Using anti-shooter tactics, civilian Army police officer brought down gunman

FORT HOOD, Texas — Sgt. Kimberly Munley, a civilian police officer, was taking her vehicle to be serviced Thursday when the killing began.

Inside the soldier-readiness facility on the Fort Hood Army post, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan opened fire with two pistols, one of them semi-automatic, officials said. The gunfire was continuous, methodical and well-aimed, witnesses told police.

Unarmed soldiers who had been waiting for medical appointments scattered or dropped to the floor.

Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, shouted "Allahu akbar!" — an Arabic phrase for "God is great!" — and emptied as many as six magazines during the rampage, according to Lt. Gen. Robert Cone and other Army officials.

Munley, 34, trained in tactics developed after the 2007 Virginia Tech massacre, raced toward the gunfire. She arrived about four minutes after the first 911 call, as Hasan was fleeing the building, according to official accounts.

Munley rounded a corner and fired twice at Hasan. He fired back and charged at her, according to the accounts.

Munley dropped to the ground in a protective position and continued firing, officials said.

When Hasan began to fumble with his gun, someone screamed, "He's reloading," according to an officer on the scene.

In the exchange, Munley was struck in both thighs and the wrist. Hasan was shot four times, including at least once in the torso.

Hasan, 39, is hospitalized and remained on a ventilator Friday. He is suspected of acting alone in a rampage that killed 13 people and wounded at least 30 others.

Investigators were searching for a motive Friday, but relatives said Hasan was unhappy about his upcoming deployment to either Iraq or Afghanistan.

By some accounts, other police officers might have fired at Hasan. Army officials, however, said credit for stopping the gunman belonged primarily to Munley, who remained hospitalized Friday.

Chuck Medley, the director of emergency services at Fort Hood, said he visited Munley in the hospital Friday and she was in good spirits.

"She's got some surgeries (ahead) but she's stable," he said. "She's the most upbeat injured person I've met."

He said the military is flying her husband, who is stationed at Fort Bragg, N.C., to see her soon.

No one answered the door Friday at Munley's residence, in an area that is home primarily to current or former service members.

Neighbors say Munley lives there with her husband, who was recently transferred to Fort Bragg, and two daughters, Hope and Jayden.

Munley is a civilian police officer with the Department of the Army and serves as a SWAT team member and firearms instructor for the department, Medley said. He said she joined the police force in January 2008 after serving in the Army.

Medley said the Army police department had been doing "active shooter training" as a precautionary measure since the mass shooting at Virginia Tech University in which a student killed 32 others before taking his own life.

Her actions quickly made her a hero to colleagues and strangers alike, as online discussion groups, police-union officials and others praised her role in felling the alleged gunman.

"She probably saved a lot of lives with her actions," said Gen. George Casey Jr., the Army's chief of staff.

"She walked up and engaged him," Cone said.

"It was an amazing and an aggressive performance by this police officer."

When the shooting stopped, Hasan was carried out and laid on the ground in front of the center with some of the other severely wounded soldiers.

Cone called Munley "one of our most impressive young police officers," and said she responded to the shooting rampage just as she was trained to do.

"If you act aggressively to take out a shooter, you will have less fatalities," Cone said.

Material from Cox Newspapers is included in this report.