Dismissing terror link, officials hunt for motive behind Las Vegas shooting
CIA advises against rush to judgment, but no clues as to why Stephen Paddock opened fire on festival crowd, killing 58
Central Intelligence Agency spokesman Jonathan Liu said US intelligence agencies are aware of the claim of responsibility. But he said people shouldn’t rush to judgment “before the facts are in.”
The CIA is deferring to law enforcement on the status of the investigation.
Without providing any evidence, the Islamic State group on Monday said the gunman in the mass shooting in Las Vegas was “a soldier” from its ranks who had converted to Islam months ago.
Police have identified the shooter as Paddock, 64, of Mesquite, Nevada, and have said he killed himself after opening fire at concert-goers from his 32nd-story hotel room in the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino.
Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said authorities believe it was a “lone wolf” attack, and the US Homeland Security Department said there was no “specific credible threat” involving other public venues in the US.
The IS group often claims attacks by individuals inspired by its message, but who have no known links to the group.
The FBI also said the shooter had no connection to an international terrorist group.
Las Vegas Sheriff Joseph Lombardo told reporters at least eight rifles had been recovered from the gunman’s hotel room.
Paddock was believed to be a “lone wolf” assailant who did act alone, Lombardo said, declining to speculate as to what may have motivated the attack.
“I can’t get into the mind of a psychopath at this point,” he said.
Lombardo said Paddock had apparently used a hammer to smash the window of his hotel room before opening fire on the crowd below.
Police said around 22,000 people were attending the concert when bursts of automatic gunfire erupted shortly after 10:00 p.m.
Concert-goers screamed and fled in panic as a steady stream of bullets rained down from the hotel.
Police raided the Mesquite home Paddock shared with Marilou Danley, 62, but later said she was not a person of interest as she was not in the country at the time of the shooting.
Lombardo didn’t release further details Monday about the woman, but said authorities would try to speak with her when she got back to the United States.
According to reports, Danley was in the Philippines.
Police said Paddock had no known history of violence and his family said they were in shock, and denied he had any connection to religious or political groups.
“Nothing. No religious affiliation, no political affiliation, he just hung out,” his brother Eric Paddock told CBS.
Eric Paddock said his brother was “not an avid gun guy at all.”
“Where the hell did he get automatic weapons? He has no military background or anything like that,” he said. “He’s a guy who lived in a house in Mesquite, drove down and gambled in Las Vegas. He did stuff. Eat burritos.”
The gunman, whom photographs showed as graying with a trimmed beard and mustache, was a former accountant and a licensed pilot with no criminal record, according to ABC News.
The 55-year-old Paddock, who lives in Orlando Florida, told media the family was shocked by the shooting.
“It’s like an asteroid just fell on top of our family,” he told the Las Vegas Review-Journal. “We have no idea how this happened.”
Stephen Paddock also had a hunting license for Alaska, where hunting for big game like elk and bear is popular.
According to publicly available information, he resided in a new golf course development carved into the desert just outside Mesquite, Nevada on the border with Arizona.
