Reporting from Killeen, Texas, and Silver Spring, Md. -- Over the last few weeks, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan drove off the vast Army base at Ft. Hood, Texas, at least a dozen times to enjoy seafood dinners with Duane Reasoner Jr., an 18-year-old he was mentoring in the ways of Islam.

They would pray at the simple Masjidu-Ttaqwa prayer hall out along the highway, hit the all-you-can-eat buffet at the Golden Corral and then rush back for evening worship. Twice they drove to Hasan's one-bedroom apartment to pick up books or to talk.

Only once -- on Wednesday, the night before Hasan allegedly shouted, "Allahu akbar!" pulled out two guns and opened fire on dozens of fellow soldiers -- did the dinner talk stray from religion.

"He said he didn't want to go to Iraq or Afghanistan," said Reasoner, who was raised as a Catholic. "He didn't want to be deployed. He said Muslims shouldn't be in the U.S. military, because obviously Muslims shouldn't kill Muslims. He told me not to join the Army."

And around 1:30 p.m. the next day, authorities say, Hasan, a 39-year-old military psychiatrist, went on the shooting rampage at Ft. Hood that left 13 people dead and at least 38 wounded. Hasan was shot by two civilian police officers and remains hospitalized in stable condition with multiple gunshot wounds.