"I'm sorry."
Those were the first words that U.S. Army Pvt. Najee Hull said to his mother after he was shot Thursday at Fort Hood, according to the Sun-Times.
"He thought he had disappointed me. He knew I worried about him [being in the Army]," Yvonne Hull said Sunday.
Paramedics rushed the Homewood soldier to a hospital while his mother sought to reassure him.
"I said, 'I love you. You can never disappoint me; I'll be right there,' " she said.
Hull, 20, says he was the first person shot Thursday when Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan allegedly opened fire at the Texas Army base, killing 13 people and wounding many others. He was hit twice in the back and once in the knee.
Doctors removed Hull's spleen, he's still having trouble breathing, and his lungs are bleeding.
"They're telling me that I'm going to be alright, but they tell that to everyone," said Hull, who is sedated and can only speak for brief intervals.
According to his mother, however, he looks much better now than when she first saw him last week.
Hull enlisted in the Army eight months ago to pay for college. He was scheduled to deploy to Afghanistan in early 2010.
"He still wants to go to Afghanistan and fight for our country," Yvonne Hull said. "He's very patriotic."
