Thursday, November 12, 2009 - Sergeant Kimberly Munley, a 34-year-old mother of two, had already earned the nickname "Mighty Mouse" before she confronted the gunman at Fort Hood and averted an even greater massacre.
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On Wednesday, Americans heard first hand her tale of heroism and that of Senior Sergeant Mark Todd, another civilian police officer with military service who eventually disarmed the gunman.
Munley told The Oprah Winfrey Show how she remembered every moment of last week's tragic events when alleged gunman Major Nidal Hasan shot dead 13 people and wounded dozens more at the US military base in Texas.
"I never lost consciousness, and I refused to," said Munley, in her first interview since Thursday's shootings. "I wanted to stay awake and know everything that was going on and control my breathing to make sure I was not going to fall into shock."
According to witnesses, Munley was one of the first civilian police officers to arrive on the scene, firing on Hasan before he charged and shot at her several times. She suffered bullet wounds in both her legs and her wrist.
Munley described to Oprah how she had been washing her patrol car at the end of a shift when she heard about the shooting.
"I was still unaware completely as to what was going on and what we were up against, who we were up against.
"There were many people outside pointing into the direction that this individual was apparently located, and as soon as I got out of my vehicle and ran up the hill is when things started getting pretty bad and we started encountering the fire."
Once inside the building, Munley, who was armed with just a pistol, said there was no time to think. "We get so attuned to training, and we're very fortunate that it becomes second nature and kind of reflexive for us to react."
Munley said she was taking her recovery slowly and was looking forward to getting back to a normal life.
"Every day is a progress for me, and things are getting better day by day," she said. "Emotionally, I'm just hoping that the rest of the officers and the injured and the families of the deceased are healing as well."
Todd, for his part, said it was the first time he had ever had call to use his weapon in 25 years of law enforcement.
"We're trained to shoot until there's no longer a threat. And once he was laying down on his back, his weapon just fell into his hand and I'm like, 'Okay, now's the time to rush him and secure him.'
"I ran up and I kicked his weapon away and then we placed him in handcuffs, and after searching him for any other weapons and everything, we started the lifesaving measures on him."
Todd said he thanked God he was able to walk away without injury.
"Directly after it, I sent my wife a text and my sister a text: 'Shooting at Fort Hood. I'm okay. I'll call when I can.'
"We're trained to do whatever we need to do so we can walk home at the end of the day and hug our families and just be normal people."
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