FORT HOOD, Texas - A pregnant soldier shot during a rampage at a Texas Army post last year cried out, "My baby! My baby!" as others crawled under desks, dodged bullets that pierced walls and rushed to help their bleeding comrades, a military court heard Monday.
A soldier had just told Spc. Jonathan Sims that she was expecting a baby and was preparing to go home, when the first volley of gunfire rang out Nov. 5 in a Fort Hood building where soldiers get medical tests before and after deploying.
"The female soldier that was sitting next to me was in the fetal position. She was screaming: 'My baby! My baby!'" Sims said.
Pvt. Francheska Velez, a 21-year-old from Chicago, had become pregnant while serving in Iraq. She was among the 13 killed in the worst mass shooting on an American military base.
Sims was one of 10 soldiers to testify Monday at an Article 32 hearing that will determine whether Army psychiatrist Maj. Nidal Hasan will stand trial on 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder.
Who was Pvt. Francheska Velez?
According to her friend, Sasha Ramos, “She was the most fun and happy person you could know. She never did anything wrong to anybody.”
Addendum: I do not understand why Pvt. Velez's unborn child has not been counted as the 14th person murdered by Jihadist Hasan in accordance with the
UNBORN VICTIMS OF VIOLENCE ACT OF 2004, which recognizes a "child in utero" as a legal victim if that child is killed or injured during the commission of a federal crime of violence. The law does cover, among others, violent crimes committed on federal property, violent crimes committed by members of the military, and crimes of terrorism. Certainly acknowledging the murder of this beloved unborn child as a crime is the least courtesy that this country can offer to the memory of Pvt. Velez.
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