She's the police officer being hailed a hero for bringing the massacre at Fort Hood to an end. Her name is Kimberly Munley, and she's a civilian police officer who took down gunman Nidal Hasan, shooting him four times.     

Munley is a 34-year-old mother of two daughters. She's from Carolina Beach, North Carolina, where her father is the former mayor.

She is in stable condition, but will undergo surgery after being shot three times in the hand and leg. Her husband is rushing home from Pennsylvania to be by his wife's side.  

Munley came face-to-face with the gunman almost as soon as she pulled into the besieged military base, as one of the first responders who raced to the scene when shots rang out.

Just three minutes before facing the crazed gunman, Munley was reportedly directing traffic!

For this new American hero, to serve and protect is clearly a life-long goal. In her bio on her twitter page she writes: "I live a good life....a hard one, but I go to sleep peacefully @ night knowing that I may have made a difference in someone's life."