Fort Hood, TX – What began as a quiet day at Fort Hood, Texas, ended as the deadliest mass shooting on a military base in U.S. history. On November 5, 2009, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a 39-year-old Army psychiatrist, allegedly walked into a crowded room where soldiers were getting ready for deployment and opened fire. Authorities say Maj. Hasan fired more than 100 rounds, killing 13 and injuring 43 others.
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One of the first civilian police officers to arrive at the scene was Sgt. Kimberly Munley, a 34-year-old mother of two who earned the nickname “Mighty Mouse” during her military service. Authorities say Sgt. Munley fired at Maj. Hasan twice. Maj. Hasan then allegedly charged at her, firing. Sgt. Munley managed to fire a few more rounds and fell on her back, shot in each leg and her wrist.
Senior Sgt. Mark Todd, another civilian police offer with military service, joined Sgt. Munley. Together, they took down Maj. Hasan. Sgt. Munley suffered bullet wounds in both her legs and her wrist. Senior Sgt. Todd was not injured. Maj. Hasan is in stable condition and remains in custody.
Witnesses say the death toll would have been much worse if it weren’t for the heroic actions of Sgt. Munley and Senior Sgt. Todd.
In her first exclusive interview to Oprah, since the shootings, Sgt. Munley says she remembers every detail of the incident. “I never lost consciousness, and I refused to,” she says. “I wanted to stay awake and know everything that was going on and control my breathing to make sure I was not going to fall into shock.”
Sgt. Munley says she was washing her patrol car at the end of her shift when the call about the shootings came in. Armed with a pistol, she says she entered a chaotic situation. “I was still unaware completely as to what was going on and what we were up against, who we were up against,” she says. “There were many people outside pointing into the direction that this individual was apparently located, and as soon as I got out of my vehicle and ran up the hill is when things started getting pretty bad and we started encountering the fire.”
Senior Sgt. Todd arrived at the scene at the same time as Sgt. Munley. “It was just a typical day, and then we got the call that shots fired,” he says. “Initially in my mind I was thinking: ‘Okay, this is Fort Hood. We have memorial services all the time. They were practicing the three-round volleys that they do for the memorial ceremonies.'”
Still, Senior Sgt. Todd went to investigate. “The [radio] came back saying there were shots fired while they were taking phone calls,” he says.
Once inside, Sgt. Munley says there wasn’t much time to think. “We get so attuned to training, and we’re very fortunate that it becomes second nature and kind of reflexive for us to react,” she says.
Senior Sgt. Todd managed to get the gun away from the alleged shooter. He says it was the first time he’d ever used his weapon in 25 years of law enforcement. “We’re trained to shoot until there’s no longer a threat. And once he was laying down on his back, his weapon just fell into his hand and I’m like, ‘Okay, now’s the time to rush him and secure him,'” he says. “I ran up and I kicked his weapon away and then we placed him in handcuffs, and after searching him for any other weapons and everything, we started the lifesaving measures on him.”
When she woke up in the hospital, Sgt. Munley’s first words were, “Did anybody die?” “I was very concerned as to who else had been injured as well,” she says.
Sgt. Munley says she’s taking her recovery slowly and is looking forward to getting back to a normal life. “Every day is a progress for me, and things are getting better day by day,” she says. “Emotionally, I’m just hoping that the rest of the officers and the injured and the families of the deceased are healing as well.”
Senior Sgt. Todd says he thanks God that he was able to walk away without injury. “Directly after it, I sent my wife a text and my sister a text [saying]: ‘ Shooting at Fort Hood. I’m okay. I’ll call when I can,'” he says. “We’re trained to do whatever we need to do so we can walk home at the end of the day and hug our families and just be normal people.”
VIN News: Sgt. Kimberly Munley’s union, AFGE, has set up a site where you can send your best wishes to Sgt. Munley. Just click here and compose a message to her. Your messages will be collected and AFGE will deliver the messages to Munley on Friday, Nov. 20.
WOW!! what a Hero so brave!!!
why perform lifesaving measures on a guy who tried to take the whole place down? It also sounds like there were other legit wounded soldiers who perhaps could have better used these heroic measures.
I gotta say i’m really impressed with these two officers and especially munley. I wish her a speedy recovery and i hope she gets some awards and medals for what she did. A true hero. May others learn from her example.
Go ahead, click on the link at the bottom of the article and write a few words commending her bravery. Make a Kiddush Hashem.
For heaven’s sake, WHAT was the weapon that could have been used to shoot FORTY people?? IF they could so easily get him only AFTER he shot 40 people why couldn’t anyone else get him much earlier? The whole story smells fishy from start to finish. HOW DID HE DO IT? HOW did he move from one building to the next?
She is a real hero…its a shame that some are still trying to make Hasan into an American version of Baruch Goldstein…a doctor who simply snapped because of the pressures of having to deal with conflicts. While Goldstein clearly had deep hatred for arabs on a level with Hasan’s hatred of U.S. public policy, Goldstein had some rational basis for his hatred and simply snapped. He was not as bad as Hasan who attached his own colleagues.
I don’t know where VIN got this article from, but the first line isn’t true. This was not the ‘deadliest mass shooting on a military base in U.S. history’.
October 16, 1991: A 35-year-old civilian drives a pickup truck into a Fort Hood cafeteria and fatally shoots 23 people wounding 20 more before killing himself. It was the deadliest shooting rampage in American history until the Virginia Tech Massacre.
How long will this muuuslim terrorist be a suspect.why is he only a suspect,when he was observed by a bunch of people while he was doing this crime Please call him by his name, a piece of filth,sub human piece of garbage,
Its cool to see if you press the link above you can see all msgs all people send to this woman. Most are jewish names from our neighborhoods I guess all VIN users.
Check out today’s NYTimes. Munley ain’t the real hero, it was Sgt Mark Todd, a black cop who actually saved her life! Munley was shot and Hasan was reloading. Todd came around the corner and lit him up! I tell you, in America, if it’s all white, it’s all right. Peace!
True Sgt.Mark Todd did take down Hassan and ended the massacre. But I don’t think the military/media mix up was a Black/White thing. I think that there was a lot of confusion and chaos at the time. Also, interestingly Sgt.Todd request anonymity; I commend him for his humility. The bottom line is that both Sgt.Todd and Munley should be highly commended for confronting the madman Hassan.
Let us not use this tragedy to further divide, but let us come together and thank God for their actions and pray for Munley’s speedy recovery.
I am exmilitary and we are so saddened by this tragedy. We should all pray for those that were killed and injured and their families, then our soldiers. This is a time for mourning, grieving and praying. No one will ever understand the full depth of why this occured, but we should come together and work with our communities and our military leaders to find solutions so that no one will have to endure what the Fort Hood, and Military communties all over this country just experienced. Our men and women in uniform need all the prayers and support we can give them and this is where our focus should be. Justice will be served. God bless us all even in these difficult times.
I am glad the shooter was brought down, they should have shot him in the
head. most likely now he will be in prison with all the perks and will live it up
well, where as our soldiers will be be forgotten. Next time take the creep out
first with a bullet to the head and save our soldiers. thanks to the police who
did respond. bless our military. a mom of 3 military soldiers.