Wounded local soldier 'in terrible condition'

FORT HOOD | But gunman's 1st victim expected to make full recovery

An Army soldier from Homewood was recovering Saturday after being shot three times in the mass killing at Fort Hood, and his family said they were told by Army officials that he was the gunman's first victim.

Pvt. Najee Hull, 20, was waiting in line at the Texas Army base's soldier readiness center to file paperwork for his deployment to Afghanistan when he was shot --twice in the back and once in the knee, he said.

"I'm in terrible condition,'' he told the Chicago Sun-Times in a phone interview from his hospital room.

He said he was "shocked and surprised ... that it happened on post, the place where I get dressed, the place I trust the most in my Army career."

Doctors expect Hull to make a full recovery from his injuries.

Hull was one of 30 people injured Thursday in the shooting spree. Thirteen people, including three soldiers from the Chicago area, were killed.

Although Hull declined to talk in detail about the shooting because of the ongoing investigation, he told his family that alleged gunman Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan came in through a door behind him. Hasan then allegedly shouted something about Allah before shooting Hull once in the back, Hull's brother Nate Hull told the Dallas Morning News. When Najee Hull crawled to a nearby cubicle, Hasan followed and shot him two more times, Nate Hull told the newspaper.

Nate Hull said one of the bullets passed through his brother's chest, just missing his heart.

"He's in a lot of pain,'' he told the Dallas Morning News. "He could have killed him if the shot was two inches above.''

The other bullet hit his spleen, which had to be removed, family members said.

"It's horrible,'' said his sister Nanette Hull. "It's life-changing.''

A 2007 graduate of Homewood-Flossmoor High School, Najee Hull joined the Army eight months ago after majoring in engineering at Kentucky State University.

He said he joined because "I wanted to just help my country out."

He was getting ready to go to Afghanistan at the beginning of next year to repair tanks, his sister said.

"I talked to him two days before the shooting to see if he was getting scared about going [to Afghanistan]. He said he wasn't," Nanette said. "I thought he would be safe on our own soil."

Contributing: SouthtownStar, AP