Commander lauds police officer's actions

FORT HOOD, Texas, Nov. 6 (UPI) -- The civilian police officer who shot and wounded the suspected gunman in the massacre at Ford Hood, Texas, won praise from base officials Friday.

Officer Kimberly Munley of the Fort Hood Police Department is a "trained, active first responder" who acted quickly when she encountered the gunman who killed 13 people and wounded 30 others, Lt. Gen. Robert Cone, Fort Hood's commanding general, told CNN.

Munley "just happened very fortunately to be very close to the incident scene" and shot the suspect four times, Cone said. "Really a pretty amazing and aggressive performance by this police officer."

Munley was wounded in the gunfire exchange and hospitalized in stable condition, officials said.

Authorities identified the alleged gunman as Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, 39, an Army psychiatrist at Darnall Army Medical Center. They said he opened fire at the base's military processing center Thursday.

When asked if Munley stopped the gunman from continuing his rampage. Cone said, "That's correct. The critical factor here was her quick response to the situation."

A Twitter page under the name Kim Munley of Killeen, Texas, near where the base is located, shows a photograph of a woman police officer.

"I live a good life ... a hard one, but I go to sleep peacefully @ night knowing that I may have made a difference in someone's life," she says.