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An American sexagenarian killed 58 spectators of an outdoor concert Sunday night in Las Vegas, committing the worst shooting in the modern history of the United States. The authorities refuted "at this stage" any ties with the Islamic state organization, which claimed the killing.
Perched on a high floor of an adjoining, over-armed hotel, the shooter was a 64-year-old white American, Stephen Craig Paddock. He committed suicide before the police reached him.
The Islamic state group, through its propaganda body Amaq, claimed that the man had converted to Islam several months ago and that he was a "soldier", but did not support this claim.
But the FBI said shortly afterwards that it had established "no ties at this stage with an international terrorist group".
The death toll rose during the night and Monday morning: 58 people were killed and 515 injured, outnumbering the Orlando gay box in June 2016 when 49 people had died .
President Donald Trump, in a statement to the White House mid-morning, said nothing about the state of the investigation, dedicating his speech to a call for unity of the nation. He will travel Wednesday to Las Vegas.
"Our unity can not be broken by evil, our ties can not be defeated by violence, and although we feel anger at the insane assassination of our compatriots, it is love that defines today, "he said, without answering questions from the press.
Stephen Paddock had settled on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel, a massive establishment with an unobstructed view of the country music festival "Route 91 Harvest".
- Long gusts -
More than 22,000 spectators listened to the singer Jason Aldean, in full song. Amateur images show incredulity and then panic shortly after the first shots, at about 10:08 pm local time on Sunday.
Long and terrible gusts are audible. Between the shots, people try to escape, jumping as they can from the barriers. Others lay down on their stomachs, some protecting their most vulnerable bodies.
The movers of the shooter are unknown at this stage. In the night the police had already refused to evoke the terrorist track, the Las Vegas sheriff Joseph Lombardo calling the man "lone wolf".
Stephen Paddock, 64, lived in the town of Mesquite, 18,000 inhabitants, located some 120 kilometers from Las Vegas, still in Nevada.
He arrived at Mandalay Bay on 28 September and brought in his own weapons, the sheriff said, without the hotel staff noticing anything. Using a tool like a hammer, he broke the windows of the room to be able to shoot better.
The sheriff said the man committed suicide before the police intervention units forcibly entered his room. More than 10 rifles were found there.
The police had in the hours following the shooting launched a notice of search for the companion of the shooter, Marilou Danley. The police were finally able to talk to her. She is abroad, unspecified of the country, and is not suspected of being involved.
The killer's brother, Eric Paddock, appeared stunned in front of the cameras. His brother, he said, had "no religious or political affiliation" and "was not at all a fan of arms".
'In
Gusts began when singer Jason Aldean performed on stage. He and his group are safe and sound. "The evening was beyond horror," he wrote on Instagram.
"We heard pop-pop-pop-pop, we thought it was fireworks or firecrackers, and we realized that it was not the case, that it was" , told a spectator, Monique Dekerf to CNN.
The sound of gusts, audible in many amateur videos, resembles that of automatic weapons, where a shooter can keep his finger pressed on the trigger to continue shooting continuously. These weapons have been banned since the 1930s in the United States, but semi-automatic versions, where the trigger must be released between each bullet, are allowed for sale.
Several foreign leaders reacted to the tragedy, including British Prime Minister Theresa May and French President Emmanuel Macron. "Thought excited for our American partners and friends who have had to endure contemporary violence a few hours ago," he wrote on Twitter.