Stephen Paddcok fired what are believed to be automatic weapons from a high floor at the Mandalay Bay hotel into a crowd at a country music festival in Las Vegas. At least 59 people were killed, and over 500 wounded.
What is so unusual about the search for information about Paddock is how little there is. Prior to the shooting, his life left a very small footprint.
When these type of events happen, there immediately is an internet hunt for details on a perpetrator’s internet life, and almost always there are immediate indications of ideology and motivation. Not here. There’s almost nothing, only a few photos.
There also usually are manifestos or other documents left behind by the perpetrator indicating motive. So far, nothing.
ISIS has claimed responsibility and that Paddock was a recent convert to Islam, but as of this writing there is no evidence of that. In the past ISIS has released video of one one of their “soldiers” describing what was to happen, but so far nothing.
The usual “what we know about” news articles are almost non-substantive, giving few details that give insight into the act. No criminal record. No run-ins with the police or others. No obvious evidence of financial or other problems. Nothing.
There are claims in social media that he was anti-Trump, and that he was pro-Trump. Be very suspicious of such claims based on sketchy photos of protests. Remember when someone was misidentified after the Boston Marathon bombing.
When interviewed, family and neighbors professed near complete ignorance about Paddock’s life. His brother’s statements, if true, reveal a perpetrator who not only was not suspicious to family and neighbors, but was practically non-existent.
And then there’s the interesting family history of a father who was a wanted bank robber and who lived on the lam after escaping from prison. But if son were to take after father, you would have expected it to show up in his life before this.
Perhaps we’ll learn more in the coming days and weeks. But this is all highly unusual. Paddock appears to be a Nowhere Man:
He’s a real nowhere manSitting in his nowhere landMaking all his nowhere plans for nobody
Given the resources devoted to figuring out who this Nowhere Man really was, perhaps we’ll find out more. But the fact that it’s proving so difficult tells me something is really odd here, and all may not be as it seems.
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