November 06, 2009

Civilian cop credited with ending Fort Hood massacre

CNN.com

FORT HOOD, Texas — A civilian police officer who shot the Fort Hood gunman four times during his bloody rampage stopped the attacker cold, a U.S. Army official said Friday.

Officer Kimberly Munley of the Fort Hood Police Department is a "trained, active first responder" who acted quickly after she "just happened to encounter the gunman," said Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, Fort Hood's commanding general.

Cone said the officer and her partner responded "very quickly" to the scene of the shootings -- reportedly in around three minutes.

Munley "just happened very fortunately to be very close to the incident scene," Cone told CNN's "American Morning."

He said she shot the gunman four times and was wounded herself in an exchange of gunfire with him.

"Really a pretty amazing and aggressive performance by this police officer," Cone said.

Authorities have identified the alleged gunman as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, an Army psychiatrist at Darnall Army Medical Center. They said he opened fire at a military processing center Thursday at Fort Hood, killing 13 people and wounding 30 others.

The suspect was taken into custody and is in stable condition Friday morning, an Army official said.

Cone was asked if Munley's shots brought down the assailant and stopped him from shooting.

"That's correct," Cone said. "The critical factor here was her quick response to the situation."

A page on the Twitter social networking Web site lists the name Kim Munley of Killeen, Texas, near Ford Hood. It has a photo of a female police officer with the name Kim Munley on her uniform.

Its bio blurb has particular resonance in the aftermath of the shootings.

"I live a good life ... a hard one, but I go to sleep peacefully @ night knowing that I may have made a difference in someone's life."