Crime

How Las Vegas shooter planned attack

Published

9 years ago

October 3, 2017

Police have named Stephen Paddock as the suspected gunman who killed more than 50 people and hospitalised more than 400 others at a Las Vegas concert.

The 64-year-old, of Mesquite, Nevada, sprayed bullets at music-lovers as a gig by country singer Jason Aldean was ending on Sunday night, said officers.

The suspect opened fire from a room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino.

Paddock killed himself at the scene as officers closed in.

It is the deadliest shooting in modern US history, with the death toll surpassing the 49 killed at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, in June 2016.

Las Vegas Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said investigators found “in excess of 42 rifles” in his home and hotel room that he had checked into on 28 September.

“We have no idea what his belief system was. Right now, we believe he was the sole aggressor and the scene is static,” Sheriff Lombardo said, adding that the attack was not related to terrorism.

He described the suspect as a “distraught person intending to cause mass casualties”, adding that he killed himself as police approached the hotel room.

Audio recorded at the concert suggests that Paddock used an automatic rifle in the attack on the crowd of 22,000 people.

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He had no prior “derogatory” interactions with police, said Sheriff Lombardo, except for one citation several years ago which the sheriff declined to describe.

Police said Monday they believe the gunman who opened fire on concert goers on the Las Vegas strip killed himself before officers broke into his hotel room.

“We believe the individual killed himself prior to our entry,” Las Vegas Sheriff Joseph Lombardo told a news conference.

He said officers found “in excess of 23 rifles” upon entering the 32nd floor hotel room from which a gunman opened fire at concert goers below, killing at least 50 and injuring hundreds.