A female police officer with less than two years of experience was hailed a hero after she withstood a barrage of gunfire and diverted the gunman's attention during the congressional baseball shooting last week.

Officer Nicole Battaglia, along with Alexander Jensen and Kevin Jobe, were lauded by Alexandria Police Chief Michael Brown for the speedy response after James T. Hodgkinson opened fire on a group of GOP congressmen practicing for a charity baseball game on Wednesday.

'You can't teach the kind of instinct that I saw with the three officers here...I'm damn proud of them,' Brown told NBC.

Rep. Steve Scalise of Louisiana, the House majority whip, was one of five people wounded in the shooting before Hodgkinson, 66, was killed by Capitol Police.

Officer Nicole Battaglia (left) was hailed as a hero for after she withstood a barrage of gunfire from gunman James T. Hodgkinson (right) during a congressional baseball practice in Virginia

Alexander Jensen (left) and Kevin Jobe (right), were also lauded by Alexandria Police Chief Michael Brown, who said: 'I'm damn proud of them'

Steve Scalise was one of five people wounded before Hodgkinson was killed by Capitol Police (pictured, the Eugene Simpson Stadium Park where the shooting broke out on Wednesday)

Officers were first dispatched to the scene at 7:10am on Wednesday, Brown said.

Jobe, a 16-year Alexandria police veteran, arrived less than two minutes later, around the same time Battaglia and Jensen appeared.

Battaglia 'immediately started taking fire from the suspect, and she jumped out of the car, without cover, and moved towards the firefight,' Brown said.

'Not away from it, towards it...That act alone, probably, in my opinion, diverted the attention of the shooter away from the other officers, allowing them to get in position to deal with the situation.'

Authorities have not revealed which officers fired the fatal shots, but two U.S. Capitol police officers, who House Speaker Paul Ryan identified as Crystal Griner and David Bailey, were the first to return fire. They were wounded.

Scalise was shot in the hip, and a bullet shattered bones, blood vessels and internal organs, causing massive internal bleeding that put his life at risk.

He has undergone several surgeries, and his condition was upgraded from critical to serious on Saturday.

Lobbyist Matt Mika and congressional staffer Zachary Barth were also injured in the shooting.

Scalise was rushed to hospital after being shot in the hip. His condition was upgraded from critical to serious on Saturday

James T. Hodgkinson (pictured left and right, campaigning against Republicans in 2012) was a hateful Trump opponent who had threatened to 'destroy' the president on social media

Hodgkinson opened fire on a group of GOP figures from behind the third base dugout at as they practiced for a charity baseball game

Hodgkinson was 'neutralized' less than three minutes after the Alexandria officers arrived on the scene, Brown said.

Alexandria firefighters and paramedics also rushed to the scene to help the victims before they even got a 911 call, Fire Chief Robert Dube said, because the gunfire could be heard from two nearby fire stations.

Battaglia has been on the Alexandria force for 18 months, while Jensen is a 2-year veteran.

Both work in patrol and handle calls including violent crime. Brown declined to say whether they had fired their weapons in a hostile situation before. All three officers are on routine administrative leave.

'What they went through is not something that most people go through, not in this business. We train for it all the time,' Brown said. 'They're doing fine.'

Hodgkinson was an unemployed home inspector who volunteered for Bernie Sanders' presidential campaign and had a history of animus toward President Donald Trump and other Republicans.