Posted on 10/21/2010 7:21:48 AM PDT by Responsibility2nd
FORT HOOD — An Army major described a dramatic brush with death that he and the first police officer on the scene experienced during the final seconds of last year's shooting massacre on post.
Maj. Steven Richter, the officer in charge of the Soldier Readiness Processing Center, said the determined gunman was coming toward him outside, carrying his 5.7 mm pistol with a red laser trained right on him.
Just then, Kimberly Munley, one of two civilian police officers who had just arrived, fired at the gunman, getting his attention and allowing Richter to duck behind a car. Within seconds, Munley was wounded and the shooter was moving in. Richter said he wondered if he should try to rush the gunman.
“It appeared to me that she was defenseless,” he testified Wednesday in a videoconference from South Korea.
Seconds later, police Sgt. Mark Todd brought the gunman down with gunfire, ending the horrific incident.
Wednesday's testimony in the Article 32 hearing for Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan suggests the bloody rampage last Nov. 5 could have been much bloodier if Todd and Munley hadn't sped across the post to the scene.
Investigators found the gunman had used barely half his ammunition, with 177 rounds left unspent.
Of the 214 rounds discharged, 146 were fired inside the “medical SRP,” where all 13 of the fatally wounded victims were shot.
Munley, who arrived at the scene with Todd right behind her, said she saw the gunman outside a building just north of the medical building in the SRP complex.
Munley couldn't fire her M-9 service pistol at first, because people were running behind the assailant.
“I didn't want to have any friendly fire,” she testified. “So I could not get an accurate shot.”
Three separate series of rapid gunfire could be heard on the audio recorded by Munley's dashboard camera during a shootout she said lasted about 30 seconds.
As the gunman went around the building, Munley circled in the other direction and exchanged gunfire with him. She said she fired at least six shots. Todd testified he started to follow the gunman, then turned back and followed Munley's path as bystanders told him, “He's over there!”
Munley got a superficial wound on her hand and was shot twice in the legs. Her gun malfunctioned, and the gunman kicked it out of her hand, she said.
As she tried to drag herself to her weapon, the gunman seemed to have problems with his weapon, she said. Todd said he saw Munley on the ground, with the shooter some 20 feet away. He yelled at the man, who was about 40 feet from him, to drop his weapon.
When the man shot at him, Todd returned five rounds, he said.
“I saw him wince a couple times, and he slid down the pole” onto his back, Todd said.
Richter said he ran over and picked up the shooter's gun, thinking there might be a second gunman to contend with. He burned his fingers when he touched the barrel of the gun, which had jammed, as he tried to clear it.
Duane Mitchell, special agent with the Army's Criminal Investigation Division, said authorities recovered five loose unused rounds and another 172 rounds in magazines. In earlier testimony, Sgt. 1st Class Maria Guerra had said the gunman had deftly and efficiently changed magazines without hesitation, “like one motion.”
Hasan's pistol had laser sights that emitted a green beam for daylight use and red beam for darker lighting, Mitchell said. Receipts indicated Hasan had purchased “watch-type batteries” to power the sights just days before the shooting, he said.
Prosecutors are expected to wrap up their case today.
Hasan, who was paralyzed from the chest down as a result of the shooting, remained stoic Wednesday. He hardly could be seen by most in the courtroom, as he continued to wear a watch cap and had a green blanket wrapped around his shoulders and neck.
“Her gun malfunctioned, and the gunman kicked it out of her hand, she said.”
That’s the Beretta M9 for you, a piece of crap.
This is just a “preliminary” hearing of some type, is that correct? This is not the actual trial or court martial proceedings?
Most likely, her weapon was dry. Their is nothing wrong the M9 or 92FS civilian model. Like any semi auto handgun, they will function properly if kept cleaned and oiled. If they are dry, they will pinch a partially ejected crtridge in the ejection port. Pain in the @$$ to clear - drop the mag and then clear the spent shell - reinsert the mag and reload....red
Yup....you can do more damage by throwing it at the target....POS for sure.
I'm not military, so I don't quite know what that means.
I don't even own a Beretta, but almost every one I've fired had some kind of quirk with feeding, properly oiled or not. I usually have to pull out the magazine spring and give it a stretchy-stretchy to deal with the failure to feed. You should see the horrified expressions on the owners' faces when I do that, especially the LEOs. But it always works.
I picked this trick up from an FFL dealer at the range. Perhaps it's not the correct approach but perhaps the effing piece should not be so sensitive either.
The real question is would you trust your life to a M9 given its dubious reliability, I know I would not.
The anemic performance of the 9MM NATO FMJ round, however, is a different story.
The Uniform Code of Military Justice (UCMJ), tailored as it is for use in the field, doesn’t have a Grand Jury provision.
In civilian legal practice, as you probably know, the Grand Jury (a sworn panel of citizens from the community) hears a presentation of the evidence of a crime by the prosecutor and must make a determination whether it is sufficient to merit an indictment, the first step in going to trial.
Under the UCMJ, this is done in an Article 32 Hearing before a military judge. That is what is happening now at Fort Hood. The prosecutors are presenting the evidence they have collected implicating Major Hassan in the crime. It is a preview of what will be presented at the later trial. The one thing present in a trail but lacking in the Article 32 Hearing is the defense. They will make no presentations until the actual trial. However, the defense team is very interested in this proceeding because it may provide clues toward developing the defense’s strategy against the charges.
Given the amount of incriminating evidence, there is no doubt the judge will bind the Major over for trial. Major Hassan is in court because it is his right to attend the proceedings under the UCMJ.
I wonder if they would still be having an Article 32 hearing if the guards had been carrying 1911s.
bump
“I wonder if they would still be having an Article 32 hearing if the guards had been carrying 1911s.”
I think we both know the answer to that question.
I would mine and have. It has been “adjusted” slightly, and it stays cleaned and well oiled. I fire it regularly and have never had a misfire or partially ejected case. Properly maintained, the M9/92FS is as reliable as anything out on the streets. The only problem with the weapon is - its a 9mm. .45acp is my preference...red
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