WDBJ7 Roanoke News and Weather NRV Lynchburg Danville | Hasan graduated from William Fleming, family had Roanoke area connections

Hasan graduated from William Fleming, family had Roanoke area connections

UPDATED 5:39 p.m.

Hasan was a student in the 1980's at William Fleming High School.

One of Hasan's classmates says Hasan wasn't a violent teenager, in fact, according to one of his friends from High School, Hasan was a funny, easy-going, guy.

Nidal Hasan graduated from William Fleming High School in 1988.

His classmate said he was shocked when he heard about it on the internet Thursday afternoon.

"They gave his age, he's about my age. And then it came out that he went to Virginia Tech," says James T. Jordan. 

And then when James Jordan saw a picture, a grown-up version of his old high school friend, he says he knew it had to be the same guy, the same Nidal Hasan he knew from Senior year.

The biggest difference, was that he never knew Hasan to be violent.

"He was soft-spoken, but he was fun to be around," says Jordan.

Jordan showed News7 his 1988 yearbook.

Jordan says remembers Hasan was smart, which is why he knew him. They were in an Advanced Placement History course together.

"We went out together, Nidal and I did, to get this history teacher a birthday present," says Jordan.

News7 contacted that history teacher who asked not to be named, but said he remembers Nidal Hasan as "a very bright, outgoing, fine young man. [The incident] is tragic for those who were hurt and also for [Hasan] and his family."

Jordan also showed News7 a video that he, Hasan and a few others made back in high school.

Jordan says Hasan was the only one of the friends who spoke Arabic.

"It seemed like to me, you know, that he studied hard, and I think he helped out with his parents' businesses," says Jordan.

Since high school graduation, Jordan says he'd lost touch with Hasan, but he never forgot his face.

"There's always something about the eyes, and this area here [pointing to his face] that you can always, usually identify people with," says Jordan.

Since Jordan  hasn't spoken with Hasan since high school, he can't imagine what happened to him since then.

The Hasan family also has ties to Vinton.

The family owned a home in this neighborhood on Ramada Road.

Hasan's father, mother and two younger brothers lived in the house, after Nadal Hasan graduated high school.

The family sold the house in 1999, one year after Hasan's father died.

This woman and her husband bought the home from the Hasan's and say they only heard good things about the family.

"People said they were a nice family," says Alma Jerkovic.

"Children were good in school, all we heard good things, we never had chance to met them, but they never said no bad word about none of them."

Hassan's parents renovated the Community Grocery store on Elm Avenue just a few blocks up from Community Hospital.

His father came to America from then Palestine as a teenager.

His mother came here as a young girl.

The Hasan's also ran the Capitol Restaurant on the city market in Roanoke and the Mount Olive Grill and Bar.

Hasan's father, Malik, passed away in 1998 and Hasan's mother, Hanan, died three years later.

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The family of Nidal Hasan once owned the Community Grocery Store on Elm Avenue.  The Hasans also lived on Ramada Road in Vinton.  Nidal Malik Hasan graduated from William Fleming High School in 1988.

Charles Garlick, a former neighbor, remembers the family. He told News-7 Thursday night that he remembered Nidal Hasan as a clean cut , nice young man.  Garlick remarked that Hasan had more hair in those days than in the photos circulating after the shooting.

The family sold the house about eleven years ago, Garlick said.  He also noted that Nidal Hasan's parent both had died.  Obituaries in the Roanoke Times show Malik Hasan died in 1998 and Nora Hasan died in 2001.

A News-7 story from 1995 also mentions the Hasans as owners of the Community Grocery.  The family was trying to buy The Justice House, a Roanoke apartment complex.  Nidal Hasan is cited in the story as saying his family is not that wealthy, but his relatives might be able to afford the low-income apartment building with a loan.

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