Fort Hood fire chief recalls response to ’shots fired’ moment

The call came over the radio. “Shots fired.” And then, even worse: “Officer down.”

Billy Rhoads, chief of the Fort Hood Fire Department, grabbed a radio and donned his flak jacket. He jumped into his SUV and tore down the road. A dozen or so blocks away, at the Soldier Readiness Center, a gunman had opened fire on soldiers.

Rhoads stepped from his truck. His department’s motto is “Protecting those who protect us.” He hoped he was not too late for that.

The scene was chaotic. Wounded and dead soldiers were everywhere.

“I was listening to people hollering for help, and I was trying to get in there to see what we had,” Rhoads recalled three days after the November 5 attack. “I assumed that we would have maybe several victims. I had no idea, I just could not fathom what we were going to encounter.”

Amid all the army uniforms, one dark blue uniform stuck out.

It was Fort Hood police Sgt. Kimberly Munley, who, officials say, shot the alleged gunman, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, to end the rampage. She suffered three gunshot wounds.
Read entire story by Jim Spellman and Ed Lavendara from CNN here.