Nov. 7 (Bloomberg) -- A civilian police officer at Fort Hood whose shots stopped a killer’s rampage is a member of a special reaction team and a weapons expert who probably saved lives with her response, officials say.

The officer, Kimberly Munley, 35, was hospitalized and in stable condition yesterday after suffering gunshots to the wrist and legs when she exchanged fire Nov. 5 with the suspect, U.S. Army Major Nidal Malik Hasan.

The incident left 13 dead and 30 with wounds that required hospitalization, officials said. The officials also said the carnage could have been worse as the suspect stormed a crowded waiting room, reloading and firing more than 100 rounds from a semi-automatic machine pistol with an extended magazine.

“She eliminated the threat. She did what she was trained to do,” said Munley’s supervisor, Chuck Medley, director of emergency services at the army base in Texas. “She saved, in my mind, no doubt, countless lives.”

The shooting shook the largest military base in the U.S. as the Defense Department searches for ways to ease the stress on soldiers cycling through multiple and lengthened deployments to feed eight years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan. Military suicide rates that once were lower than those among civilians exceeded the figure for the general population in 2008.

Hasan allegedly opened fire at a “readiness center” at Fort Hood, where soldiers were awaiting services such as medical and dental care.

‘Heroes’

Munley and civilian policeman Mark Todd, who also confronted Hasan, “will be appropriately regarded as heroes in the future,” Texas Governor Rick Perry said today at a press conference outside the Temple, Texas, hospital where some of the shooting victims were treated. “There’s no telling how many lives they saved because of their purposeful and selfless actions.”

Todd shot Hasan before kicking his weapon away and cuffing him, according to the Associated Press. Todd, who wasn’t wounded, said he did what he was trained to do and rejected being called a hero, AP said.

Medley said the civilian police and fire departments on the base began receiving 911 emergency calls about 1:23 p.m. local time. Munley was in the vicinity, and by 1:27, she had engaged the suspect with her own weapon.

Responding to Scene

“She responded to the scene, saw some injured and scared people trying to move out of the area,” Medley told reporters at Fort Hood yesterday. She determined the suspect’s location by sight or sound and rounded a corner into a kind of courtyard, where she saw Hasan pursuing an injured soldier, Medley said.

She fired. Hasan turned toward her and charged, firing rapidly, Medley said. She returned fire and took cover.

Bullets had struck each of them about the same time, Munley in the legs and wrist and Hasan in the upper torso, Medley said.

“He went down,” Medley said.

Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, was moved yesterday to Brooke Army Center in San Antonio, said Colonel John Rossi, the deputy commander at Fort Hood. He “was intubated and not able to converse,” Rossi said at a press conference last night.

Perry said he spoke with Munley yesterday. “We should be thankful we have people like that in America standing between us and the bad guys,” the Republican governor said at the news conference at Scott & White Memorial Hospital in Temple, about 30 miles east of Fort Hood.

Munley “is very understated,” Perry said. “She totally understands the gravity of what has occurred” and is “a classic public servant who is interested in going on with her life and making sure an event like this never happens again.”

Cousin’s Statement

Hasan’s cousin, Nader Hasan, issued a statement yesterday expressing grief for the shooting’s victims and their families. “We are mortified and there is no justification whatsoever for what happened,” he said.

Medley said by the time he arrived at the scene, soldiers were trying to move their injured compatriots to safe areas and provide first aid to the wounded.

“It was an exceptional scene,” he said, his voice choking with tears.

“These soldiers are America’s best example of how we go about doing things right in this country,” Medley said.

Surgeons repaired damage to Munley’s left leg and knee, Medley said. They still have to remove bullets from her right thigh, he said. The arm injury wasn’t “very serious,” he said.

“We believe she will fully recover,” he said.

General George Casey, the U.S. Army Chief of Staff told reporters at Fort Hood yesterday he was briefed on Munley’s actions. “She probably saved a lot of lives with her actions,” Casey said.

To contact the reporters on this story: Viola Gienger in Washington at vgienger@bloomberg.net; Margot Habiby at Fort Hood at mhabiby@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: November 7, 2009 17:03 EST