Fort Hood shooter frequented Texas strip club

Killeen (Texas, US), - The Army psychiatrist who authorities say killed 13 people and wounded 29 others at the Fort Hood Army Base on Thursday was a recent and frequent customer at a local strip club, employees of the club told Fox News.

Major Nidal Malik Hasan visited the Starz strip club, which is not far from the base at least three times in the past month, the club’s general manager, Matthew Jones, said.

Army investigators building their case against Hasan plan to interview Jones soon.

“The last time he was here, I remember checking his military ID at the door, and he paid his 15 dollars cover and stayed for six or seven hours,” Jones, 37, said.

Hasan’s presence at the club paints a starkly different portrait of the alleged killer from that offered by his imam and family members, who have described him as a devout Muslim, and one who had difficulty finding a wife who would wear a head scarf and would pray five times a day.

Starz is a strip club located just down the road from the main gate entrance to the Fort Hood Base. It does not serve alcohol, but customers bring their own beer and liquor and buy ice buckets and mixers at the club.

Hasan sat at a table in the back corner of the club, to the left of the stage on which strippers dance around a pole, employees said.

Jennifer Jenner, who works at Starz using the stage name Paige, said Hasan bought a lap dance from her two nights in a row.

She said he paid 50 dollars for a dance lasting three songs in one of the club’s private rooms on Oct. 29 and Oct. 30.

Jenner, 31, said Hasan was dressed casually both nights he came to the club - in jeans and a T-shirt the first night and then wearing a baseball cap the next. She recalled that he arrived at about 6:30 p.m. and stayed until 2 a.m.

She said he brought in a six pack of light beer, took only a few sips from one can and gave the rest to the strippers.

He preferred the blondes,” said Jenner, whose hair was dyed blond at the time.

Jenner said she asked Hasan why he liked coming to Starz instead of another of the roughly half a dozen other clubs nearby, all about an 8-minute drive from the Army base.

“I like it here because no one I work with is here,” she quoted Hasan, as saying. (ANI)