Attack on Fort Hood: Faces of the Victims

Among the fallen are boyish faces, patriotic women, soldiers of all stripes.

ByABC News via logo
November 6, 2009, 6:33 AM

Nov. 6, 2009 — -- The numbers do not tell the tale. So many were killed or wounded when Maj. Nadil Malik Hasan allegedly opened fire in a room crowded with hundreds of soldiers at Fort Hood in Texas.

Now, families across the country are mourning their dead or frantically trying to contact wounded loved ones. The faces of the victims vary widely: young men, just out of training; battle-hardened veterans, returning from long tours of duty abroad.

Here are some of their stories:

Spc. Jason Dean Hunt was killed in the shooting at Fort Hood Thursday, according to ABC News' Oklahoma affiliate KOCO. The 22-year-old was married two months ago.

"He was the most kind hearted person in the world," a family member told KOCO. Hunt served in Iraq for 15 months before returning to the United States, according to family member.

Aaron Thomas Nemelka had just finished his advanced individual training as a combat engineer and was preparing to deploy to Iraq in early 2010 when he was cut down in the Fort Hood shooting Thursday. The 19-year-old joined the Army in October, a military spokesperson for the family told ABC News.

The youngest of four children, Nemelka was an Eagle Scout and volunteered for the military out of high school.

"[His family] was very, very proud of him for wanting to serve," casualty assistance officer Tammy Sower told ABC News. "He basically entered the military because he wanted to serve. … Of course they're devastated."

One of the victims, 29-year-old Amy Krueger, came from such a small town in Wisconsin that her family broke the news of her death to the community through the local high school.

"She was a typical small town kid, very well connected to her high school," Kiel High School Principal Dario Talerico told ABC News of the 1998 graduate. "It's a small town, small community. Everybody knows everybody. I really hits close to home.