This photo from the Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress Web Site shows Nidal Malik Hasan. Military officials say the suspected shooter at Fort Hood, Texas on Thursday Nov. 5, 2009 was Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan. (AP Photo/The Center for the Study of Traumatic Stress)
KILLEEN, Texas (AP) — One of two police officers who confronted the alleged Fort Hood killer says he shot Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan before kicking the man's weapon away, handcuffing him and ending the nation's worst killing spree on a military base.
Sgt. Mark Todd joined Sgt. Kimberly Munley, hailed as a hero for her actions, in a firefight with Hasan that lasted less than a minute. Todd, 42, was not wounded, but the exchange left Munley injured and Hasan critically wounded.
Seconds after Todd arrived on the scene, he said he saw a calm-looking Hasan, his gun drawn and his fingers pointing at people.
"He was firing at people as they were trying to run and hide," Todd told The Associated Press Saturday.
That's when Todd, a retired soldier who now works as a civilian police officer at Fort Hood, said he shouted at Hasan.
"I told him stop and drop your weapons. I identified myself as police and he turned and fired a couple of rounds at me. I didn't hear him say a word ... he just turned and fired."
There has been confusion since Thursday's rampage about whose bullets actually brought down Hasan, who was shot four times. At first, Munley's supervisor said it was her shot to Hasan's torso that leveled him, but Army officials would only say that an investigation was under way.
Munley was down by the time he engaged Hasan, Todd said. He wasn't sure if Munley had wounded the suspect, because "once he started firing at me, I lost track of her."
Todd said he fired his Beretta at Hasan. Hasan flinched, Todd said, then slid down against a telephone pole and fell on his back. Todd says he then heard bystanders say "two more, two more."
At first he thought they meant there were two more suspects, but realized they were urging him to fire two more rounds at Hasan, thinking he was still posing a threat.
Todd approached the suspect and saw that he still had a weapon in his hand. Todd kicked away the gun, which he said had a laser-aiming device attached to it.
"He was breathing, his eyes were blinking. You could tell that he was fading out. He didn't say anything. He was just kind of blinking," said Todd.
Todd handcuffed Hasan and checked to see if he was still alive. "He had a good pulse," said Todd. He also cut off pieces of Hasan's clothes so he could get first aid and noticed Hasan had gunshot wounds on his side and back.
From the time he got to the scene until Hasan dropped, the whole encounter lasted only about 30-45 seconds, Todd said. "It was pretty intense. There was a lot of people shouting, a lot of people giving directions," he said.
Munley, whose injuries weren't believed to be life threatening, won wide praise after the incident.
Fort Hood spokesman Col. John Rossi read a statement on Munley's behalf Saturday night. He said she and her family were thankful for the support and prayers that have come their way.
There are 3 comments
@ 1.blogbob
So now you want to take away pistols? This guy didn't use assault weps or automatic weps, but a couple pistols...
Yes, we should rethink gun-control and stop it before it gets more innocent people killed...
His wep:
The Five-Seven — marketed as the "Five-seveN"[7] — is a semi-automatic pistol manufactured by FN Herstal.[11] The weapon's name refers to its 5.7 mm bullet diameter.
Wiki...
Yes, I agree, we should re-think gun control. Funny, but it seems that from what I have read, this guy wasn't stopped until someone who was armed come to the scene. I wonder how many people would have been shot, if they had had a chance to defend themselves? Hell, according to all accounts, it was the first ARMED responder that stopped the carnage. .
Munley and Todd-heroes.
Interesting comment in Today's Washington Post, in an article about Munley's experience (not covered in the article above):
None of the soldiers [in the center] was armed. At bases in the United States, weapons and ammunition are locked in arms rooms and are taken out only for training exercises."
Now isn't that odd. At large sprawling Army bases with large populations, free-carry weapons are not allowed. Indeed, the weapons used by Hasan were purchased outside the base. For the most part, US military bases in america are pretty safe places. Doesn't that say something about whether or not we should re-think gun control?
Gun nuts are fond of quoting the second clause of the Second Amendment, but ignore the first. The Second Amendment was IMHO not intended to prevent ANY gun laws, just federal ones that would take away the states' ability to raise a volunteer army, to defend themselves from each other, from external threats, and I guess from a standing federal army.
Isn't it interesting that all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico have militias (now called the National Guard), yet none of these agencies allow their soldiers to take home their weapons. These are kept secured in local armories. It would seem to me that since the states have all seen the light that it would not be safe to have citizens running around with M-16s with grenade launchers, that the Holy Second Amendment should now come up for review., since the states have surrendered their "volunteer" militias requiring guns to be kept at home.
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