Or, at least, they’ve yet to publicly discuss a motive.
It could be that they already have a good idea about why Paddock turned his hotel room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Casino into a sniper’s nest after meticulously planning the attack, perhaps for months: They may already believe there was a political motivation behind the killing, one that they’re not yet willing to announce or discuss, most likely because of the hellacious fallout around the country.
At least, that’s what retired Lt. Col Tony Shaffer, a Fox News contributor and CIA-trained former U.S. intelligence officer, has said. In an appearance on the network Wednesday, Shaffer said his sources have told him that law enforcement is “holding back” information suggesting a political motivation behind the killings, which they learned about after watching recorded video footage of his attack.
“My sources tell me they reviewed the information on those videos and there are things that do lay out some understanding of his motivation,” he said, adding that officials haven't released the new information because of “leads they want to follow.”
When host Martha McCallum pressed him further, he said, “There is a political angle people are concerned about.”
“There is one legal law enforcement issue, according to my source,” said Shaffer, who noted further that sources told him there are concerns behind the scenes about why certain information, like images of the weapons used to attack a country music festival at the Route 91 venue below the hotel have been leaked, but not the video the suspect allegedly recorded during his assault.
There are other clues that indeed, Shaffer’s sources are being truthful with him.
For instance, as The National Sentinel reported, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo hinted at a press conference earlier this week that it’s possible Paddock, 64, may have been “radicalized” at some point, though he did not elaborate.
In making his statement, Lombardo seemed to suggest that Paddock was ‘radicalized,’ just based on the second part of his statement: “Did this person get radicalized unbeknownst to us? And we want to identify that source.”
That statement suggests that investigators have a “source” out there somewhere responsible for “radicalizing” Paddock. (Related: Law enforcement says Las Vegas shooter “did not act alone” … new details.)
But what political motivations would Paddock have had? Which side of the political spectrum would he have come down on? Some — including a few “mainstream” media types — think Paddock may have been anti-Trump, as The National Sentinel explains:
If so, that would also confirm suspicions among some Americans that there was a political motive behind the shootings. Paddock opened fire on 22,000 people attending a country music festival; some in the mainstream media bigots have already suggested that Paddock’s attack could have been aimed at supporters of President Donald J. Trump, many of whom are likely country music fans.
On his Oct. 4 show, talk giant Rush Limbaugh also noted that one of the early theories regarding Paddock’s motive centered on a sort of “anti-Trump” theme. Also, Limbaugh made this cryptic statement more than a day before Shaffer’s appearance on Fox News later that same evening: “The Las Vegas massacre has now reached the full politicization stage as a motive continues to be elusive. There are people however who don’t think the motive is elusive. There are people who think the motive is known and because it’s not preferred by certain personages and affiliations, that it is not being announced.”
Finally, there is this. Lombardo said at a Wednesday evening press conference that Paddock had been living “a secret double life,” which further suggests that some form of radicalization may have taken place.
Stay tuned.
J.D. Heyes is a senior writer for NaturalNews.com and NewsTarget.com, as well as editor of The National Sentinel.
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