Nov 6, 2009 2:10 pm US/Central
2 Chicago Area Soldiers Among The Dead At Ft. Hood
Pfc. Michael Pearson Of Bolingbrook, Pfc. Francheska Velez Of Chicago Were Among 13 Slain
CHICAGO (CBS) ―
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Members of the military and police stand outside Fort Hood after the massacre on November 5, 2009 in Killeen, Texas.
Ben Sklar/Getty Images
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The Facebook page for Pfc. Michael Pearson of Bolingbrook, one of the 13 people who was killed at the Fort Hood rampage on Nov. 6, 2009.
Facebook
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Francheska Velez, 21, was among the soldiers killed at the massacre at Fort Hood. She was pregnant at the time.
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Two Chicago area soldiers were among those killed in the massacre at Fort Hood, Texas.
Pfc.
Michael Pearson of Bolingbrook and Pfc.
Francheska Velez of Chicago, both 21, were among the 13 people who lost their lives when Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire, their families confirmed.
Pearson was shot three times and died in surgery Thursday night.
Pearson graduated from Bolingbrook High School in 2006. He was described and an outstanding student who was active in ROTC. After graduating he worked at a furniture store and reportedly joined the army because he wanted to see the world.
He was expecting to be deployed to Iraq in January after a trip home to Bolingbrook for the holidays.
Velez had just returned to Fort Hood from Iraq because she was three months pregnant, according to her family. She had been serving in the Army for three years.
Her father, Juan Velez, said it had been his dream to serve in the military and his daughter had fulfilled his dream. Juan Velez said he had encouraged Francheska to stay in the military and she was considering making it a career.
Francheska graduated from Kelvyn Park High School in 2006. Friends had left several messages of condolence on her Facebook page Friday morning.
A soldier from Racine, Wis., was also killed.
Russell Seager was a nurse practitioner in the primary care area at the VA Medical Center. He was killed at Fort Hood Thursday, according to the Wisconsin State Journal. Seager joined the Army Reserve about four years ago and was reportedly looking forward to his deployment to Iraq.
A third Illinois soldier was also wounded in the attack.
Dorothy "Dorrie" Carskadon, a U.S. Army Reserve social worker of Rockford, Illinois was critically injured, Michelle Zuba-Ingram with St. Chad Episcopal Church in Loves Park, told the Rockford Register Star.
In all, at least 13 people were killed in the attack, all but one of them service members. Army officials say a total of 43 people were shot in the attack.
The suspected shooter in the attack, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, remains hospitalized after being shot four times by a responding civilian police officer.
Military officials say they are still piecing together what may have pushed Hasan, an Army psychiatrist trained to help soldiers in distress, to turn on his comrades.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
(© MMX, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved.)
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