Fort Hood Hero Story Changes Heroes
A lot of the early reporting in the Fort Hood mass murder story turned out to be false, and here’s another detail that the press got wrong: Sgt. Kimberly Munley, applauded as a hero for shooting Nidal Malik Hasan after being wounded herself, apparently didn’t even fire her weapon. The officer who actually fired the shots that brought down Hasan was Senior Sgt. Mark Todd.
In the interview, Sergeant Todd said he and Sergeant Munley had pulled up to the scene in separate cars at the same time. He said they began running up a small hill toward the building that held the processing center where unarmed soldiers reported for check-ups and vaccinations before deployment. The gunman was already outside, Sergeant Todd recalled.
“That’s when the bystanders were pointing in his direction,” he said. “And when we popped up, he was standing there, and we shouted our commands — ‘Police, drop your weapons!’ — and he just opened fire on us.”
Sergeant Todd said he was slightly in front of Sergeant Munley on the hill. “Once we took fire, she broke right and I broke left,” he said.
Sergeant Todd said he did not see Sergeant Munley get shot. He said he started to circle around the building, but then backtracked as panicked bystanders told him of the gunman’s movements. “As it unfolded, I went a different direction and he went a different direction, and we met up in the front of the building,” he said.
Sergeant Todd said he then saw Sergeant Munley on the ground, wounded. He shouted again at the gunman to drop his weapon.
“Once I came around the front of the building, I caught his attention again, started shouting commands, and then he opened up a second time,” Sergeant Todd said. “And that’s when I returned fire, neutralized him and secured him.”
Both officers deserve to be called heroes, for charging directly into a dangerous situation and putting an end to it.
Frank says: