YET, another shooting spree occurs in Las Vegas killing 59 and injuring as many as 527 shocked the world on last Sunday. In details, a gunman on a high floor of a Las Vegas hotel rained a rapid-fire barrage on an outdoor concert festival. Even though, the Islamic State claimed the shooter — Mr. Paddock to be one of its soldiers — but did not provide any evidence of its claim. Responding to the claim, the FBI said there was no evidence so far that Mr. Paddock had ties to any international terrorist organization, and also his relatives said that he had not displayed any extreme political or ideological beliefs in their interactions with him.
This is for the first time a clear confusion has arisen over the true reason and links of an assassin’s motive behind a mass killing. However, we intensely condemn such a heinous act and concurrently mourn beside the family members of the Las Vegas victims.
Though it isn’t the first large-scale attack to have been launched by a ‘lone-wolf’ killer in the Western world, but so far it is indisputably one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history. Following a number of attacks in UK, France, Germany, Italy — the peril of unanticipated attacks have now crossed deep inside North America. However, in the aftermath of the killing a number of countries have immediately condemned the killings.
Mr. Trump called on the nation to seek “unity and peace”. However, the greatest test will be for Mr. Trump too, as he has so bitterly divided the nation on all fronts. Referring to the rampage shooting, will his call anyhow appeal to the fractured sense of national unity?
The possibility is less — no matter how strongly he maintains his emphatic tone over Sunday’s brutal killings — particularly as critics have started attacking his position on gun laws. Moreover, he has also taken a sharp u-turn from indiscriminately blaming radical Islamists for all attacks including Sunday’s attacks in Las Vegas when he said, “Our unity cannot be shattered by evil” and “Our bonds cannot be broken by violence…”
It was a marked rigorously disciplined performance of a most unpredictable US President in recent US history. However, unlike other US Presidents for Mr. Trump, the rhythms of grief after a national tragedy have never come naturally and it was soon learnt that his five-minute statement about the Las Vegas shootings was a group effort carefully orchestrated.
Whatever, in the face of this unprecedented tragedy we firmly stand beside the American people and pray for them to come over the pain and sorrow inflicted by an evil force. Lastly, we call for the US law enforcers to accurately investigate and identify the motive and deter all such attacks in the future.
