Story highlights Law enforcement authorities similarly declined to use the term

There is no such charge under federal law

(CNN) President Donald Trump on Tuesday did not say whether he thought the Las Vegas shooting was an act of "domestic terrorism," joining law enforcement officials who have so far declined to use that term to describe the largest massacre in modern American history.

Trump said the shooter, identified by authorities as Stephen Paddock, was a "sick man, demented man," but did not answer reporters' questions at the White House about whether he committed an act of domestic terror. On Monday, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said it was "premature" to judge that question, pointing to the ongoing investigation.

Law enforcement authorities similarly declined to use the term.

"We have to establish what his motivation was first," said Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo. Yet others, such as a former astronaut and gun-control advocate Mark Kelly, were unequivocal.

"This was an ambush if there ever was one," said Kelly. "This was domestic terrorism."

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