Real-Life Superhero: Sgt. Kimberly Munley
As anyone reading this probably already knows, last Thursday an Army officer stationed at Fort Hood, Texas went on a shooting spree, taking the lives of 13 people and injuring another 30.
The rampage was ended by Police Sgt. Kimberly Munley, who heard the gunfire and came running to see Major Nidal Malik Hasan aiming his sidearm at an already-wounded soldier. Sgt. Munley engaged Maj. Hasan in a running gun battle that left the murderer in critical condition and Sgt. Munley with wounds to both legs.
There’s no doubt Sgt. Munley’s quick, decisive action saved lives that day, and while I know she was trained — like other police officers — to run toward the sound of gunfire and not away from it, that doesn’t make it any less an act of heroism whenever and wherever it happens. From all I’ve read, the prescribed course of action in the wake of similar shootings at Virginia Tech and elsewhere is simple and direct: find the shooter and take him down, fast. This she did with skill and professionalism.
Sgt. Munley’s family says she doesn’t want to be called a hero, and that she’s more concerned with the victims. Her doctor says her first words on coming out of surgery were, “was anyone killed”? That makes her a hero to me. As for Maj. Hasan, if — as is beginning to look more the case — he is an Islamic extremist who attempted to contact Al Queada on numerous occasions, then nothing could be more fitting than to have his one-man jihad ended by a woman, a free woman in a free country.
So today I salute Sgt. Kimberly Munley, a real-life superhero, and ask anyone reading this to keep her and the victims and their families in their thoughts and prayers.
Well said indeed. I’ll second that motion with enthusiasm.
Quote
Real heroes never called themselves heroes, that’s our job! I am sure glad that people like her exist in this world.
Quote
I saw her on television. She’s a wonderful person but, alas, her role in the outcome it turns out was rather exaggerated (I’m reminded of Pat Tilman and Jessica Lynch, where there’s a real need for heroes, and there certainly are heroes, but seldom do chaotic events lend themselves cleanly to heroism):
http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1004042423
I do wish her well… but the media’s handling of the whole thing reminds me a bit of Superman’s well-meaning but mind-boggling pranks
Quote
tj,
As soon as I read Nightwing’s post here, I fired off a “Now wait a minute…” response, because, even from the first reports in the mainstream media here (Australasia), it looked suspiciously like Kimberly had been saved herself and the killer shot by the second hero on the scene. But I deleted the reply because the post is about Kimberly’s bravery and heroism, and the emerging details of the situation don’t change that. I don’t have a problem with Nightwing’s sentiments on that score.
What is worrying, and for Americans should be really frightening, is how the bulk of the media in the U.S. tried so incredibly hard to avoid telling the truth about the killer, and are still trying to spin a yarn about what is really going on.
Quote