Major Nidal Malik Hasan, the Army major accused of carrying out the Fort Hood massacre, was charged on Thursday with 13 counts of premeditated murder. If convicted, he will be eligible for the death penalty.

Hasan, 39, will face justice in a military court. Prosecutors are expected to begin putting together the military equivalent of a grand jury. Under the military court system, fellow Army officers will decide whether Hasan is guilty of mass murder, and if so, on his punishment. If the death penalty is decided upon, he would die by lethal injection.

Chris Grey, a spokesman for the US Army Criminal Investigation Command, said that additional charges could be filed against Hasan. Officials are still trying to decide whether or not to charge him with a fourteenth count of murder in connection with the death of a pregnant victim's unborn child.

Captured alive, the Army psychiatrist, feds say he killed 13 people and wounded 42 others at the Fort Hood army installation in Texas last week. Hasan was said to be armed with two handguns, opening fire inside a medical office waiting room packed with unarmed soldiers. His shooting spree was put to an end when he was wounded in a shootout with civilian police.

On Sunday, FBI and Army investigators attempted to interview Hasan at a military hospital. However, he refused and demanded a lawyer.