FORT HOOD, Texas - As if going off to war, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan cleaned out his apartment, gave leftover frozen broccoli to one neighbor and called another to thank him for his friendship - common courtesies and routines of the departing soldier. Instead, authorities say, he went on a killing spree that left 13 people in Fort Hood, Texas, dead.

Investigators examined the devout, some say fanatical Muslim’s computer, his home and his garbage yesterday to learn what motivated the suspect, who lay in a coma after being shot four times in the frantic bloodletting that also wounded 30. Hospital officials said some of the wounded might not survive.

A police officer was hailed as a hero yesterday for taking the suspect down. Cops said Sgt. Kimberly Munley responding to the scene, saw Hasan and started firing. Hasan spun around and charged at her with a gun in each hand. She shot him in the upper torso. Munley, 35, an Army veteran, was shot in the thighs and wrist.

Relatives said Hasan, 39, an Army psychiatrist, felt harassed because of his Muslim faith but did not embrace extremism. But a recent classmate said Hasan once gave a jarring presentation to students in which he argued the war on terrorism was a war against Islam, and “made himself a lightning rod” when he felt his religious beliefs were challenged. His former imam said he prayed in an Islamic center up to seven days a week. Federal agents are investigating Internet postings on suicide bombings he is suspected of writing.

The rampage unfolded Thursday at Fort Hood’s Solder Readiness Center, where some 300 unarmed GIs were lined up for vaccines and eye tests.

Soldiers reported that the gunman shouted “Allahu Akbar!” - an Arabic phrase for “God is great!” - before opening fire.

Hasan was due to be deployed to Afghanistan to help soldiers with combat stress, the Army said. Co-workers and family have said he was deeply disturbed by similar work he had done at Walter Reed Army Medical Center.

It was unclear when he was due to ship out. But Jose Padilla, Hasan’s landlord, said Hasan gave notice two weeks ago that he was moving out this week. Earlier this week, Hasan gave Padilla a Spanish-language Koran. Padilla said Hasan refused to reclaim his deposit and last month’s rent, saying the $400 should go to someone who needed it.

“I cannot comprehend that the enemy was among us,” Padilla said, tearing up.