Author and researcher Nahid Afrose Kabir examined similar reporting on violent events . One event he studied was the Fort Hood shooting that occurred on November 5 , 2009 . Major Nidal Malik Hasan , who was identified as American born but held a Muslim background , shot and killed thirteen soldiers and wounded thirty more . Some of the interviewees commented on how the news reporting of this event emphasized Hasan 's Muslim background . The same interviewees in this study compared the Virginia Tech shooting with the Fort Hood shooting in which a non - Muslim individual , Seung - Hui Cho , killed thirty - two people , but following news reports did not make a point to emphasize his religious or cultural ties . Similarly , in various print media outlets , headlines alluded to the idea that the Fort Hood Shooting had ties to terrorist acts or other terrorist organizations . Another incident that occurred in Times Square on May 2 , 2010 , provoked more anti- Muslim sentiment . Faisal Shahzad made a bombing attempt that failed . The Times subsequent reporting indicated that Pakistan 's Tehrik - e - Taliban took credit for the failed attempt . In the same report over the incident , Kabir noted that the Times report used this incident to further legitimize the wars in the Middle East , emphasizing the need to take out potential terrorists . Kabir echoed Reem Bakker 's sentiments , an interviewee in Kabir 's study , that the failed attempt further ostracized the Muslim community
Fort Hood shooting
2009 Fort Hood shooting
Islamophobia in the United States