Man tries to send Fort Hood suspect roses

LEHIGH ACRES, Fla., Nov. 11 (UPI) -- A Florida man says he's drawn the attention of the FBI for trying to send roses to the suspected gunman in last week's Fort Hood, Texas, massacre.

Dan M. Ross, 61, of Lehigh Acres, Fla., said he was following the biblical charge to love his enemies when he tried to send a dozen roses to suspected gunman U.S. Army Maj. Nidal M. Hasan, accused of killing 13 people and wounding 30 others Thursday, The Naples (Fla.) Daily News reported.

"It is the Christian commandment to love your enemies and to do good to them. I did that," Ross said. "Whereas the ministers out there in Fort Hood are praying for him ... I went one step further."

Phil Enderle, owner of the Texas flower shop that received Ross's e-mailed order, said he thought Ross went beyond the precept.

"This guy is praising him," Enderle said. "He's patting him on the back."

E-mail records indicate the chain of events began Friday when Ross e-mailed Marvel's Florist in Killeen, Texas, to order a yellow rose bouquet for Hasan with the note, "Major Nidal Hasan. Koran 2: 190-3. In God's eye, and those who submit, you are a hero!"

Ross, who said he was a Vietnam veteran, said FBI agents visited him the next day, tried to intimidate him and asked if he was on drugs, the newspaper said.

"If they're coming at me at that angle and I have to prove to them for 20 minutes that I'm not on drugs, then it's hopeless," Ross told the Daily News.

An FBI spokesman declined to comment.