Media Says ‘Fast and Furious’ Actor Paul Walker Dead, Internet Refuses to Believe

UPDATE: The official Paul Walker Facebook page has now confirmed what TMZ.com first reported; actor, Paul Walker, died today at the age of 40, the result of a car accident.  He was the passenger in a vehicle that struck a tree after leaving a charity event.  The car burst into flames, according to the actor's publicist.

An increasing number of media outlets are reporting a story that seems to have originated from TMZ.com: Actor Paul Walker is dead at age 40, the result of a fiery car crash.

Almost immediately there was a story circulating that the TMZ report was wrong.  To further complicate the story, TMZ.com went down.  Was it because there was so much traffic to the site or was it because the site was hacked?  PaulWalker.com also went down.

Still, many on Facebook and Twitter will not accept the TMZ report as fact, and point to other media organizations as crediting TMZ with the original story.

Is Paul Walker dead?