Chilling Item Links Las Vegas Shooter Stephen Paddock’s Room Links to Barack Obama-Fiction!
Summary of eRumor:
Investigators found a “chilling item” in Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock’s hotel room that links him to President Barack Obama.
The Truth:
A false report claiming that a chilling item links Stephen Paddock to President Obama is based on earlier fabricated reports that can easily be proven false.
The “chilling item” story came from Political Mayhem, a conspiracy-minded website that frequently advances white nationalist ideas in commentaries portrayed as news stories. The story, which appeared under the headline, “BREAKING: Chilling Item Found In Las Vegas Shooter’s Hotel Room Linking Him To Obama,” was shared on social media nearly 20,000 times within days:
Breaking news is hitting the airwaves fast and hard about the Las Vegas shooter and some of this news links directly to ANTIFA. Social media posts revealed that Melbourne ANTIFA claimed and congratulated the shooter. Before Obama left office, congressional investigators found out that Obama funneled billions of dollars to left-wing activist groups, donating close to $7 million straight to Antifa. Hillary Clinton has blood on her hands too, as she donated roughly around $800,000 to the terror group.
A breaking news segment form Alex Jones links ANTIFA to the shooter via sources within authority groups stating that the hotel room of the shooter was covered in ANTIFA memorabilia as well as things that Jones “can’t mention.”
First, the claim that Obama funneled $7 million into an Antifa group is based on a fabricated story published by Our Land of the Free. The website’s disclaimer states that it makes “no guarantee that what you read here is true,” adding, “in fact, it most definitely is not.”
Second, the post cites a false report by the Daily Mail that a group known as “Melbourne Antifa” claimed responsibility or praised the Las Vegas shooting. The group’s official Facebook page, Melbourne Antifascist Info, said the Daily Mail report was based on posts made by “blatantly fake Facebook accounts” and the publication ran with the story to advance its political agenda:
Third, the rumor’s central claim — that a chilling item found in Paddock’s hotel room linked him to Antifa — is also false. Photos of Paddock’s hotel don’t show any Antifa memorabilia whatsoever. And local police handling the investigation said from the onset that there was no clear motive for the shooting — which a room full of extremist propaganda would have certainly provided. Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said in a news conference that the investigation was ongoing, and there still wasn’t a clear motive in the days following the attack.
There were, however, a number of theories about the Las Vegas mass shooter’s motive. An FBI profiler suggested that Paddock may have had some sort of a trigger like a major loss, a breakup or a recent terminal diagnosis. Meanwhile, NBC News reported that Paddock was “descending into madness” in the days and weeks leading up to the deadly shooting, exhibiting “significant weight loss, an increasingly slovenly physical appearance and an obsession with his girlfriend’s ex-husband.” These are all theories, however, and no clear motive has emerged for Paddock’s rampage.