Facebook Facebook photo of Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock.
Stephen Paddock has been identified as the sole suspect in the Las Vegas concert shooting that took place on Sunday night. Police say that Paddock opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino, killing 58 people and injuring hundreds more. Police found “more than 10 rifles” in Paddock’s hotel room.
The 64-year-old Mesquite, Nevada, resident is deceased, according to police. It has been reported that he committed suicide.
Just about 12 hours following the attack, the Associated Press reported that ISIS has claimed responsibility for the attack, adding that Paddock converted to Islam “months ago.”
BREAKING: Without providing evidence, Islamic State claims Las Vegas attack, says shooter converted to Islam months ago.
“The Islamic State group has claimed responsibility for the mass shooting in Las Vegas, saying that the perpetrator was ‘a soldier’ who had converted to Islam months ago, without providing any evidence to support the claim… It did not name the suspected shooter…but said he had ‘executed the operation in response to calls to target countries of the coalition’ batting the extremist group in Iraq and Syria,” reports the Associated Press.
2- I can confirm that the ISIS statement appeared on ISIS affiliated Amaq news agency. No evidence to back up claim. @akhbar
ISIS has not released any kind of video to support their claims. Many people are skeptical about Paddock’s involvement with the group and officials have yet to confirm or deny any ties between ISIS and Paddock.
Paddock’s brother, Eric, spoke to the Daily Mail about the shooting. He told the outlet that his brother didn’t have any political or religious affiliation. Eric also clearly stated his opinion on the shooting, saying it was “not a terror arrack.”
“He was just a guy. Something happened, he snapped or something. We know absolutely nothing, this is just, we are dumbfounded,” Eric Paddock explained. “He has no political affiliation, no religious affiliation, as far as we know. This wasn’t a terror attack…He’s my brother, we don’t have a very close relationship but we talk occasionally. There’s no rhyme or reason here, it makes no sense,” Eric added.
The FBI is not currently investigating any ties between ISIS and Paddock.
