Maj Nidal Malik Hasan, the US Army psychiatrist accused of killing 13 people in a shooting rampage in the worst such incident at a US military base, was today taken off ventilator even as investigators looked for clues to ascertain the motive for the horrific killings.
Hasan, 39, who went into coma after being shot several times in exchange of fire, is now in a stable condition at the Brooke Army Medical Center, where he was taken off ventilator.
Without divulging details, hospital officials said Hasan was conscious and talking while 17 of his victims remained hospitalised.
"There is a possibility that some of these patients have been physically impaired for the rest of their lives and there is certainly no doubt that many will be psychologically impaired for the rest of their lives," said W Roy Smythe, chief of surgery for Scott & White Hospital in Temple.
Meanwhile, Sgt Kimberly Munley, the civilian officer praised as the hero of the shootout at America's largest military base, was reportedly doing well after undergoing a second surgery. She was shot in her wrist, left leg and knee.
Federal and military officials, probing the motive behind Hasan's killing spree, have interviewed almost 170 witnesses as part of an intensive search for clues.
Computers, emails belonging to Maj Hasan have been seized to figure out if somebody may have been behind the Army psychiatrist's act.
Meanwhile, life at the Fort Hood military base in St Antonio, Texas remained far from normal.
Operating under conditions described as "slightly enhanced security," armed soldiers were deployed at housing areas, day-care centres and other base facilities that usually are not guarded.
Yellow crime-scene tape cordoned off the shooting site, the base's Soldier Readiness Processing Center.
A pair of soldiers stood guard over the cluster of mostly single-story brown buildings with red roofs.
Texas Gov Rick Perry met some of the injured, praising personnel who "raced towards the sound of the gunfire".
"What I heard time after time in those hospital rooms was that it's their honour to be able to serve our country, and that is a very humbling thing to watch a young man or woman whose life has been irreparably harmed in a violent act, yet their concern and their interest is in continuing to be able to serve this country," Perry said in a written statement.
Fort Hood, a bustling city, has assumed an appearance of a highly guarded war ravaged camp, with large number of international media representatives, waiting for updates or any clues regarding the motive.
The area is being combed by FBI and Army investigators, visitors are stopped entry unless it is extremely important.
The Army said no motive for the shooting had yet been established.
Others surmised that the Virginia native, who counselled soldiers with post-traumatic stress disorder, might have internalised his patients' issues.
