CAIRO: Without providing any evidence to support the claim, the Daesh 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.
Authorities have yet to identify a motive for the shooting, and said initially there was no evidence of any connection to international terrorism.
The group’s Aamaq news agency released two brief statements hours after the shooting at a country music concert that killed at least 58 people and wounded more than 500. It was the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.
But the FBI dismissed the Daesh claim. Special Agent in Charge Aaron Rouse said the bureau had found no connection between the shooter and the Daesh group.
Police have identified the shooter as Stephen Craig Paddock, 64, of Mesquite, Nevada, and have said he killed himself after the shooting. 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 Daesh (Arabic acronym for Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant) group often claims attacks by individuals inspired by its message but with no known links to the group. However, it is not known to have claimed any attacks that were not at least loosely linked to it.
No criminal history
Police say Paddock was a retiree with no criminal history in the Nevada county where he lived.
The brother of 64-year-old Stephen Paddock said he’s “completely dumbfounded” by the shooting at a country music concert Sunday night, which is the deadliest in modern US history.
Eric Paddock told the Orlando Sentinel newspaper that he can’t understand what happened.
Mesquite Police Chief Troy Tanner says Stephen Paddock owned a single-family home in Sun City Mesquite, a retirement community along the Nevada-Arizona border.
He lived there with Marilou Danley, 62. Police say they don’t believe she was involved.
Heavily armed police searched the home early Monday.
Texas authorities say he lived in a Dallas suburb from 2009 to 2012.
Other Daesh claims
The extremist group has a history of exaggerated or false claims, including earlier this year, when it claimed an attack on a casino in the Philippines that turned out to have been a botched robbery carried out by a heavily indebted gambling addict.
Before Sunday, the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history took place in June 2016, when a gunman opened fire at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killing 49 people. The gunman, Omar Mateen, had pledged allegiance to Daesh and it claimed the attack.
Daesh claimed responsibility for an attack on a casino in the Philippines that killed dozens of people earlier this year, but police later identified the attacker as a heavily indebted Filipino gambling addict, saying it was a botched robbery that was not terrorism-related.
The extremist organization has suffered a string of major setbacks in Iraq and Syria, where it has lost much of the territory it once claimed as part of a self-styled Islamic caliphate. However, the group remains active in recruiting followers on social media, and has repeatedly called on its supporters to carry out attacks in Western nations.
Daesh claims Las Vegas mass shooting, probers say no proof of terror angle
Daesh claims Las Vegas mass shooting, probers say no proof of terror angle
