After a man on the Las Vegas Strip opened fire on 1 October 2017, killing nearly 60 people and injuring hundreds more, rumors immediately began flying: one held that there were multiple shooters firing from several floors, another that the security guard was an accomplice (which culminated in far-right self-described reporters banging on his door, camping out in front of his house, and ultimately reporting, completely falsely, that he had gone missing), and yet another, as happens with all mass shootings in the United States, that the incident was a hoax featuring paid actors posing as victims in an effort to take away gun rights.
All of these were quickly debunked, though the shooter’s motive remains a mystery. A month later, the Clark County Sheriff told the Los Angeles Times that the shooter was a high-rolling gambler who had lost a “significant amount of wealth,” and had shown growing signs of mental instability. Even so, conspiracy theories continue to make the rounds, including one alleging that survivors of the shooting are being systematically murdered.