FORT HOOD, Tex. – Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan sat impassively in a wheelchair Wednesday as a procession of the wounded testified that they saw him open fire nearly a year ago at a paperwork processing center here, turning a mundane noontime into a massacre.

In voices flashing with anger and quavering with sobs, eight witnesses recounted a scene of carnage and chaos that left 13 dead and nearly three dozen injured. They heard a shout in Arabic, they said, and saw an officer with medical tags stare, raise his weapon and fire. They heard nearly 100 rounds, smelled the sulfur and blood, and watched their close colleagues slump over dead.

Several soldiers listed flatly the wounds they bear from that day: post-traumatic stress disorder, anger issues, uncertainty about whether they will ever regain all of their physical and mental strength. Many described being stunned that a soldier would turn on one of his own.

“I was wondering why he would say ‘Allahu Akbar,’” testified Sgt. Alonzo Lunsford, who said he ducked behind a counter as soon as he saw Hasan start shooting inside the Soldier Readiness Processing Center here on Nov. 5. He said he watched as Hasan, after shooting a physician’s assistant, locked his eyes on him.

“The laser on the weapon’s barrel comes across my line of sight. I closed my eyes. He discharged his weapon,” said Lunsford, who was shot five times, including once in his head, and lost nearly all sight in his left eye.

Lunsford was the first of 32 witnesses expected to be called during the Article 32 hearing for Hasan, an Army psychiatrist who is charged with 13 counts of premeditated murder and 32 counts of attempted premeditated murder. The military proceeding, which is expected to take several weeks, is similar to a preliminary hearing in a civilian court; at its conclusion, investigating officer Col. James Pohl will rule on whether there is enough evidence to proceed with a court-martial.

On Wednesday, one of the victims, Michelle Harper, sobbed on the witness stand as the prosecution played the tape of the 911 call she made from under a desk, where she dived as the shooting began. A dispatcher’s voice pleading for Harper to stay calm cuts through the sounds of gunshots, moans and cries.

A lab technician, Harper testified that she had just returned from lunch when she heard what sounded like firecrackers.

Twice she tried to flee, only to be driven back by gunfire. As she huddled under the desk, she heard the gunman approaching, then saw his boots go by.

When she managed to run outside, still on the line with the 911 dispatcher, she said, she saw Hasan engaged in a gun battle with Fort Hood civilian police Officer Kimberly Munley, who was credited with felling Hasan.

Hasan, 40, is paralyzed from the waist down and has been held for months at the county jail here. He appeared pale and thin as a police officer rolled him into the courtroom Wednesday.Hasan’s lead attorney, John Galligan, has hinted that he might argue an insanity defense.ld show witnesses.