Tributes Pour In for Capitol Police Officer Credited With Taking Out Alexandria Gunman

Crystal Griner is recovering in the hospital after she was shot in the ankle.

She's the hero who took out the crazed gunman shooting at Republicans during a baseball practice, taking a bullet herself during a gun battle with the assailant.

Read: Democrats' Baseball Team Pictured Praying After Learning Republican Colleagues Were Shot

Capitol police officer Crystal Griner, 32, was shot in the ankle in James Hodgkinson's reign of terror on the ballfield.

She was part of House Majority Whip Steve Scalise's security detail and was therefore at the scene when the first shots were fired. 

Tributes are pouring in for Griner and fellow officer David Bailey from grateful lawmakers who believe they prevented a mass casualty incident that day.

"I can tell you that I think with absolute certainty, nobody would have survived without the Capitol Hill Police," Sen. Rand Paul said Wednesday. "They saved everybody’s life." 

"If Scalise was not there, he's the one with the security detail, we wouldn't have had any protection, and God knows how bad that might have been," Rep. Brad Wenstrup said Wednesday. 

Griner grew up in Maryland and was a high school and college basketball star. She's been credited with firing the shot that led to Hodgkinson's death.

A fence at the ballfield also played a big part in preventing a massacre.

The shooter attempted to get to the field but couldn’t get past the fence because the gate was locked. He reportedly walked along the fence taking potshots at the Republicans.

Congressional aide Zach Barth, who had been shot in the leg, was back at work Thursday.

“I was running for my life," he told Inside Edition. "I was bleeding but I was really just trying to stay alive, keeping my head down." 

Scalise was shot in the hip. He is in critical condition and his injuries are much worse than first thought. The bullet tore through internal organs and caused potentially life-threatening internal bleeding.

Read: Republican Lawmakers Seen Joking and Playing Baseball a Week Before Shooting

President Trump and the first lady visited Scalise Wednesday night in what was described as an emotional moment for the politician and his family.

Hodgkinson, 66, was living out of a white Ford van parked two blocks from the ballfield. He used the local YMCA to shower.

The former mayor of Alexandria, Bill Euille, said he became friendly with Hodgkinson after encountering him at the YMCA.

"He always seemed calm, he was definitely a loner, always by himself," he told Inside Edition. "I concluded that he was a sane person, rational, common sense, very pleasant.

"[It's] just shocking he is the person who did what happened yesterday." 

Watch: Trump Speaks Out on Alexandria Shooting, Calls Rep. Scalise 'True Friend and Patriot'