Details of Fort Hood Battle Between Maj. Hasan, Cops Still Murky

Sgt. Mark Todd tells "GMA" that Hasan ignored commands; who took him down?

ByABC News via logo
November 11, 2009, 7:30 PM

Nov. 12, 2009— -- More details are being released about the gun battle between Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan and the civilian police officers credited with stopping the Fort Hood massacre, but how exactly the alleged shooter was taken down remains murky.

Sgt. Mark Todd told "Good Morning America" today that it was bystanders who pointed him and Sgt. Kimberly Munley in Hasan's direction as they responded to calls of shots being fired at Fort Hood last week.

"When we first approached the scene there was a slight incline we had to go up," Todd said. "She broke to the right and I broke to the left and we both took cover."

"I gave him commands, 'halt, drop your weapon,' and he fired on me," Todd said.

While Munley has been hailed as the hero by Fort Hood authorities, her shots bringing down Hasan even though she had been shot three times herself, a report today in the New York Times suggests it was Todd who got off the shots that felled the alleged shooter.

The Times quoted an unidentified witness who said Hasan shot Munley immediately and while she was on the ground, Todd rounded a corner and shot Hasan while the gunman had paused to put another magazine in the pistol.

Todd was careful to avoid specifics today on "Good Morning America" and said he could not comment on anything Hasan had said during the exchange.

It was the first time in 25 years, he said, that he's had to use his gun.

"There was really no time to think," he said. "We just relied on our training."

Once Hasan's gun had been secured, Todd said they immediately began life-saving measures on him.

"We can't just sit there and watch him die," he said. "We have to do everything we can to preserve life."

Hasan remains hospitalized at Brooke Army Medical Center in San Antonio where he is reportedly paralyzed.

Munley told Oprah Winfrey Wednesday that she was taking her time to recover.

"Every day is a progress for me, and things are getting better day by day," she said on Winfrey's talk show. "Emotionally, I'm just hoping that the rest of the officers and the injured and the families of the deceased are healing as well."