Contrary to initial reports, the Fort Hood shooter, Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, is alive. He was shot by a civilian police officer, Kimberly Munley, whom he wounded. Officer Munley is reportedly ”in stable condition.” Depending on reports, Akbar is in stable condition or on a ventilator. He was caught on a store video at 6: 20 a.m. yesterday in traditional Moslem garb. You know what that means: The mass murder had nothing to do with Islam!

Already, officials are feverishly coming up with Bizarro World, non-Islamic explanations for the mass murder. Hasan was reportedly distraught about being deployed to Afghanistan, and suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, based on the stories his combat veteran patients had told him. Never mind that, as James Fulford pointed out, you can’t get PTSD "without actual trauma."

Of course, Hasan was upset… because he’s a Moslem!

A military mental health doctor facing deployment overseas opened fire at the Fort Hood Army post on Thursday, setting off on a rampage that killed 12 [N.S.: in the meantime, 13] people and left 31 [30] wounded, Army officials said.

Authorities said immediately after the shootings that they had killed the suspected shooter, but later in the evening they recanted and said that he was alive and in stable condition at a hospital, watched by a guard.

”His death is not imminent,” said Lt. Gen. Bob Cone at Fort Hood. He offered little explanation for the mistake, other than to say there was confusion at the hospital.

A law enforcement official identified the shooting suspect as Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the case publicly.

The violence was believed to be the worst mass shooting in history at a U.S. military base.

The shooting began around 1:30 p.m., when shots were fired at the base's Soldier Readiness Center, where soldiers who are about to be deployed or who are returning undergo medical screening, Cone said.

[Army: Fort Hood shooting rampage suspect is alive by April Castro and Devlin Barrett, AP/San Francisco Chronicle, November 5, 2009, 18:38 PST.]

Initial reports said that there were three shooters. Later reports stated that there was only one shooter, and that the other two men had been released, only to be superseded by reports saying that three men are in custody. Now, we are being told that Hasan was a ”lone shooter.” In other words, no one outside of the top echelons of the military police currently knows what the situation is.

In this morning’s New York Times news blog, there is nothing about three shooters, but the following 8:38 a.m. update has Army Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan ”Allahu Akbar!” (”Allah is great!”) while shooting people.

"Update | 8:38 a.m. In an interview with Matt Lauer on NBC Friday morning, Gen. Robert Cone, the Fort Hood commander, said that Major Hasan is in stable condition but has not yet been interrogated. Mr. Lauer said that a relative of one of the witnesses to the shooting said that Major Hasan shouted 'Allahu akbar' ('God is great') during the rampage. Gen. Cone said that 'there are first-hand accounts here from soldiers that are similar to that.'

[Latest Updates on Shootings at Fort Hood by Robert Mackey, The Lede: The New York Times News Blog, November 6, 2009.]