Mistaken Hero at Fort Hood

After a few days, the media raised a young 34-year-old police officer to the rank of national heroine after the carnage at Fort Hood. But a new account indicates that it was her African-American colleague who brought down the mad killer.

The United States is always quick to create heroes. Americans have now provided a new example of this after the shooting at the Fort Hood Military Base in Texas that resulted in thirteen deaths and 42 injuries on November 5. For several days, the lovely Kimberly Munley, a police sergeant, conquered Americans’ hearts by recounting before the cameras her role in neutralizing the shooter.

The authorities had designated her as the person who brought down Nidal Hasan while he was firing on soldiers gathered at the base. She took on this role, while at the same time remaining vague on the unfolding of events. Invited on November 11 as a guest of famous television personality Oprah Winfrey, Kimberly Munley, 34, mother of a three-year-old, explained that she had been in the process of washing her squad car when she heard the shooting. “There were lots of people outside showing the direction where this individual was located. As soon as I got out of my vehicle and ran towards the top of the hill, things started to get bad and we started to endure shots,” explained the police officer, nicknamed “Mighty Mouse” by her colleagues.

According to witnesses, she was one of the first members of the police force to come to the scene armed and to shoot on the suspect, military psychiatrist Nidal Hasan. Despite several bullet wounds, the young woman, who found herself at the side of another police officer from the base, Sergeant Mark Todd, explained on television that she “refused to lose consciousness.” She ended up injuring the mad killer, and therefore succeeded in bringing an end to the carnage.

A Ballistics Inquiry Is In Process

But a new account, published Friday in the New York Times, stirred up trouble on how the drama actually unfolded. It revealed that the shooter may in reality have been brought down by one of Munley’s colleagues, Sergeant Mark Todd, a 42-year-old African American. A ballistics investigation is underway to determine the origin of the bullet that stopped the killer.

Suspicions now hover over the American army. Hadn’t it put forward the heroism of the pretty young woman – with help from the media – as a way of deflecting from its negligence? Some accounts, gathered by American authorities about Nidal Hasan before the massacre, indicated that the army was aware of the officer’s psychological difficulties. Other elements show that it was also aware that he had been in contact with a radical imam.

This new development came while several other official statements had already been proven false on the day of the shooting. The death of Nidal Hasan had also unfortunately been announced.

While American President Barack Obama ordered an inquiry to determine if authorities neglected early warning signs of the massacre, Nidal Hasan will have to respond to the charge of thirteen premeditated murders before the military court that will try him; a crime punishable by the death penalty.