By Steve Neavling
ticklethewire.com
More than nine months before the mass shooting at a Las Vegas country music festival earlier this week, the FBI and Homeland Security warned of the threat of lone gunmen carrying out massacres during large gatherings like music venues.
The federal agencies issued a “Joint Special Event Event Threat Assessment” to warn of lone offenders launching an attack on large crowds, Foreign Police reports.
A main concern cited by the December 2016 document was someone targeting the New Year’s Eve celebrations in the Las Vegas Strip.
“Unaffiliated lone offenders and [homegrown violent extremists] are of particular concern,” the document states, “due to their ability to remain undetected until operational; their willingness to attack civilians and soft targets; their ability to inflict significant casualties with weapons that do not require specialized knowledge, access, or training; and their unpredictability, as witnessed in the Orlando, Florida and San Bernardino, California terrorist attacks.”
The agencies addressed concerns “about the sustained interest by terrorists and criminals in targeting mass gatherings,” including at concerts.
