It’s been a week since the massacre of 58 innocent, concert-going Americans and still local and federal officials are no closer to understanding what motivated Paddock. However, desperate officials are hoping their billboards with the message, “If you know something, say something,” will help them figure it out. 1
Undersheriff Kevin McMahill of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said,
“There are still a number of people out there that know that something looked out of place. Someone may have been acting suspiciously that night, or in the years prior, the months prior. Someone that may have seen something or knows something.”2
The police are working with very little information and they need help:
- Paddock had no prior criminal history but may have been suffering from mental illness. (Motive?)
- It doesn’t look like he held any extremist views but the FBI is searching his electronic devices and financial statements to see if that’s true. (Motive?)
- Paddock may have sought out other locations for an attack but Undersheriff McMahill said on Friday, “we have no credible information to report to you, as to motivation.” 3 (Motive?)
There are so many unknowns.
At this point, investigators are “very confident” there wasn’t another gunman in the room but they still can’t rule out that someone else knew about the attack (perhaps someone in the Philippines?).
And while investigators are looking into the large sum of money ($100,000) Mr. Paddock transferred to Ms. Danley in the Philippines shortly before the attack (she claims it was to buy a home for herself and her family) that amount of money is small when you consider that according to government figures, about “10 million Philippines citizens live overseas and send home more than $2 billion a month.”4
This truly was a tragedy. Our hearts go out to the families of the many lost. We are so sorry for your loss and we stand with you. And thank you to the many heroes who went back for others, risking their lives.
XO- Erin
