Marissa Newman is The Times of Israel political correspondent.
The Times of Israel liveblogged Monday’s developments as they unfolded.
Sheriff Joseph Lombardo of Las Vegas updates the death toll to over 50, making it the deadliest mass shooting in US history.
Over 200 are injured in the concert shooting spree, he says.
He says weapons were found in the room where shooter Stephen Paddock, 64, was staying.
A female person of interest was detained, he says.
Lombardo also says that one police officer was critically injured by gunfire. Another off-duty officer was killed at the concert, he says.
A woman celebrating her 21st birthday at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival, the scene of the deadly mass shooting on the Strip, tells a reporter a female concertgoer told her group of friends they would die that night.
“There was a lady who pushed her way forward” to the first row “and told us that we’re all going to die tonight,'” she said.
She says the confrontation took place 45 minutes before the first shots were fired. That woman was escorted out by security after she spoke, the eyewitness says.
https://youtu.be/JSq9T8Nuya0?t=5m17s
A Syrian war monitoring group says at least eight Hezbollah fighters have been killed in a drone strike in the eastern Syrian desert.
The Britain-based Syrian Observatory for Human Rights says Monday a drone of unknown affiliation struck a position of the Lebanese terror group, which is fighting alongside government forces.
A Hezbollah official confirms the attack but could not confirm the toll. The official was not authorized to speak to the media and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Hezbollah and other pro-government forces are battling the Islamic State group in eastern Syria.
— Agencies
Foreign Ministry spokesman Emmanuel Nahshon tweets condolences to the victims of the Las Vegas mass shooting, which he calls a “terrible massacre.”
Terrible massacre in #LasVegas . My heart goes to the victims and their families. Love and solidarity from #Jerusalem 🇺🇸🇮🇱
— Emmanuel Nahshon 🎗️ (@EmmanuelNahshon) October 2, 2017
In his first response to the shooting, US President Donald Trump tweets: “My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting. God bless you!”
My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting. God bless you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2017
French investigators probing a knife attack in Marseille at the weekend have not found any link so far between the assailant and the Islamic State group, a source close to the case tells AFP.
IS’s Amaq propaganda agency claimed late Sunday that the killer of two women at the main train station in the port city was “from the soldiers of the Islamic State.”
“The claim by IS raises questions because there’s nothing to link the assailant to Islamic State at this stage,” the source tells AFP on condition of anonymity.
Top anti-terror prosecutor Francois Molins also gave new details about the attacker at a press conference in Paris, saying he had been arrested last week for shoplifting in the western city of Lyon.
The man presented a Tunisian passport showing his age as 29, but security forces are still unsure of his true identity because he had been found in police files under seven different aliases since 2005.
— AFP
On Twitter, UK Foreign Secretary Boris Johnson says he is “horrified by awful and indiscriminate Las Vegas attack.”
Horrified by awful and indiscriminate Las Vegas attack. Thoughts with all those affected. Urgently establishing if Brits involved.
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) October 2, 2017
White House spokesman Sarah Sanders says the US president has been briefed on “the horrific tragedy in Las Vegas” on Sunday night.
“We are monitoring the situation closely and offer our full support to state and local officials,” she says.
“All of those affected are in our thoughts and prayers.”
— AFP
Palestinian Authority Prime Minister Rami Hamdallah arrived in Gaza Monday for his first visit in two years, saying the Palestinian Authority would assume control of the Strip after a decade of factional strife.
Hamdallah crossed the border with dozens of ministers and officials from the West Bank-based PA into the Hamas-run coastal enclave at around noon.
“The government began to exercise its roles in Gaza from today,” Hamdallah said at a press conference at the crossing.
“We return to Gaza again to end the division and achieve unity.”
He was welcomed by thousands of Gazans, with hopes that this reconciliation plan can avoid the problems that wrecked several previous attempts.
Hamdallah’s entry was delayed by around half an hour because of disputes between PA and Hamas security men, a security source says.
Hamas politicians and members of the premier’s Fatah faction greeted Hamdallah on arrival. He is expected to meet Hamas’s overall leader Ismail Haniyeh and its Gaza chief Yahya Sinwar later Monday, and chair a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
The event is meant to be the first significant step in a transfer of powers.
— AFP
The Palestinian terrorist who killed an Israeli man in a 2014 drive-by shooting in the West Bank is sentenced to two life sentences.
Ziad Awad, a convicted Hamas terrorist released in the 2011 Shalit deal, was arrested three years ago for the April 2014 shooting of Baruch Mizrahi near Hebron.
Mizrahi, a senior police officer, was killed while driving to Hebron to celebrate Passover with his wife’s family. His pregnant wife, Hadas, was moderately injured in the attack.
A West Bank military court rules Monday that Awad will serve two life sentences, as well as the 16 years of his prison term that remained when he was freed in the 2011 prisoner exchange.
Awad, who spent 12 years in an Israeli prison for the murder of Palestinian collaborators with Israel, was released in 2011 as part of the prisoner swap for Shalit before completing his term. Over 1,000 Palestinian security prisoners were freed to secure the release of Shalit, an Israeli soldier captured by Hamas in a 2006 raid into southern Israel; Shalit was held hostage in Gaza for five years.
The court also rules that Awad will pay NIS 250,000 ($70,000) in damages.
Authorities say the on-duty police officer who was wounded at the deadly Las Vegas concert attack is out of surgery and in stable condition.
The unnamed officer was one of two on-duty Las Vegas police officers wounded Sunday night. The other sustained minor injuries.
— AP
On Twitter, US Vice President Mike Pence says: “To victims, families & loved ones affected by this senseless violence in Las Vegas, Karen & I are praying for you & offering our love.”
He thanks the first responders at the scene of the mass shooting.
To victims, families & loved ones affected by this senseless violence in Las Vegas, Karen & I are praying for you & offering our love…
— Vice President Mike Pence Archived (@VP45) October 2, 2017
…The hearts & prayers of the American people are with you. You have our condolences and sympathies.
— Vice President Mike Pence Archived (@VP45) October 2, 2017
To the courageous first responders, thank you for your acts of bravery.
— Vice President Mike Pence Archived (@VP45) October 2, 2017
Las Vegas police say Marilou Danley, 62, is no longer being considered as a “person of interest” in the Las Vegas mass shooting, CNN reports.
Earlier, Danley was described as gunman Stephen Paddock’s roommate and a person of interest and had been apprehended by police.
The first trial in a new era of homegrown jihadi attacks in France has opened in a Paris court under tight security.
The main defendant is a brother of Islamic radical Mohammed Merah, who killed seven people in attacks on a Jewish school and soldiers in the Toulouse region of southern France in 2012.
Mohammed Merah was killed in a shootout with police, and the trial of his brother Abdelkader is the first time a French court is publicly examining the attacks.
Abdelkader Merah, accused of complicity in terrorist murders, enters the courtroom Monday dressed all in white, with a long beard and ponytail. He faces up to life in prison if convicted. He denies wrongdoing.
A verdict is expected in early November.
Three Jewish children, a teacher and three paratroopers, including two Muslims, were killed over nine days, rocking France. Other similar jihadi attacks followed in subsequent years.
Emotions are raw at Monday’s trial as Samuel Sandler, whose son Jonathan and his grandchildren Gabriel and Arieh were killed in the 2012 attacks, denounced the attackers as “rotten people who rot in a hole.”
— AP
The Foreign Ministry says it has yet to make contact with seven Israelis in Las Vegas, following the deadly shooting that killed at least 50 people and injured more than 200.
In an update, the Foreign Ministry says it is trying to reach 12 Israelis in Las Vegas who remain unaccounted for.
Israeli politicians are lining up on Twitter to condemn the Las Vegas shooting and offer well-wishes to the injured and condolences to the families of the victims.
Addressing his US counterpart Paul Ryan, Knesset Speaker Yuli Edelstein offers his “deepest condolences on the Las Vegas tragedy. We stand with you and the American people at this difficult hour.”
The hearts of all Israelis are with the American people on this day of profound tragedy.
We pray for the wounded.
God bless you.— Naftali Bennett נפתלי בנט (@naftalibennett) October 2, 2017
Thoughts & prayers with the United States. We send wishes for a speedy recovery to the injured, hearts are with the families of the victims.
— יאיר לפיד – Yair Lapid (@yairlapid) October 2, 2017
Horrific massacre in Las Vegas. Our hearts and thoughts go out to the families of the victims.
— ציפי לבני Tzipi Livni (@Tzipi_Livni) October 2, 2017
Las Vegas police found at least eight guns in the 32nd floor hotel room from which the gunman opened fire at concertgoers below, killing at least 50 and injuring more than 200, police say.
Undersheriff Kevin McMahill tells CNN a police SWAT team found “a number of long rifles” after confronting the gunman in the hotel room.
“There was at least eight guns,” he says.
— AFP
Las Vegas police say 406 people were taken to local hospitals following the deadly shooting attack.
Sheriff Joseph Lombardo says police believe gunman Stephen Paddock committed suicide in his hotel room.
“We believe the individual killed himself prior to our entry,” he says.
Lombardo says Marilou Danley, who was being described as the gunman’s roommate, was located “out of the country” and was not being considered a suspect.
“He was utilizing some of her identification,” Lombardo says of Paddock.
Pope Francis on Monday describes a deadly shooting at a Las Vegas concert as a “senseless tragedy.”
“Deeply saddened to learn of the shooting in Las Vegas, Pope Francis sends the assurance of his spiritual closeness to all those affected by this senseless tragedy,” the Vatican says in a telegram.
“He commends the efforts of the police and emergency service personnel, and offers the promise of his prayers for the injured and for all who have died,” it adds.
— AFP
The US Homeland Security Department says there is no “specific credible threat” involving other public venues in the US after the Las Vegas shooting that killed at least 50 people.
In Washington, a Homeland Security spokesman, David Lapan, tweets Monday the department has “no information to indicate a specific credible threat involving other public venues in the country.”
Police have not yet determined a motive in the shooting.
— AP
US President Donald Trump will address the nation after the Las Vegas massacre.
The White House says Trump was expected to make remarks Monday morning, though details were not finalized.
— with AP
Israel’s consul-general in LA landed in Vegas to start locating the unaccounted for Israelis, Deputy Foreign Minister Tzipi Hotovely says.
“Israel is horrified by the mass murder that took place in Las Vegas,” Hotovely says in a statement, expressing hope the dozen Israelis who are out of contact will soon be located.
— with Raphael Ahren
Eric Paddock, the brother of Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock, tells The Daily Mail the family was “dumbfounded” by the mass shooting, as his brother “has no political affiliation, no religious affiliation, as far as we know.”
“We know absolutely nothing, this is just, we are dumbfounded,” he says. There was “absolutely no indication he could do something like this,” the Florida resident says.
“He was just a guy. Something happened, he snapped or something, he was just a guy. He has no political affiliation, no religious affiliation, as far as we know. This wasn’t a terror attack,” he says.
Paddock adds: “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.”
The Islamic State terror group is claiming responsibility for the Las Vegas massacre.
The terror organization says gunman Stephen Paddock, 64, was one of its “soldiers” who converted to Islam months ago, the Site Intelligence Group reports.
The terror group offers no evidence to back the assertion.
https://twitter.com/siteintelgroup/status/914854178798874624
The Islamic State’s claim of responsibility for the Las Vegas attack is featured by its official Amaq News Agency propaganda channel, the outlet from which it has claimed terror attacks in the past.
But it also comes a day after the terror group claimed a deadly stabbing attack in Marseille — an assertion later disputed by French authorities, who said they were unaware of any IS link.
Israel’s Channel 2 news analyst Ehud Ya’ari dismisses the claim, saying “they claim credit” for all attacks.
Thread from me upcoming on ISIS Amaq claim of responsibility for Las Vegas attack, a claim made without a shred of evidence.
— Paul Cruickshank (@CruickshankPaul) October 2, 2017
The Foreign Ministry has lowered the number of Israelis who are unaccounted for in Las Vegas to eight.
Military weaponry was stolen from an armory on a base in northern Israel last night or this morning, the army says.
The stolen equipment includes anti-tank mines, ammunition for assault rifles, explosive charges and detonators.
This morning, soldiers serving on the base discovered signs that someone had broken into the armory, and weaponry was also found to be missing.
“The Military Police and [the base’s] commanders opened an investigation into the incident,” the army says.
For years, the army has been struggling to stop thieves from making off with military-grade weaponry. The guns, explosives and — occasionally — missiles that are stolen from army bases generally make their way to organized crime and terrorists.
Earlier this year, after nearly three dozen M-16 assault rifles were stolen from a base in southern Israel, the army said it would be investing additional funds into better security systems for military armories.
— Judah Ari Gross
Senior US officials are dismissing the Islamic State claim of responsibility for the mass shooting in Las Vegas, Reuters reports.
Officials say there is no evidence the gunman was connected to the terror group.
UPDATE: Senior U.S. officials say no evidence Vegas shooter was connected to international militant group after ISIS claims responsibility
— Reuters U.S. News (@ReutersUS) October 2, 2017
US President Donald Trump brands the Las Vegas shooting an “act of pure evil.”
He says he will visit Las Vegas on Wednesday to meet with law enforcement and families of the victims.
“He brutally murdered more than 50 people and wounded hundreds more. It was an act of pure evil,” he says of the gunman.
The US president also praises the first responders, saying “the speed with which they acted is miraculous and prevented further loss of life.”
The president extends condolences and implores Americans to come together in the wake of the deadly shooting.
“We cannot fathom their pain. We cannot imagine their loss,” he says of the families of the victims.
The US president says that while Americans might seek “meaning in the chaos,” the “answers do not come easy.”
“In moments of tragedy and horror, America comes together as one, and it always has.”
Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock was a retired accountant who lived on a desert golf course in Mesquite Nevada, with no known history of violence — until he shot dead 50 people in a hail of gunfire from his Las Vegas hotel window.
The gunman, who 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.
Paddock also had a hunting license for Alaska, where hunting for big game like elk and bear is popular.
— AFP
Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu says Israel stands “shoulder to shoulder” with the US “in mourning and sorrow,” after its deadliest ever mass shooting in Las Vegas.
“We grieve with you,” the prime minister writes on Twitter.
Our hearts go out to the victims' families and we wish a speedy recovery to the wounded. We grieve with you.
— Benjamin Netanyahu – בנימין נתניהו (@netanyahu) October 2, 2017
Police say 58 people have been killed in the Las Vegas shooting and 515 have been injured.
The FBI says the shooter who killed 58 people and injured more than 500 others at a Las Vegas concert had no connection to an international terrorist group.
The announcement from Special Agent in Charge Aaron Rouse at a news conference Monday comes after the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack without providing evidence.
— AP
The brother of the Las Vegas shooter confirms to an NBC reporter that their father was bank robber Patrick Benjamin Paddock, formerly on the FBI’s Most Wanted list.
Paddock’s other aliases included Benjamin Hoskins Paddock and Benjamin Hoskins Jr., according to an Arizona Republic article from 1960.
He was on the FBI’s Most Wanted list from 1969-1977, after escaping a Texas prison, where he had been serving a 20-year sentence, according to reports.
NEW: Shooter's brother says their father was Patrick Benjamin Paddock, a bank robber who he says was on FBI Most Wanted list. @tracyconnor
— Peter Alexander (@PeterAlexander) October 2, 2017
The Arizona Republic article from 1960 says Paddock was arrested in Las Vegas and indicted for robbing a Phoenix bank.
This is from the Arizona Republic on October 6, 1960 relating to the indictment of Benjamin Paddock. pic.twitter.com/3Kz7x2pTvG
— StoryBrew (@StoryBrew) October 2, 2017
A 1998 article in the Oregon-based Eugene Register Guard claims Paddock lived in Springfield, Oregon in 1977 under the alias Bruce Ericksen and ran a bingo business after he “found a loophole in the state’s first timid venture into the world of gambling.”
According to the article, Paddock was nabbed by the FBI in the late 1970s over his prison break, but released on parole a year later. He lived out the final decade of his life in Texas, it reported.
He appears on the FBI Most Wanted website, which notes: “In 1977, Paddock was removed from the list when it was felt he no longer fit the ‘Top Ten’ criteria.”
The CIA is advising caution on “jumping to conclusions,” after the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the Las Vegas shooting.
Agency spokesman Jonathan Liu says US intelligence agencies are aware of the claim of responsibility. But he says 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.
— AP
Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday expresses his condolences in a message to US leader Donald Trump, saying a deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas was “shocking in its cruelty.”
“The crime that has taken the lives of tens of peaceful civilians is shocking in its cruelty,” Putin says according to a statement from the Kremlin.
It says the Russian president had expressed the words of support to the families of the victims.
— AFP
Tel Aviv’s city hall is lit up with an American flag in solidarity with the Las Vegas victims.
.@TelAviv City Hall displays the American flag tonight in solidarity with the American people and the victims of the #LasVegasShooting pic.twitter.com/lb67NdtKnY
— Embassy of Israel to the USA (@IsraelinUSA) October 2, 2017
In France, the Eiffel Tower will go dark on Monday night in tribute to the victims of the attacks in Las Vegas and Marseille, Paris mayor Anne Hidalgo says on Twitter.
— With AFP
The wife of a Tennessee man killed by the Las Vegas shooter says her husband died because he saved her from being shot.
Heather Gulish Melton tells WZTV that her husband, Sonny Melton of Paris, Tennessee, was among the 50 killed Sunday night in the worst mass shooting in modern US history.
She says in a statement to the Nashville station that “he saved my life and lost his.”
Radio station WENK reports Melton was a registered nurse.
Jeremy Butler, who says he has been best friends with Sonny Melton since he was 3, tells the Paris (Tennessee) Post Intelligencer that Melton was shielding his wife from gunfire when he was fatally shot.
Wife of Sonny Melton, Heather Gulish Melton: "He saved my life. He grabbed me and started running when I felt him get shot in the back." pic.twitter.com/yfdSFdC4rL
— Forrest Sanders (@ForrestBSanders) October 2, 2017
Butler said the couple got married about a year ago.
— AP
Palestinian Authority President Mahmoud Abbas, in a cable to US President Donald Trump, sends his condolences to the victims of the shooting in Las Vegas.
“On behalf of the State of Palestine and its people, [Abbas] expressed his sincere sympathy to the families of the victims and his solidarity with them and wished the injured a speedy recovery,” the cable says, according to the report.
— Dov Lieber
White House Special Representative for International Negotiations Jason Greenblatt says any future Palestinian government in Gaza must “unambiguously and explicitly” renounce violence, recognize the State of Israel, and abide by existing agreements with the Jewish state.
Palestinian Authority PM Rami Hamdallah was meeting with Hamas officials in the Gaza Strip in a reconciliation bid aimed at renewed PA control over the enclave.
“As the Palestinian Authority Cabinet visits Gaza today in preparation for its October 3 cabinet meeting, the United States welcomes efforts to create the conditions for the Palestinian Authority to fully assume its responsibilities in Gaza, as noted in the September 28 Quartet statement,” Greenblatt says in a statement.
“We will be watching these developments closely, while pressing forward with the Palestinian Authority, Israel, and international donors to try to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza.
“The United States stresses that any Palestinian government must unambiguously and explicitly commit to nonviolence, recognition of the State of Israel, acceptance of previous agreements and obligations between the parties, and peaceful negotiations,” he says.
Details begin to emerge on some of the 58 victims of the Las Vegas massacre, which also left over 515 injured.
Canadian mechanic’s apprentice Jordan McIldoon, 23, of British Columbia was among those slain in Las Vegas, according to CBC News.
“We only had one child,” parents Al and Angela McIldoon tell the CBC. “We just don’t know what to do.”
McIldoon was attending the concert with his girlfriend, according to the report.
He died in the arms of a concertgoer named Heather Gooze, according to a social media post.
Another victim was identified as 20-year-old Quinton Robbins, a college student at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas.
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=10214812177921040&set=a.4286930534506.2177370.1323690019&type=3
A local Edmonton news outlet identified another casualty as Jessica Klymchuk, a mother of four who was at the concert with her fiance.
Lisa Romero, a school secretary from New Mexico, was also among those killed, according to Fox News.
— AP contributed
The Foreign Ministry says five Israelis remain unaccounted for in Las Vegas.
A brother of the suspect in the worst US mass shooting in the modern history says Stephen Paddock was “not a normal guy” and frequently played high stakes video poker.
Eric Paddock in an interview in Orlando, Florida, says his 64-year-old brother once “texted me a picture that he won $40,000 on a slot machine.”
He says his brother was “not a normal guy” and “played high stakes video poker.”
Eric Paddock says he last had contact with his brother via text messages in September.
He says hearing his brother named by authorities as the shooting suspect was “like if an asteroid fell out of the sky.”
Earlier, Paddock had told the Daily Mail his brother was “just a guy. Something happened, he snapped or something.”
— AP, Times of Israel staff
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