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A gunman opened fire from a hotel room above a packed, outdoor concert in Las Vegas, killing at least 58, wounding 515 more and prompting chaos as the panicked crowd scrambled for cover amid the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, who announced the death toll, said the shooter, identified as Stephen Paddock, 64, was found dead by officers who stormed his 32nd-floor room at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.
Lombardo did not directly address the issue of terrorism but described Paddock as "a distraught person intent on causing mass casualties."
"We have no idea what his belief system was," Lombardo said. "We believe he was the sole aggressor."
Rita Katz, director of the SITE Intel Group that monitors terrorist groups, tweeted that the Islamic State issued statements saying Paddock was one of their soldiers and that he converted to Islam months ago. However, Aaron Rouse, chief of the FBI’s Las Vegas office, said no connection to the militant group had been found.