Second sergeant credited with helping to bring down alleged Fort Hood gunman

By JAY ROOT

The Associated Press

KILLEEN — 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 fight 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 on 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 say only that an investigation was under way.

Munley was down by the time he engaged Hasan, Todd said. He wasn’t sure whether 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 then approached the suspect and saw that he still had a weapon in his hand, and he kicked away the gun. "He didn’t say anything. He was just kind of blinking," Todd said.

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.

She was in worse shape than the other eight patients who arrived at Metroplex Adventist Hospital in Killeen except for one who died en route, said Dr. Scott McAninch. She was rushed into surgery within minutes, he said.

Munley had "lost a lot of blood," especially from a gunshot wound to her left leg that had hit an artery, McAninch said. He praised first responders for putting a tourniquet on her. "That pretty much saved her life," McAninch said.

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