Appeals on July 13, 2012, and by the US Court of Appeals for the Armed Forces on August 19, 2015. The US Supreme Court declines to take up Akbar’s appeal on October 3, 2016.
September 14, 2008 - Army Sgt. Joseph Bozicevich shoots and kills Staff Sgt. Darris Dawson and Sgt. Wesley Durbin at patrol base Jurf as Sahkr, Iraq. After being found guilty of two counts of murder, Bozicevich is sentenced in August 2011 to life in prison without parole.
May 11, 2009 - Sgt. John M. Russell shoots and kills five service members at a mental health clinic at Camp Liberty in Baghdad, Iraq. In April 2013 Russell pleads guilty in exchange for prosecutors dropping the death penalty. He is sentenced to life in prison in May 2013.
September 24, 2010 - Spc. Neftaly Platero shoots two fellow soldiers serving at Camp Fallujah in Iraq, and wounds a third during a verbal altercation. In 2012, Platero is convicted of the murders of Spc. John Carrillo Jr. and Pfc. Gebrah P. Noonan and sentenced to life in prison.
April 2, 2014 - Army Specialist Ivan Lopez, an Iraq war veteran, kills three service members and injures 16 others at Fort Hood (now Fort Cavazos) in Texas. He then kills himself.
April 22, 2020 - Army Pfc. Vanessa Guillén goes missing from Fort Cavazos, Texas. On June 30, her remains are found in a shallow grave near the Leon River in rural Bell County. An investigation determines that she was killed in the armory room where she worked and her body was transported from the installation by her killer. In July, suspect Spc. Aaron David Robinson kills himself after police confront him. A second suspect, Cecily Anne Aguilar, is arrested and later indicted for her role in concealing Guillén’s death. Aguilar eventually pleads guilty to one count of accessory after the fact, and three counts of making a false statement. She is sentenced to 30 years in prison.
– An Army investigation into the handling of Guillén’s disappearance and death reveals she was sexually harassed on two occasions, but her supervisor failed to report it and other leaders failed to take appropriate action. These instances did not involve Robinson. In 2021, President Joe Biden signs into law provisions from the “I Am Vanessa Guillén” Act, which mandates that prosecution decisions about sexual assault and harassment be moved outside of a soldier’s chain of command — a significant change for the military. The act also criminalizes sexual harassment under the Uniform Code of Military Justice.
