Las Vegas shooting: Police dismiss claims of multiple shooters as viral videos claiming to show two gunmen

There was only one shooter in Las Vegas, police have said, despite numerous online detectives claiming there were multiple attackers.

As the attack happened, reports had suggested that there was more than one shooter. But those were quickly dismissed by police, who say that only one man was responsible for the massacre: Stephen Paddock, who died soon after he opened fire on a concert in Las Vegas.

Despite the police's insistence that only one person was involved in the attack, numerous people online are still claiming that more than one person was firing onto that crowd. Some even suggest that fact is part of a larger conspiracy, and that more information is being covered up by the police.

The popularity of those conspiracies appear to be a consequence of the fact that police have said – and apparently know – so little about the attack and why it happened. In the desparate search to find a motive for such a horrifying attack, various false theories and hoaxes have filled the gap.

The latest of those is the claim that shots were coming from another part of the building, as well as the 32nd floor suite that Paddock is known to have fired from.

Those appear to have begun because of the confusion that ensued as the attack began. A number of witnesses reported that the shots appeared to be coming from more than one place – but those appear to have been a consequence of the chaos as people ran for their lives.

Presumably because the shots were echoing around the Las Vegas strip, and because it wasn't clear where the gunfire was coming from, people said that they appeared to have been fired on from multiple places. Those reports were quickly picked up.

Very soon after that, police said they were sure that Paddock had acted alone, and that all of the bullets came from that same room. But that hasn't put a stop to the claims that there was in fact multiple shooters, and that fact is being covered up by the police and the media.

A number of videos posted online appear to show flashes coming out of rooms lower down in the building, and not from Paddock's floor. The videos are unclear, however – and the flashes are likely to be the result of lights or other disturbances in the hotel rooms in the middle of the chaos, not another gunman.

Some have even used the claims of multiple shooters to claim that the attack was organised and co-ordinated, in a way not being revealed by the police. But police have been clear that they believe Paddock acted on his own, and that they don't believe he even had any meaningful connections to other groups.