Authorities called him a 'lone wolf,' his brother described him as a person with no political or religious affiliations, with no military experience; ISIS claimed responsibility for his actions, calling him one of its "soldiers" who converted to Islam "months ago." What is known is that Stephen Craig Paddock, a 64-year-old white man with no criminal record, originally from Mesquite, a quiet town in Nevada, had booked a room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and caused a disturbance. The Vegas on September 28th and who, last night, around 22:08 PM, began shooting from the windows at over 22.000 attendees at a country music festival, killing at least 58 people and wounding over XNUMX. When special forces entered Paddock's room, he had already committed suicide, according to the account provided by Sheriff Joseph Lombardo, who has spoken at press conferences several times in recent hours to try to shed light on the deadliest gun massacre in modern US history. In the room, police found about a dozen weapons, which Paddock had been able to bring into the hotel without difficulty, given the absence of metal detectors and the very lax gun laws, given that in Nevada, it is not necessary to obtain a permit to purchase and possess pistols or rifles, which can be carried without permits, and that to possess automatic assault weapons, for which one can purchase an unlimited number of rounds, one simply needs to register them.
Paddock allegedly used a large-caliber automatic weapon, one of those banned in 1994 by the Federal Assault Weapons Ban, a ban that Congress let expire in 2004, the same year they were legalized again. Other massacres, such as the one at an elementary school in Newtown, Connecticut, in 2012, were not enough to convince lawmakers to act. The mother of one of the victims of the Sandy Hook Elementary School shooting, which killed 20 children, responded to the shooting with 18 tweets, blaming Congress for it. At the same time, Nelba Márquez-Greene wrote that it was wrong to blame Trump: "Please, Newtown happened long before Trump was elected. We need sensible gun legislation, now." Trump, this morning, released a brief statement from the White House, in which he called the attack "an act of pure evil." "I will visit on Wednesday." The Vegas to talk to the relatives of the victims and to the authorities. In situations like that of The Vegas - he said - Americans unite". No reference, in his speech, to ISIS or weapons.
Hillary Clinton, meanwhile, has returned to lobbying against the NRA, the gun lobby. The Democratic presidential candidate wrote on Twitter: "The crowd fled at the sound of gunfire. Imagine the death toll if the shooter had a silencer, which the NRA wants to be easier to obtain." For the former Secretary of State, "Our mourning is not enough. We can and must put politics aside, take a stand against the NRA, and work together to prevent what happened from happening again." Former President Barack Obama, who unsuccessfully tried to pass new restrictions on gun purchases, also wrote on Twitter: "Michelle and I are praying for the victims of The VegasOur thoughts are with the families and anyone else going through this senseless tragedy." A tragedy that, as always, ISIS tried to ignore: "He is one of our soldiers, he converted to Islam months ago," it claimed responsibility through Amaq, its news agency. For the authorities, however, Paddock was a "lone wolf," "with no ties to international terrorist groups." He was a "normal guy. Something must have happened, he lost his mind. There were absolutely no signs he would do something like this. We are stunned," his brother Eric commented on TV. The woman who was initially wanted, Marilou Danley, the alleged partner of the killer, played no role in the massacre and is currently abroad.
EDITORIAL TEAM
Choose the social channel you want to subscribe to