The ISIS terrorist group—without providing evidence—claimed responsibility for the Las Vegas shooting that left more than 50 dead.
ISIS said that the shooter, Stephen Paddock, 64, converted to Islam “months ago,” The Associated Press reported.
BREAKING: Without providing evidence, Islamic State claims Las Vegas attack, says shooter converted to Islam months ago.
— The Associated Press (@AP) October 2, 2017
The Amaq propaganda agency claimed the attacker was a “soldier of [ISIS],” according to The Independent.
“The Las Vegas attacker is a soldier of the [ISIS] in response to calls to target coalition countries,” it said.
In a second statement, ISIS said that gunman “converted to Islam” months ago.
The claim could not be independently verified.
Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said investigations are still ongoing and police have not yet determined a motive in the shooting, Reuters reported.
“We have no idea what his belief system was,” Lombardo said.
A senior U.S. government official told Reuters that Paddock’s name was not on any database of suspected terrorists.
The family of Paddock said that he had no religious or political affiliation.
“He was just a guy. Something happened, he snapped or something,” his brother Eric Paddock said in an interview from his home in Florida, according to MailOnline.
Some 50 people died and more than 400 were hurt when the gunman opened fire Sunday night, raining down bullets from a 32nd-floor window for several minutes before killing himself.
The death toll, which police emphasized was preliminary, would make the mass shooting the deadliest in U.S. history, eclipsing last year’s massacre of 49 people at an Orlando nightclub by a gunman who pledged allegiance to ISIS militants.
In a press conference early Monday, officials said that there were more than 10 rifles found in Paddock’s hotel room.
Reuters contributed to this report.
