Fort Hood Investigation: Nidal Malik Hasan Bought Armor-Piercing, Single-Action Autoloading Handgun; Suspect Had Logged Onto Radical Islamist Sites

The preliminary results from the investigation into the Fort Hood shooting show that Nidal Malik bought a para-military automatic pistol with armor-piercing capabilities. The Washington Post has the story, "Officials Cast Wide Net in Search for Answers: Evidence Seized From Apartment":

The FBI dispatched agents from Austin, San Antonio and Waco to the scene, and pressed into service a 15-member forensic unit to help military police collect evidence. Agents from the bureau's Washington field office interviewed relatives, neighbors and friends who knew Hasan during his years in the Washington area. Agents from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives also are on hand to help with weapons analysis.

Investigators also focused on Guns Galore, a firearms store just down the highway from the mosque. Store owner David Cheadle said federal agents interviewed him about the sale of a FN Herstal Five-Seven pistol that was used in the shootings. "It is a popular choice for personal defense," Cheadle said, pulling one from his case, "but it's expensive" -- more than $1,100 at his store.

The gun, made of lightweight polymer, can handle magazines with 20 or 30 rounds. It is a controversial weapon among gun control advocates because it can penetrate body armor when used with more powerful, but restricted, ammunition employed by law enforcement and the military.

An Army official said the suspect had fired more than 100 rounds before he was felled by two Army civilian police officers, Sgt. Kimberly Munley and Sgt. Mark Todd.

Pictured above is a FN Five-Seven single-action autoloading pistol at the Fabrique Nationale website, a Belgian manufacturer with production and sales units in the U.S. (not necessarily the same weapon used by Hasan).

Also, from the New York Times, "Preliminary Inquiry Finds No Link to Terror Plot":

The officials said a continuing search of Major Hasan’s computer indicates that he had logged on to Web sites that celebrated radical Islamic ideologies and that he had exchanged e-mail messages with like-minded people, some possibly overseas. In addition, they believe that he may have written inflammatory Internet postings that justified suicide attacks, though that has not been concretely established.

It's all uncoordinated to any larger terror plot, and so far there's no evidence of any outside direction. Yet, so far the investigation is providing more compelling evidence that this was not just a man who snapped. Nidal Hasan Bought, begining shortly before 9/11, became a commited jihadist and developed an increasingly hostility to the United States and America's missions abroad. It does little good for the administration and commentators to continue insisting that it's too soon to draw conclusions. As we saw this afternoon, Nidal Hasan attended the same mosque as a number of the September 11 hijackers: "Nidal Malik Hasan, Fort Hood Shooter, Linked to September 11 Terrorists."

RELATED: "'I Could Hear the Bullets Going Past Me'" (via Memeorandum).