Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, a 39-year-old psychiatrist who worked at Darnell Army Medical Center at Fort Hood, is suspected of fatally shooting 12 soldiers and a civilian, military officials said. He was shot four times by a female police officer and taken into custody, ending the rampage.

...Hasan was due to be deployed to Afghanistan, Army officials said.

Lightly-built and a mother of one, she is the woman credited with stopping the bloodshed at America's largest military base.

Police Sergeant Kimberley Munley confronted gunman Nidal Malik Hasan and, despite being wounded in both legs, brought him down with four shots.

Army psychiatrist Major Hasan had killed 13 and left 31 injured after he jumped on to a desk screaming 'Allahu Akbar' - God in Great - and fired on defenceless colleagues.

But the carnage would have been even greater were it not for the actions of Sergeant Munley who minutes earlier had been directing traffic.