ISIS continues to claim that Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock is linked to their organisation, despite explicit denials from the FBI.
Shortly after Sunday’s horrific mass shooting where Paddock, 64, a resident of nearby Mesquite, Nevada, killed 59 people and wounded more than 500, ISIS’s ‘news agency’ linked the incident to their organisation.
Today, the Islamist terrorist group gave Paddock, 64, a nom-de-guerre: ‘Abu Abdul Bar al-Amriki’, meaning ‘The American’, while repeating its claims that he was a ‘soldier of the caliphate’.
Not giving up: ISIS has continued to repeat repeating its claims that Stephen Paddock was a ‘soldier of the caliphate’ – despite denials from FBI, Nevada police and Paddock’s family
Yesterday’s statement, send out by news agency Amaq, said that the attack had been retaliation for the U.S.-led coalition’s fight against ISIS in the Middle East.
‘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 Las Vegas attacker converted to Islam a few months ago.’
Not long after the initial statement by ISIS, the FBI said that the bureau had ‘determined to this point no connection to an international terrorist group.
‘As this investigation continues, we will continue to work with our partner to ensure that this is factually, thoroughly and absolutely investigated, to be able to bring comfort and peace back to this community,’ FBI Special Agent Aaron Rouse said in a statement.
Claims: Yesterday, ISIS said Paddock had ‘converted to Islam a few months ago’ and that he was a ‘soldier of the Islamic State’
At least 50 people are dead and 200 injured after the Sunday shooting at the Las Vegas music festival
Three people lie on the ground, one covered in blood, after the shooting at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival on Sunday
A police officer takes cover behind a police vehicle during the shooting near the Mandalay Bay resort and casino (left); people take cover at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival (right)
However, it appears the FBI’s statement, as well as assertions from Nevada police and Paddocks’ family that he had no religious or political affiliations, has fallen on deaf ears with the Middle-east based terror group.
Details of Paddock’s life in the weeks leading up to Sunday’s mass shooting – the deadliest in recent U.S. history – has begun to trickle out, including his obsession with gambling and an alleged multi-million dollar fortune made from real estate.
But police have yet to make any official statements regarding a possible motive for the massacre, which saw Paddock barricade himself in a hotel room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Hotel with 23 firearms before shooting 59 people dead and injuring 527.
Companion: Paddock lived just 90 minutes outside Las Vegas in the city of Mesquite, with 62-year-old Marilou Danley, an Australian citizen
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
‘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’.
‘He has no political affiliation, no religious affiliation, as far as we know. This wasn’t a terror attack’.
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.
Eric Paddock said of Ms Danley: ‘She has nothing to do with this, at least from my perspective.
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.