A&M Terror Expert Comments on Paddock's Odd Travels

Before shooting up a country music concert, the Las Vegas gunman was reportedly staking out a pop music concert in Chicago and a baseball game in Boston as targets, and that has terrorism experts scratching their heads, News Radio 1200 WOAI reports.

"Normally, when a terrorist does something, they're going to tell you why they're doing it.  In this case, we have not seen that yet," Lt. Col. Danny Davis tells Newsradio 1200 WOAI.

The senior lecturer at the George Bush School of Government and Public Service at Texas A&M University, who also directs the Graduate Certificate in Homeland Security program, says the wide variety of events that the gunman was scoping out shows he was not after one group, and because he looked at different cities, he says it's unlikely the shooting had anything to do with gambling, which is what some suspected early on.

"Ted Kaczynski, the Unabomber, had a cause.  This guy? There is no indication yet as to what that might have been," Lt. Col. Davis says.

The gunman’s potential targets reportedly included the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago.  He even booked a room in a hotel across from the stage, but did not show up. 

He also did online research on hotels around Boston's Fenway Park, but around Fenway, there is no view at all. 

The Boston Police said in a statement that there was no threat to any venue in the city.ISIS has claimed that the gunman had been radicalized, but Lt. Col. Davis says that's unlikely.  

Gunmen affiliated with the terror group make it painfully clear with manifestos, videos and the ever-present black and white ISIS flag.  In that case, none of that has been made public.


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