Fort Hood heroics: an inconvenient truth?

The story of how the Texas policewoman Kimberley Munley heroically brought down the Fort Hood killer, Major Nidal Malik Hasan, in a shoot-out at Fort Hood last Thursday, was just what the public needed at the time. A 34-year-old, pony-tailed policewoman, nicknamed Mighty Mouse by her colleagues, brings down a crazed gunman, single-handed.

But was it true - or did it simply suit the fast-moving media agenda in the immediate aftermath of the rampage that left 13 dead?

It has now emerged that the shots which brought Hasan's killing spree to an abrupt end, putting him in intensive care, were most likely fired not by Sgt Munley at all, but by her 42-year-old male partner, Sgt Mark Todd.

An anonymous witness has told the New York Times that Hasan shot Munley the moment she arrived at the scene, sending her sprawling to the ground. Hasan then turned his back to reload his semi-automatic pistol, and at that moment, Todd arrived and shot him.

The Pentagon has said that whoever fired the decisive shot or shots will only be decided once the ballistics reports are in.

In the meantime, neither Sgt Munley, who has recovered swiftly from her injuries, nor Sgt Todd could confirm exactly what happened when they appeared together on NBC's Today show this morning.

Munley was certain she had fired at the gunman, but could not say whether she had hit him. Todd had definitely shot Hasan - he knew because it was the first time in 25 years as a cop that he had used his weapon - but he could not be sure whether the gunman had already been hit.

However, while it might suit the two partners to share the glory, the anonymous witness who spoke to the New York Times was very clear about what happened.

He saw Sgt Munley come around the corner of a building. Hasan wheeled on her and shot her several times. It was not clear whether she managed to get off a shot or not before she fell over backwards, clearly injured.

Hasan then turned his back on the policewoman and began to reload, according to the witness. He showed no signs of being wounded. A few seconds later, Sgt Todd arrived on the scene. "He raised his weapon and fired several times at Hasan, who pitched over backward and stopped moving," the witness told the New York Times.

The paper concluded its report by raising the spectre of Private Jessica Lynch, the US soldier who was famously captured by Iraqi forces during the early days of the Allied invasion of Iraq in March 2003, before she was rescued by US special forces.

The Pentagon painted a picture of heroism in which Lynch fought back against her captors: in truth, her rifle jammed and she was knocked unconscious when her vehicle crashed. She later blamed the Pentagon for exaggerating her actions for the sake of propaganda.