List of 13 Fort Hood shooting victims

CAPT. JOHN GAFFANEY

56, San Diego

Gaffaney was a psychiatric nurse who worked for San Diego County for more than 20 years, and on the day before the shooting he had arrived at Ft. Hood to prepare for deployment to Iraq. Gaffaney, born in Williston, N.D., had served in the Navy and the California National Guard, his family said. After Sept. 11, he tried to sign up again for military service. Although the Army Reserves at first declined, he got the call about two years ago asking him to rejoin, said his co-worker Stephanie Powell: “He wanted to help the boys in Iraq and Afghanistan deal with the trauma of what they were seeing.”

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MICHAEL GRANT CAHILL

62, Cameron, Texas

Suffered a heart attack two weeks ago but had already returned to work as a physician’s assistant.

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MAJ. LIBARDO EDUARDO CARAVEO

52, Ciudad Juarez, Mexico

Arrived as a teenager in the U.S. knowing very little English but went on to earn a doctorate in psychology.

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STAFF SGT. JUSTIN M. DECROW

32, Evans, Ga.

Helped train soldiers on how to help new veterans with paperwork.

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SPC. FREDERICK GREENE

29, Mountain City, Tenn.

Was assigned to the 16th Signal Company, Ft. Hood.

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SPC. JASON DEAN HUNT

22, Frederick, Okla.

Joined the military after high school and was married two months ago.

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SGT. AMY KRUEGER

29, Kiel, Wis.

Joined the Army after the Sept. 11 attacks and vowed to take on Osama bin Laden.

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PFC. AARON THOMAS NEMELKA

19, West Jordan, Utah

Chose to join the Army instead of going on a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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PFC. MICHAEL PEARSON

21, Bolingbrook, Ill.

Quit what he saw as an unfulfilling furniture company job to join the military about a year ago.

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CAPT. RUSSELL SEAGER

51, Mount Pleasant, Wis.

A nurse, he was preparing to deploy to Iraq and had been eager to serve abroad.

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PVT. FRANCHESKA VELEZ

21, Chicago

Pregnant and recently returned from deployment in Iraq, she had sought a career in the Army.

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LT. COL. JUANITA WARMAN

55, Pittsburgh

A physician’s assistant, she joined the military like her father and grandfather.

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PFC. KHAM XIONG

23, St. Paul, Minn.

Was a father of three whose family had a history of military service.

Please see latimes.com/forthood for detailed biographies.

Source: Times wire services