ShareThisLEHIGH ACRES, Fla. - The New Testament instructs Christians to love their enemies.
Now a Lehigh Acres, Fla. man says he is attracting the attention of the FBI after he followed those instructions, attempting to send a dozen roses to the suspected gunman in the recent massacre at Fort Hood in Texas.
"It is the Christian commandment to love your enemies and to do good to them. I did that," said Dan M. Ross, 61. "Whereas the ministers out there in Fort Hood are praying for him ... I went one step further."
But Phil Enderle, the owner of the Texas flower shop that received Ross' order in an e-mail, said it appeared Ross was doing more than being a good Christian, and praying for U.S. Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, who is accused of killing 13 people on the base on Thursday and wounding 29 more.
"This guy is praising him," Enderle said. "He's patting him on the back."
E-mail records indicate that the ordeal involving Ross began on Friday afternoon, when he sent an e-mail to Marvel's Florist in Killeen, Texas, ordering a $59.95 yellow rose bouquet for Hasan be sent to any hospital in Fort Hood, with the intent that it would eventually be delivered to him. He ordered a note be included with the flowers reading: "Major Nidal Hasan. Koran 2: 190 -- 3. In God's eye, and those who submit, you are a hero!"
Ross finished the e-mail by instructing the flower shop to "play stupid" if anyone were to question them.
"My money is green like everyone else's," Ross wrote.
Enderle, himself a retired Army Sergeant, said the e-mail was disturbing. Instead of filling the order, he said he called the base and "hand delivered" the messages to the FBI.
"The day prior to that, this Major shot and killed 13 people ... and now I get somebody who is quoting the Koran, insulting me by telling me to play dumb, and wanting me to provide comfort to the soldier that did this," Enderle said.
Ross, who said he is the "the reincarnated Apostle Peter" and "the coming son of man," doesn't condone the Fort Hood shootings. He said everyone has limited knowledge of the world, and he believes Hasan had a limited understanding of the Scriptures of God.
"God would take that into consideration and say you did the best you can with what you knew," Ross said.
Regardless, FBI agents were at his doorstep in the town located near Fort Myers on Saturday morning, Ross said. He wouldn't let them into his home, he said, and berated them for about five minutes until they left. He said the agents tried to intimidate him, asked him if he was on drugs, and asked neighbors if he was crazy.
(Ryan Mills writes for the Naples Daily News in Florida.)
