Homewood Soldier Wounded At Fort Hood In "Terrible Condition"

Pvt. Najee Hull, 20, Homewood, is back in Illinois and recovering after being shot three times, twice in the back and once in the knee, in the mass killing at Fort Hood while he was waiting in line to file paperwork for his deployment to Afghanistan. His family told the Chicago Sun-Times that Army officials reported that Hull was the gunman's first victim. "I'm in terrible condition," Hull told the Sun-Times in a phone interview from his hospital room. "[I'm] shocked and surprised...that it happened on post, the place where I get dressed, the place I trust the most in my Army career," said Hull. Despite his injuries, doctors expect Hull to make a full recovery.

Hull was one of the 30 people injured on Thursday in the shooting spree. Thirteen people were killed in the attack, three of which were from the Chicago area. Nate Hull, Hull's brother, told the Dallas Morning News that one of the bullets passed through his brother's chest, nearly missing his heart. "He's in a lot of pain; he could have been killed if the shot was two inches above."

Hull, a 2007 graduate of Homewood-Flossmoor High School, was preparing to go to Afghanistan at the beginning of 2010 to repair tanks, his sister, Nanette Hull, told the Sun-Times. "I talked to him two days before the shooting to see if he was getting scared about going [to Afghanistan]. He said he wasn't," Nanette said. "I thought he would be safe on our own soil."