Sitting up and smiling: First picture of heroine of Fort Hood who took down gunman

Days ago she was on the verge of death after losing half the blood in her body during a furious shootout with the Fort Hood gunman.

But as she sits smiling in her hospital bed, Sergeant Kimberley Munley looks as if she has made a miraculous recovery.

The slightly built policewoman was the first on the scene after army psychiatrist Major Nidal Malik Hasan went on a murderous rampage, killing 13 of his fellow soldiers.

Feeling better: Kimberly Munley, seen with US Secretary of Defence Robert Gates, shot and disabled the Fort Hood gunman

Hasan was finally brought down by four shots, fired by Sgt Munley despite being wounded in both legs.

One of the shots cut an artery in her leg, leaving blood pumping out but she still managed to keep firing before collapsing.

As Miss Munley was lauded by US Defence Secretary Robert Gates, Barack Obama attended a memorial service at Fort Hood where he denounced the ‘twisted logic’ that led to the shooting.

Speaking to a crowd of 15,000 servicemen, the US president urged Americans to never forget the the men and women who had died in the massacre.

‘No faith justifies these murderous and craven acts; no just and loving God looks upon them with favour,’ the President said.

‘And for what he has done, we know that the killer will be met with justice – in this world and the next.’
The President and the first lady Michelle Obama met privately with family members of those killed and wounded to offer their condolences.

Thousands of people – including those wounded in the attack – paid their respects in front of a moving tribute to the victims: 13 pairs of combats boots each with an inverted rifle topped with a helmet.

Salute: Barack Obama and wife Michelle pay tribute to the 13 army staff killed at Fort Hood, in Texas

Solemn: A solider cradles his son as 15,000 Fort Hood personnel gathered to remember their dead

‘No faith justifies these murderous and craven acts; no just and loving God looks upon them with favour,’ the President said.

‘And for what he has done, we know that the killer will be met with justice – in this world and the next.’
The President and the first lady Michelle Obama met privately with family members of those killed and wounded to offer their condolences.

Thousands of people – including those wounded in the attack – paid their respects in front of a moving tribute to the victims: 13 pairs of combats boots each with an inverted rifle topped with a helmet.

The Fort Hood gunman warned senior officers two years ago that forcing Muslim soldiers to fight in Iraq and Afghanistan could lead to ‘adverse events’.

Hasan said Muslim servicemen and women in the US Army should be kept away from the war zones and treated as conscientious objectors.

The revelation was the latest to point to Hasan’s increasingly extremist Islamic views.

Last Thursday the Army psychiatrist killed 13 colleagues and injured 29 in a shooting spree at a Texas military base.

Yesterday Americans were demanding to know how so many apparently clear signals were missed.

Distraught: A family member hugs the picture and touches the boots a soldier Aaron Nemelka who was shot dead by the Fort Hood gunman

A soldier is comforted by a colleague as he breaks down in tears during the service

The FBI launched an investigation nearly a year ago after being alerted to Hasan’s internet posts sympathising with suicide bombers and his links to a radical Muslim cleric.

Colleagues are also said to have complained about his anti-American rants.

But rather than face censure, Hasan was promoted in April, leaving him free to launch the murderous gun attack on colleagues waiting for last minute medical check ups before being deployed to the Middle East.

In a presentation to Army doctors in 2007, U.S.-born Hasan, 39, said: ‘It’s getting harder and harder for Muslims in the service to morally justify being in a military that seems constantly engaged against fellow Muslims.’

One part in the speech at Walter Reed Medical Centre in Washington, where he spent six years studying to become a psychiatrist, read: ‘We love death more than you love life!’

Under ‘Recommendation’, Hasan added: ‘Department of Defence should allow Muslim soldiers the option of being released as “conscientious objectors” to increase troop moral and decrease adverse events.’

 

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worldnews/article-1226453/Fort-Hood-gunman-Nidal-Malik-Hasan-tried-contact-Al-Qaeda-months-killed-13-American-base.html#ixzz0WaYtqeQB