A bizarre conspiracy theory is floating across the Internet that claims the Las Vegas shooter, Stephen Paddock, actually died in 2013 – thus proving the shooting was either fake or staged by someone else.
Internet conspiracy theorists are not a collective generally well known for their common sense or ability to digest facts. What they are known for is their enthusiasm for theories involving “false flags” and “crisis actors”, their 5-minute nonsensical YouTube videos and their tendency to refer to anyone who disagrees with their senseless diatribes as “sheep” who need to “wake up”.
The latest conspiracy circulating Twitter is that Stephen Paddock, the man who killed 58 innocent concert-goers from the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay Hotel, actually died in 2013. How could a man who died in 2013 have committed mass murder in 2017, conspiracy theorists ask? The theory, many claimed, was proof that the shooting was a “false flag” (i.e. was staged) or was orchestrated by the US government.
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You’d think that such a claim would have been backed up by evidence, reputable sources and facts. You’d be wrong. It appears that for many conspiracy theorists – apparently unaware that people can share both the same first name and surname – discovering a Legacy.com obituary (below) for a man named Stephen Paddock was sufficient proof of their claims.
The Legacy obituary dug up by conspiracy theorists of a completely different Stephen Paddock.
The online obituary was posted on social media and various conspiracy-themed blogs, with spectators demanding to know how Stephen Paddock could have been responsible for murders 4 year after his own death.
Naturally, the Stephen Paddock obituary was for a different Stephen Paddock. The name on the obituary is Stephen Gorham Paddock. The Las Vegas shooter was Stephen Craig Paddock. The photo on the obituary is also clearly not the same person in photos released by media depicting Paddock. Also, none of the details (including family) that we know about the Las Vegas killer matched any of the details on this obituary.
This wasn’t difficult to research.
Conspiracy theories these days are sadly an inevitable by-product of mass shootings. And while it is healthy to sometimes question the reported facts if they don’t appear to add up, it seems in today’s climate, conspiracy theorists come up with these crazy theories just because they know they can reach an audience.
Read about the fake news and hoaxes spreading about the Las Vegas Mandalay Bay shooting in our post here.
