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Trump: Las Vegas massacre was ‘act of pure evil’

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WORST IN US HISTORY: Shooting took place during country music festival -


Washington: US President Donald Trump called the Las Vegas concert massacre “an act of pure evil” in a televised address after the shooting, which left at least 50 dead and more than 400 wounded.


Speaking from the White House, he said the country was feeling”sadness, shock and grief.”


He praised the efforts of police, who located the gunman on the 32nd floor of a hotel and stormed his room within minutes, and other first responders.


“The speed with which they acted is miraculous and prevented further loss of life,” Trump said. “To have found the shooter so quickly after the first shots were fired is something for which we will always be thankful and grateful. It shows what true professionalism is all about.”


A 64-year-old man armed with more than 10 rifles rained down gunfire on a Las Vegas country music festival on Sunday, slaughtering at least 50 people in the largest mass shooting in US history before killing himself.


The barrage from a 32nd-floor window in the Mandalay Bay hotel into a crowd of 22,000 people lasted several minutes, causing panic. Some fleeing fans trampled each other as police scrambled to find the gunman. More than 400 people were injured.


Police identified the gunman as Stephen Paddock, who lived in a retirement community in Mesquite, Nevada, and said they had no sense of what prompted his attack. The IS militant group claimed responsibility for the massacre, but US officials expressed scepticism of that claim.


The death toll, which police emphasized was preliminary, eclipsed last year’s massacre of 49 people at an Orlando night club by a gunman who pledged allegiance to IS militants.


Shocked concertgoers, some with blood on their clothing, wandered the streets afterwards.


Police said they had no information about Paddock’s motive, that he had no criminal record and was not believed to be connected to any militant group. Paddock killed himself before police entered the hotel room he was firing from, Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo told reporters.


“We have no idea what his belief system was,” Lombardo said.


Two senior US government officials said that Paddock’s name was not on any database of suspected terrorists and that there was no evidence linking him to any international militant group.


One of the two US officials discounted a claim of responsibility that was made by IS. There was reason to believe that Paddock had a history of psychological problems, the official said.


In its claim, IS State said that the gunman was a recent convert, according to the group’s news agency Amaq. Its claim did not include the gunman’s name and showed no proof. In the past, the group has also claimed responsibility for attacks without providing evidence.


Lombardo said there were more than 10 rifles in the room where Paddock killed himself. He had checked into the hotel on Thursday.


Police found several more weapons when they searched Paddock’s home in Mesquite, which is about 145 km northeast of Las Vegas, Mesquite police spokesman Quinn Averett told reporters.


The dead included one off-duty police officer, Lombardo said. Two on-duty officers were injured, including one who was in stable condition after surgery and one who sustained minor injuries, Lombardo said. — Reuters, dpa


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