Nyt
-Paddock må have fået hjælp
Billedet: Paddock ligger død på sit hotelværelse omgivet af våben.På det lille bord ses papiret med den besked, Paddock havde skrevet
Politiet i Las Vegas tør nu sige lidt mere om mysteriet Stephen Paddock: Han må have haft hjælp, sagde sheriff Joseph Lombardo torsdag.
Paddock havde oprindelig planlagt at flygte, fortalte Lombardo. Det er interessant information. Enlige ulve som bliver massemorderer, plejer at ende deres liv, når de indser at det er game over. Men Paddock gjorde ikke. Han så sig om efter en udvej. Først da han forstod, at det var for sent, rettede han våbnet mod sig selv.
Samtidig efterlod han sig en besked på et stykke papir. Hvad der stod på dette stykke papir, ville sheriffen ikke sige. Men det var ikke en selvmordsbesked, sagde Lombardo. Igen en indikation på at han ikke var ude i en desperado-mission.
He intended to escape after the attack, but he instead turned the gun on himself as authorities closed in on his room on the 32nd-floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.“He was doing everything possible to see how he could escape at this point,” Lombardo said.
Before killing himself, Paddock, 64, had set up cameras inside and outside his hotel suite, and in the peep hole.Police also found 50 pounds of explosives and 1,600 rounds of ammunition in his car in the Mandalay Bay hotel parking lot, according to Lombardo. There was also a note in his hotel room, but it was not a suicide note, he said, without providing details on what it said. CNN.com
Hjælp?
Det mest overraskende er antydninger om, at flere var involveret.
En sheriff som forestår efterforskningen i den værste massakre i fredstid, vil næppe slynge den påstand ud, at drabsmanden må have fået hjælp, hvis det ikke underbygges af spor:
Lombardo painted a picture of a man who may have had some help in planning the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.More than 100 investigators have spent the past three days combing through details of his life, looking for answers.“What we know is Paddock is a man who spent decades acquiring guns and ammo, and living a secret life,” Lombardo said. “Anything that would indicate this individual trigger point, which would cause him to inflict this harm, we’re not there yet.”
Noget skete de sidste 11 måneder
Efterforskerne har en formodning om, at der skete noget med Paddock de sidste 11 måneder:
Investigators said something may have happened to Paddock between October last year and September this year that compelled him to purchase more weapons and ultimately lead to the massacre. Paddock bought 33 firearms, mostly rifles, during that 11-month period, authorities said.“Do you think this was all accomplished on his own? You’ve got to make the assumption he had to have some help at some point,” Lombardo said.
Hvad kan være sket med Paddock, som gjorde, at han købte 33 våben, for det meste rifler, i løbet af 11 måneder? Det lyder næsten besat.
Politisk ved vi, at der skete noget stort i USA i akkurat dette tidsrum: Donald Trump.
Kan valget af ham være den udløsende faktor?
Spørgsmålet virker overmodent, ud fra de bidder af inforation, der er kommet dryppende, og siden der nu er sat et tidsvindue op, som passer med Trumps valgsejr, vil det blive umuligt for efterforskerne ikke at adressere det.
Paddocks kæreste, Mariloy Danley er tilbage i USA. Hun har ladet sig afhøre af FBI, og har gennem sin advokat udsendt en erklæring om, at hun ikke havde nogen anelse om, hvad hendes kæreste planlagde. Efterforskningen vil vise, om det står til troende.
Kontrakt-killer
Mark Steyn har en observation, som fortjener at blive nævnt: Han synes Paddock har lagt en meget kølig kalkule for dagen, som passer dårligt til fyr, det hele ramler for – og som mere synes at passe på en lejemorder. Paddock var en patologisk gambler af natur, og noget krydsede hans vej, som fik ham til at tage jobbet som massemorder:
I was referring to studies that showed pathological gamblers “conceal” and “bluff” in the rest of their lives, too – with their near and dear ones, for example, as this man appears to have done with his girlfriend. That’s to say, his known life – his routine, his habits, his associations – was a kind of bluff, as the Sheriff’s remarks about his “secret life” suggested. Whether or not he sat at gaming tables regularly, a thought occurred to me during the Sheriff’s press conference that this man’s “weirdly blank” public profile (as I put it) is closer to something like a contract killer than a mentally disturbed guy who suddenly snaps. I’m not saying this particular accountant is literally the eponymous accountant of Ben Affleck’s recent movie, but there is a level of efficiency and organization here that separates Sunday night’s carnage from almost all other single-shooter attacks.
So as the days go by this seems less and less like a lone wacko who suddenly cracks up.
Trump-følgere
CNNs Hvide Hus-korrespoondent Jeff Zenely blev bedt om at kommentere den første udtalelse præsidenten kom med om Las Vegas. Han trak da udtalelsen tilbage om, at talen gik rent hjem, deltagerne på festivalen nok var Trump-tilhængere.
Zeleny said he found the speech to be “pitch perfect” but then asked people to “keep in mind” that many country music fans are Trump supporters.
“Something else, I think, to keep in mind–a lot of these country music supporters are likely Trump supporters,” Zeleny said. “This is something, of course, hitting the tapestry of all Americans and there are going to be victims from across the country here.”
Zeleny provided no context or explanation for the assertion that many of the victims may have been Trump supporters, so it’s not clear why he thought it was relevant to Trump’s remarks.
Men hvad skulle være årsagen eller sammenhængen i en sådan stund? Hvad ville Zeleny med en sådan kommentar? Den fremstår som usmagelig, hvis det ikke var fordi CNN mener, at publikum har tilhørt en politisk fløj, som CNN kun har lidt til overs for.
Hvis der skulle være en politisk vinkel på skyderiet, kan det slå voldsomt tilbage på CNN.
