Two days of mayhem. What a way to end the week.

 Another day, another mass shooting. This time in an Orlando, Fla., office complex.

 One has to expect mass shootings and mass murders will not end just because of instances such as the massacre Thursday at Fort Hood. But one would could have hoped for a little respite in between.

 Army Maj. Nidal Malik, M.D., a psychiatrist, allegedly walked into a personnel transitioning center yesterday on the massive Texas post and shot more than 40 people. The carnage ended in 13 dead and 30 wounded. Malik was reportedly shot four times by a civilian Fort Hood policewoman.

 Tons of questions remain a day later:

 Was Malik — who was born and raised in the U.S. — a mainstream Muslim turned jihadist or just another lone nut with a gun (or guns)? Media reports indicate some acquaintances and relatives described Malik as a dedicated soldier doing his duty. Other reports noted he was furiously trying to avoid his impending assignment to a war zone and had spoke out against the ongoing wars.

 Was Malik a lone gunman? Initial accounts reported he created all the carnage using two handguns. Articles today say that he apparently did all the shooting with one gun although he had another pistol in his possession that was not used. That sounds highly unlikely due to the sheer numbers killed and wounded, not to mention having a lot of ammo clips to eject and replace.

 How was Malik able to get the guns to the scene of the shooting? Were they his guns? Were they military weapons? It has been awhile since I last visited Fort Hood but normally soldiers stationed there, especially officers could drive on through. Visitors’ autos were manually searched inside, under the hood, in the trunk and with mirrors underneath the vehicle.

 A short note about the guns. The AP reported the weapon involved was a 5.7-mm semi-automatic pistol. I am not at all familiar with guns of the caliber, although my lack of knowledge isn’t particularly relevant. A Wikipedia article I found talks about one such gun of the caliber. A reminder to take Wikipedia articles with a grain of Wikipedium. Nonetheless, this particular pistol in the article is a Belgium-made FN Five-Seven.  It is reportedly a weapons used by some SWAT teams. It supposedly has the capability for clips with 10 and 20 shells. Ammunition developed alongside the gun allegedly is capable of penetrating Kevlar body armor.

 Why did the Army at Fort Hood initially tell the media that Malik was killed and took more than an hour to correct that piece of critical information?

 Finally, what was Malik’s motive? Will he wake up from his coma and give answers?

 Another press conference at Fort Hood took place a short while ago and I hoped more real information on all or some of the questions would be forthcoming. It turned out to be mostly ceremonial with a moment of silence worldwide on U.S. military bases ordered by Defense Sec. Robert Gates. The news conference featured Army Sec. John McHugh and Army Chief of Staff George Casey. Sad to say, no earth shattering information came from that although I suppose it’s comforting for the top brass to come to the scene of something that is the magnitude of this shooting. The Commander-in-Chief, President Barack Obama also is scheduled to go to Fort Hood. Of course, America’s right-wing, paranoid, nutdom class already is claiming ties between the suspected shooter and Obama. I wish these people would have a little class, a little common sense and think about those who suffered from this ordeal. And, I wish these people would go out and promptly f**k themselves.

Other questions will probably require some time. How much? That’s one more question.

 The best news coverage I have found of the massacre comes from the nearby papers. The Killeen Daily Herald has an extreme amount of the personal look at what happened as does the Austin American-Statesman. Having worked that area for almost 10 years, I am very familiar with both newspapers. The Herald has, shall I say, certain institutional limitations. The Statesman has been a good paper when its not too full of itself.

 Some official statements can be found at Fort Hood’s Web site. Once names of the victims are released they can be found there and on the official Defense department Web site, plus on the newspapers or other sites that choose to list them.