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By Alan Hope/ Trend

Just as the world faces another turmoil ignited by yet another separatist movement, fueled by the nationalist ideology, with the not-so-vague financial backing, the United States had, once again, bared a witness as well as a victim to the yet another “dumbfounded,” domestically raised, unjust and unexplainable act of madness. This time the thing that happened in Vegas, didn’t stay there, it has affected not only the US, but the whole world.

First Blood

On Aug 1, 1966, a former American Marine sharpshooter, Charles Whitman became infamous as the "Texas Tower Sniper." On that day he had first murdered his mother and wife in their homes, before coming about to the University of Texas (Austin) campus. Upon arrival, Whitman had murdered another three inside the university tower before reaching its 28th floor. From that spot Whitman had randomly and indiscriminately fired for 96 minutes, eventually killing another 17, including one unborn child, while wounding 31 before being gunned done by the police.

Bowling for Columbine

The Jefferson County of Colorado was shaken and shocked by the Columbine High School seniors Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold on Apr 20, 1999, as they had murdered 12 students and one teacher, while injuring directly 21 and an additional three indirectly, as the later had attempted the scape. The pair, becoming infamous as the “Columbian Shooters,” had subsequently committed a suicide before the law-enforcement officers could reach them.

Beltway Sharpshooters

Within the timeframe of Feb-Dec of 2002, a crime spree, featuring a series of murders and robberies and spanning the states of Alabama, Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Louisiana, Texas, Washington, Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia, resulted in the death of 17, while another 10 got injured. The perpetrators apprehended by the law-enforcement, later called the “D.C. snipers” (aka the “Beltway Sharpshooters”), were identified as John Allen Muhammad and Lee Boyd Malvo.

Virginia Tech Massacre

On Apr 16, 2007, Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University (Blacksburg) senior Seung-Hui Cho had shot and killed 32 people, while wounding 23 others, in two separate attacks approximately two hours apart. The gunman, later on becoming infamous as the “Virginia Tech Shooter,” had committed suicide before the law-enforcement agents could apprehend him.

Newtown’s "Klaus" Barbie

The town of Newtown, Connecticut was paralyzed on Dec 14, 2012, as 20-year-old Adam Lanza, prior to his arrival to the Sandy Hook Elementary School Massacre had shot and killed his mother. Upon his arrival to the school, Lanza had fatally shot 20 six and seven year old children, as well as six adult staff members, before committing suicide.

Gaydar in Disarray

On Jun 12, 2016, a 29-year-old security guard, later called the “Orlando Nightclub Shooter,” Omar Mateen (aka Omar Mir Seddique) had killed 49 people, while wounding 58 others, in a mass shooting at the Pulse gay nightclub in Florida, committing the deadliest mass shooting by a single shooter in the United States until the 2017 Las Vegas Strip shooting.

Vegas Shooter

On Oct 1, 2017, a crowd of 22,000 was fired upon from the 32nd floor of the hotel room, in the Mandalay Bay resort. Almost thousands of machine-gun fired bullets were aimed at the attendees of the country music star Jason Aldean’s concert. As they scrambled for cover, ran from the stage and struggled to save each other’s lives, at least 58 people were killed and more than 515 injured, making this the deadliest mass shooting by a single shooter in the United States until, as well as the deadliest terrorist attack in the United States since the 9/11.

The local police at scene had identified the perpetrator of the latest attack as the resident of the retirement community of Mesquite, Nevada, Stephen Paddock, 64, who had committed suicide before the SWAT team could apprehend him. Notwithstanding that the Islamic State (aka ISI, Daesh) has already claimed itself to be the master-mind by affiliation of the Vegas attack, local, as well the federal law-enforcement agencies, who did not yet determined the motives of Paddock’s motives, reiterated insistently that no foreign involvement had been established.

While the matter of Paddock’s motives (whether religious, financial, gambling or matter-of-the-heart related) will surely be established by the law-enforcement agencies in charge, so far they had stated that it has all the trends a “lone-wolf” profile, very much similar to the inhumane crimes mentioned above. Notwithstanding the outcome of the investigation, Paddock’s crime truly is, just like the US President Donald Trump had described it, “an act of pure evil.”

No matter of the future political storms caused by this event or the political debates be held for the legislative revision of the 2nd Amendment, for now, we honor those who unjustly and treacherously were gunned-down by the maniac, as our prayers go to those who are recovering from this horrific event. We do hope that the Americans will yet again overcome this, as awful as it sounds and so sad to say, already “usual” type of violence. Nonetheless, as the US president said, there is still “some [hope of] light in the darkness.”

God Bless!

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