- Stephen Craig Paddock, 64, killed 50 people and injured more than 400
- ISIS claimed he had converted and that he was a ‘Soldier of Islamic state’
- US officials say there is no evidence that Paddock was linked to ISIS
ISIS has claimed responsibility for the mass shooting in Las Vegas where 50 people were killed and more than 406 wounded, and said the attacker had converted to Islam a few months ago.
Stephen Craig Paddock, 64, a resident of nearby Mesquite, Nevada, opened fire on a country music festival taking place at Las Vegas Village from a room across the street in the Mandalay Bay Hotel just after 10pm on Sunday evening.
The claim by the terror group has not yet been verified, and contradicts statements by Paddock’s family and US officials who have said there is no evidence he was linked to ISIS.
Claims: Terror group ISIS said Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock had ‘converted to Islam a few months ago’ and that he was a ‘soldier of the Islamic State’
‘The Las Vegas attack was carried out by a soldier of the Islamic State and he carried it out in response to calls to target states of the coalition,’ the group’s news agency Amaq said in reference to the U.S.-led coalition fighting the group in the Middle East.
‘The Las Vegas attacker converted to Islam a few months ago,’ Amaq added.
Despite this claim, Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said investigations are still ongoing and police have not yet determined a motive.
Paddock was not believed to be connected to any militant group, Lombardo said.
No proof: US officials have said there is no evidence Stephen Paddock was linked to ISIS
In an exclusive interview with Dailymail.com, the shooter’s family said he had no political or religious affiliation.
‘He was just a guy. Something happened, he snapped or something,’ his brother Eric Paddock said from his home in Orlando, Florida
Paddock lived just 90 minutes outside Las Vegas in the city of Mesquite, with 62-year-old Marilou Danley, an Australian citizen believed to be of Indonesian descent.
Police said in a press conference early Monday that that they discovered in ‘excess of 10 rifles’ in the room, and that Paddock’s death was the result of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.