UPDATE: 1:20p CST

After a 2 1/2 hour delay, the Article 32 Hearing for Major Nidal Hasan began and quickly ended with an explanation and another delay.

Investigating Officer Col. James Pohl, acting as the military judge in the hearing, announced that a renewed motion by the defense to close the hearing to the press and public had once again been denied, but another motion to postpone the hearing until November 8th was being considered.

The defense has been given until Midnight Tuesday to file paperwork in support of the motion for continuance.  Court will reconvene at 9am CST to hear arguments on the motion (prosecutors say they oppose a delay because it would be “untimely”).

Major Hasan was in court in a wheelchair, wearing a cap and Army Combat Fatigues.  When he is brought in and out, the media is moved inside a nearby building so no one can see or record images of his movements.

* * *

It was the bloodiest attack ever on a mainland U.S. military post.  Ten minutes of carnage, more than 100 rounds fired, 13 dead and 32 wounded.

There is only one suspect, Army Major Nidal Hasan, a Psychiatrist who treated soldiers returning from Afghanistan and Iraq for post-traumatic stress disorders.  He reportedly raised concern among colleagues in the years and months leading up to the attack with statements supporting suicide bombings and a declaration that muslims should not be compelled to fight against fellow muslims overseas.  He also reportedly exchanged a series of emails with radical cleric Anwar Al-Awlaki, catching the attention of the FBI which investigated but ultimately decided Hasan’s correspondence was in line with his research.

Hasan was assigned to Fort Hood, Texas last year and scheduled for deployment to Afghanistan.  A couple of weeks before he was supposed to ship out, witnesses say he climbed on top of a table in the Soldier Readiness Center (where incoming and outgoing troops fill out paperwork, get dental and eye exams, vaccinations etc.), yelled “Allahu Akbar” (“God is Great”) and opened fire with a semi-automatic pistol.

He allegedly targeted members of the service in uniform.  Three of the dead and six of the wounded were in the same unit he was supposed to deploy with.

After ten minutes of shooting (and multiple re-loads) the attack ended when two civilian police officers on post exchanged fire with Hasan, hitting him four times.  He was paralyzed from the waist down and uses a wheelchair to get in and out of court.

The Article 32 Hearing could last several weeks.  It’s been described as a combination Grand Jury proceeding and Preliminary Hearing.  Prosecutors call witnesses and present evidence, hoping to show probably cause to bring the case to trail, a General Court Martial, the most serious level of Military Court.  Every single one of the 32 wounded is expected to testify, along with first responders and witnesses to the rampage.  If Hasan is eventually convicted he could face the death penalty.  The military hasn’t executed one of it’s own since 1961.