The Las Vegas mass shooting that occurred on Monday, Oct. 2, 2017 was horrendous, but this isn't going to be another reiteration of the atrocity that occurred. If that is what you want, go to any of the other major news outlets you trust.

The events that occurred were horrific. I feel for the families of those lost and the survivors of the events. But, something else has stuck with me. Variations of the following two statements; "the shooter isn't a terrorist because he isn't Muslim," or "there was no evidence that he was a supporter of ISIS/ISIL so he isn't a terrorist." Well, the definition of terrorist according to the Merriam Webster Dictionary is "an advocate or practitioner of terrorism as means of coercion." Terrorism is defined as "the systematic use of terror especially as means of coercion." In either of those definitions, do you see that terrorism is linked to Islam, Muslims, ISIS, or ISIL? No, because a terrorist doesn't have to be or be linked to any of those things.

A terrorist may be the Muslims who boarded the planes on 9/11 and destroyed the towers and everyone inside, or a terrorist can be the white man who you attend church with every Sunday and see picking up his newspaper in the mornings as you leave for work. A terrorist can be the black woman who walks into the Senate chambers and begins to shoot at everyone. The list of hypothetical ideas goes on and on.

The shooter in Las Vegas was a terrorist. End of story. So, before you decide to flood social media with your opinions full of inacurracies, maybe you should remember to educate youself.