It only took a few hours for international terrorist group ISIS to claim responsibility for the horrific shooting attack in Las Vegas, Nevada on Monday, which left at least 58 dead and more than 500 wounded.
But ISIS did not provide any evidence to back up this claim, and at least one expert cautions that it’s entirely possible the bloodthirsty organization is lying.
Soon after the Associated Press broke the news of ISIS’s claim, right-wing writers such as Laura Loomer were quick to pile on and repeat the assertion.
#ISIS TAKES RESPONSIBILITY FOR #LASVEGAS ATTACK! I called it 6 hrs ago. Time to wake up. Your political correctness is killing us all. #ISIS https://t.co/FBOEEKydNI
— Laura Loomer (@LauraLoomer) October 2, 2017
Even before the AP’s report, Loomer and other right-wing pundits claimed the attack was perpetrated by a Muslim Monday morning — before police identified 64-year-old local resident Stephen Paddock as the prime suspect in the case.
Hours later, however, the FBI announced they have yet to find any connection between the alleged shooter and international terror groups such as ISIS.
–@FBI: At this time "No connection with an international terrorist group" to #LVShooting.
— Steve Herman (@W7VOA) October 2, 2017
Granted, it’s possible officials could discover evidence of an ISIS connection in the future. But as CNN terrorism expert Paul Cruickshank pointed out on Twitter, ISIS has repeatedly claimed responsibility for attacks that ultimately had little to zero connection to the group.
Cruickshank, who also serves as editor-in-chief of a magazine published by West Point’s Combating Terrorism Center, pointed to several instances in the past few months where ISIS claimed responsibility for a violent attack, only for their claims to be proven false.
1. ISIS in recent months has made a number of demonstrably false claims for attacks and incidents that had no jihadi terror nexus.
— Paul Cruickshank (@CruickshankPaul) October 2, 2017
2. Exhibit A of a false ISIS claim was their claim for attack on Manila, Philippines casino resort in June. Perpetrator was indebted gambler
— Paul Cruickshank (@CruickshankPaul) October 2, 2017
3. Exhibit B of a false ISIS claim was their claim to have smuggled explosives into CDG airport in Paris last month.
— Paul Cruickshank (@CruickshankPaul) October 2, 2017
Cruickshank also pointed to reports that the gunman took his own life as atypical for ISIS agents, who usually condemn self-inflicted suicide.
5. Conclusion: ISIS, desperate for attention, will claim just about anything these days knowing their supporters won't believe govt/media.
— Paul Cruickshank (@CruickshankPaul) October 2, 2017
Other reports also cast doubt ISIS’s claims that the shooter “converted to Islam“ before the attack. The shooter’s brother, for instance, told CBS News his sibling had “no religious affiliation.”
"No religious affiliation. No political affiliation. He just hung out," brother says of Las Vegas gunman https://t.co/czfMSEMkpu http://pic.twitter.com/NUxv0xYaxX
— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 2, 2017
“We have no idea what his belief system was,” Sheriff Joseph Lombardo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department told Washington Post reporters on Monday.
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