Democratic Rep. Says He’ll Boycott Moment of Silence for Las Vegas Victims

By Jack Phillips
October 2, 2017 Last Updated: October 2, 2017
People scramble for shelter at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after gunfire was heard in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017. (David Becker/Getty Images)

A Democratic congressman said that he’ll boycott a moment of silence for the victims of the mass shooting in Las Vegas that left at least 58 dead and hundreds injured.

Rep. Seth Moulton, a Democratic congressman from Massachusetts, tweeted Monday that he will “NOT be joining my colleagues in a moment of silence on the House floor that just becomes an excuse for inaction” on gun control.

After the mass shooting that left 49 people dead in Orlando last year, Moulton did the same.

“Now is not a moment for silence; it’s a time for action,” he also tweeted. He later slammed House Speaker Paul Ryan in a tweet for alleged inaction.

On Twitter, Moulton was heavily criticized for “playing politics” right after a mass shooting.

Stephen Paddock, 64, of Mesquite, Nevada, is accused of shooting at concertgoers in Las Vegas from his hotel room.

Stephen Paddock in an undated photo (Twitter)

The preliminary death toll, which officials said could rise, eclipsed last year’s massacre of 49 people at an Orlando, Florida, nightclub by a gunman who pledged allegiance to ISIS.

Police said they believed he acted alone and did not know why he attacked the crowd. The ISIS terrorist group claimed responsibility for the massacre, but U.S. officials said there was no evidence of that, Reuters reported.

People run from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after gunfire was heard in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, 2017. (David Becker/Getty Images)
A Police officer points his weapon at a car driving down closed Tropicana Ave. near Las Vegas Boulevard after a reported mass shooting at a country music festival nearby in Las Vegas on Oct. 2, 2017. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Police said Paddock had no criminal record. The gunman killed himself before police entered the hotel room he was firing from, Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo told reporters.

“We have no idea what his belief system was,” Lombardo said. “I can’t get into the mind of a psychopath.”

Federal officials said there was no evidence to link Paddock to any terrorist organizations.

“We have determined to this point no connection with an international terrorist group,” Aaron Rouse, the Federal Bureau of Investigation’s special agent in charge in Las Vegas, told reporters.

Reuters contributed to this report.