As Las Vegas began the process of recovering from one of the deadliest mass shootings in US history, the motive for such an attack looms large.
The authorities have yet to provide a motive for Stephen Paddock, 64, who killed at least 59 people and injured more than 520 others on Sunday when he unleashed a rapid-fire hail of bullets on an outdoor music festival.
Armed with at least 23 firearms, Paddock, who the police have described as a “lone gunman,” stationed himself in a 32nd-floor luxury suite of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino and fired into a crowd of thousands of people, as per a report on New York Times.
As investigators sketched a portrait of Paddock, a wealthy gambler and amateur golfer, survivors have described the scene of carnage in vivid detail: Thousands of concertgoers screaming and running for cover as the gunman’s victims fell around them.
- The police found the attacker dead in his room at the hotel. Investigators were still combing through his background.
- The federal authorities said there were no indications that Stephen Paddock had ties to any international terrorist organisation, despite a claim of responsibility by the Islamic State.
- Marilou Danley, a woman described by the police as the shooter’s “companion” and a person of interest in the hours after the attack, has been cleared by the authorities. Danley, an Australian citizen, was not in the United States at the time of the attack.
- A registered nurse. A commercial fisherman. A school librarian. These are some of the victims.