FORT HOOD, Texas — As the former police officer walked through the wood-paneled courtroom to the witness box, her confident stride helped disguise her limp.
She testified in measured tones, occasionally casting a hard gaze at the man in the wheelchair with the unkempt, graying beard. Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan kept quiet, as he has throughout this court-martial, but did look up to meet her stare.
Kimberly Munley was shot three times: in the left thigh, in the same leg just below the knee and in the right hand on Nov. 5, 2009, as she “blindly” exchanged fire with Hasan, she told a panel of military officers Friday.
Hasan is charged with killing 13 people and wounding 32 others, including Munley, and could face the death penalty if convicted. Hasan was shot by police that day and is paralyzed from the waist down.
Munley, who now lives in Kure Beach, N.C., testified that she was washing her police car that afternoon at the end of her shift when a call came in. There was an active shooter at the soldier readiness processing center. She jumped in the car and turned on the siren – activating a dashboard camera – and drove to the center.
As she pulled up, a soldier ran toward her, yelling and pointing. She got out of the car and moved toward the buildings.
Consistent, rapid gunfire booms in the background of the video, as two soldiers stand behind cars, pointing and yelling toward the gunfight. A repetitive “ding” sounds, signaling an open car door, as more shots begin and yelling and police radio traffic comingle.
Munley said she didn’t see Sgt. Mark Todd when she arrived at the scene, but soon heard her fellow officer telling the shooter to drop his weapon. As she moved toward the man in the Army Combat Uniform with a gun, she said, she saw the red flash of a laser come across her eyes.
The man ran behind the building before she could get an accurate shot, she said, so she moved to the opposite side of the building and lay on the ground to wait, using a corner as cover.
She fired “an unknown amount of shots” as the man ran toward her, firing again and again, Munley said. When he didn’t slow down, she stood up and took a step back, blindly exchanging fire with the man now just about eight feet away.
Munley went down, but tried to keep firing, she said. The man, who she identified as Hasan, kicked her malfunctioning gun away and stood over her, trying to shoot, but he seemed to have trouble with his weapon and “stumbled away,” she said.
Another witness later said a shell casing had gotten jammed in Munley's Beretta.
Hasan chose not to cross-examine the woman he believes shot him twice. Instead, the judge thanked the petite, tattooed blonde for her testimony, and she walked out of the courtroom.
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