Every detail of this indiscriminate mass murder seemed meticulously planned.
The selection of a hotel room overlooking a music festival, days before the attack. The cache of 23 weapons inside the gunman’s Las Vegas suite. And thousands of rounds of ammunition — plus an ingredient used in explosives — inside the killer’s home and car.
The latest revelation came Tuesday afternoon when police said gunman Stephen Paddock set up cameras inside his hotel suite and in the hallway. Police are not aware whether the devices were transmitting — the FBI is investigating their use — but the Clark County sheriff told reporters he thinks the shooter might have used them to watch for people approaching his room.
No one knows why Paddock morphed from a retired accountant to the deadliest mass murderer in modern US history. His relentless gunfire — police say he fired for nine minutes after the first 911 call — on country music fans at an outdoor concert left 59 people dead.
Why officials aren’t calling this ‘domestic terrorism’.
Another 500 people are still trying to recover from injuries — everything from gunshot wounds to stampede injuries suffered when 22,000 people tried to flee the gunman’s aim.
So far, police believe Paddock acted alone — which could make the motive harder to determine.
More than three dozen of the 59 people killed have been publicly identified. Among the latest: Charleston Hartfield of Nevada; Stacee Etcheber of California; Christopher Roybal of Colorado; Hannah Ahlers of California; and Jordan McIldoon of British Columbia, Canada.
— The Daily Mail newspaper of the UK has published several photos purportedly taken in Paddock’s room after the shooting. In one photo, the legs of a body on the floor can be seen. The photos show semiautomatic assault-style rifles on the floor and on furniture. Stacks of ammunition magazines used in rifles can also be seen.
— Las Vegas police will give another public update on the investigation at 6 p.m. (9 p.m. ET) Tuesday.
— Authorities continued processing the scene of the killings, where shoes and bags lay scattered.
— Five handguns, two shotguns and a “plethora” of ammunition were found in Paddock’s Reno, Nevada, property, Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said. Authorities previously found 42 guns in Paddock’s hotel room and at his Mesquite, Nevada, home.
The investigation
Paddock’s violent transformation has mystified everyone — his brother, investigators and the families he victimized.
Police had no prior knowledge of the gunman before the attack.
“I don’t know how it could have been prevented,” Lombardo said.
The massacre has no known link to overseas terrorism or terror groups, a US official with knowledge of the case said.
And authorities say it’s too early to tell whether the massacre was an act of domestic terrorism.
“We have to establish what his motivation was first,” Lombardo said.
For an act to be considered terrorism, it must appear that it was intended to intimidate or coerce a civilian population, or try to influence political change.
The gunman’s brother, Eric Paddock, said he was “completely befuddled” by his brother’s actions.
He said Stephen Paddock was an avid gambler who had “no history of violence.
No history of anything — couldn’t give a s*** less about politics, religion, pointy hatted people, etc, etc. He just wanted to get a freaking royal flush.”
