FBI seeks help from public as Pence visits Las Vegas

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As Las Vegas police appealed to the public for help in uncovering a wealthy retiree's motive for massacring 58 people at an outdoor concert this week, US Vice President Mike Pence visited Las Vegas on Saturday stressing unity and offering solace.

"We are united in our grief, in our support for those who have suffered and united in our resolve to end such evil in our time," Pence said, joining Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman and other local leaders at a City Hall commemoration for victims of the shooting that followed a prayer walk through the city.

Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman speaks in Las Vegas City Hall following a Unity Prayer Walk in Las Vegas, October 7, 2017. /Reuters Photo‍

Participants trod 11 km along four separate paths to City Hall for an event where security was high.

President Donald Trump paid a visit to Las Vegas earlier in the week.

Las Vegas' Democratic Congresswoman Dina Titus was the only speaker who touched on the subject of gun violence and politics, saying, "Let us also pray for those who have power that they will have the wisdom, the courage, and the resolve to find ways to end the gun violence that plagues our nation."

The commemoration came as Clark County Undersheriff Kevin McMahill said investigators remain largely in the dark about what drove retired real estate investor and high-stakes gambler Stephen Paddock to carry out the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.

"We have looked at everything, literally, to include the suspect's personal life, any political affiliation, his social behaviors, economic situation, any potential radicalization," McMahill told reporters late on Friday.

"We have been down each and every single one of these paths, trying to determine why, to determine who else may have known of these plans."

McMahill said investigators had uncovered "no nexus" between ISIL and Paddock, even though the militant group had repeatedly claimed responsibility for the attack.

In an unusual bid to cast a wider net for tips, the FBI and police have urged citizens to come forward with any information they believe might help investigators.

Doves are released for each victim of the Route 91 Harvest music festival mass shooting at City Hall plaza in Las Vegas, October 7, 2017. /Reuters Photo

"If you know something, say something" and carry a toll-free number to an FBI hotline, said Aaron Rouse, special agent in charge of the Las Vegas FBI office.

Paddock, 64, unleashed a torrent of automatic gunfire onto an outdoor music festival from the windows of his 32nd-floor hotel suite overlooking the concert on Sunday night, then shot himself to death before police stormed into his room.

The mass shooting left 58 people dead, and more than 520 were injured, some by gunfire, some trampled or otherwise hurt while running for cover.

Unlike so many other perpetrators of deadly mass shootings before him, Paddock left behind no suicide note, no manifesto, no recordings and no messages on social media pointing to his intent, according to police.

McMahill said investigators remained certain Paddock acted alone in the shooting. But police have said they suspect he had help before the killings, based on the large number of guns, ammunition and explosives found in the hotel suite, his home, his car and a second home searched in Reno.

Source(s): Reuters