Investigators have examined Paddock’s politics, his finances, any possible radicalization and his social behavior — typical investigative avenues that have helped uncover the motive in past shootings.

“We still do not have a clear motive or reason why,” Undersheriff Kevin McMahill said. “We have looked at literally everything.”

The FBI announced that billboards would go up around the city asking anyone with information to phone 800-CALL-FBI.

“If you know something, say something,” said Aaron Rouse, agent in charge of the Las Vegas FBI office. “We will not stop until we have the truth.”

Paddock, a reclusive 64-year-old high-stakes gambler, rained bullets on the crowd at a country music festival Sunday night from his 32nd-floor hotel suite, killing 58 and wounding hundreds before taking his own life.

McMahill said it was unusual to have so few clues five days after a mass shooting. He noted that in past mass killings or terrorist attacks, killers left notes, social media postings or information on a computer, or phoned police.

What officers have found is that Paddock planned his attack meticulously.

He requested an upper-floor room overlooking the festival, stockpiled 23 guns, a dozen of them modified to fire continuously like an automatic weapon, and set up cameras inside and outside his room to watch for approaching officers.

In a possible sign he was contemplating massacres at other sites, he also booked rooms overlooking the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago in August and the Life Is Beautiful show near the Vegas Strip in late September, according to authorities reconstructing his movements leading up to the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

His arsenal also included tracer rounds that can improve a shooter’s firing accuracy in the dark, a law enforcement official told The Associated Press. It wasn’t clear whether Paddock fired any of the illuminated bullets during the high-rise massacre.

Paddock bought 1,000 rounds of the .308-caliber and .223-caliber tracer ammunition from a private buyer he met at a Phoenix gun show, a law enforcement official not authorized to comment on the investigation said on condition of anonymity.

Tracer rounds illuminate their path so a gunman can home in on targets at night. But they can also give away the shooter’s position.

Video shot of the pandemonium that erupted when Paddock started strafing the country music festival showed a muzzle flash from his 32nd-floor room at the Mandalay Bay resort, but bullets weren’t visible in the night sky.

A federal official said authorities are looking into the possibility Paddock planned additional attacks, including a car bombing. The official wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.

Paddock had 1,600 rounds of ammunition in his car, along with fertilizer that can be used to make explosives and 50 pounds of Tannerite, a substance used in explosive rifle targets.

His girlfriend, Marilou Danley, told FBI agents Wednesday that she had not noticed any changes in his mental state or indications he could become violent, the federal official said.Paddock sent Danley on a trip to her native Philippines before the attack, and she was unaware of his plans and devastated when she learned of the carnage while overseas, she said in a statement.

Source: http://time.com/4973302/las-vegas-police-stephen-paddock-motive/

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President Trump called the attack “an act of pure evil” and said the FBI and Department of Homeland Security are working with local authorities in the investigation. Mr. Trump spoke with Nevada’s governor and the mayor and sheriff of Las Vegas, White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said. He will hold a moment of silent for the victims Monday afternoon and will travel to Las Vegas on Wednesday.

Aaron Rouse, the FBI special agent in charge in Las Vegas, said investigators had found “no connection with an international terrorist group” during a press conference Monday morning.

Country music star Jason Aldean was performing Sunday night at the end of the three-day Route 91 Harvest Festival when the gunman opened fire across the street from inside the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino.

SWAT teams quickly descended on the concert and the casino, and officers used explosives to get into the hotel room where the suspect was inside, authorities said.

The shooter: Stephen Paddock

The gunman was found dead at the scene and was identified by Lombardo as Stephen Paddock, 64, from Mesquite, Nevada. Investigators are still trying to discern Paddock’s motive.

A SWAT team found Paddock dead with at least 10 rifles in his hotel room. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF) says it is conducting an “urgent trace” on the weapons to determine their origins. At a press conference Monday morning, Lombardo said Paddock brought the weapons into the hotel himself and used “a device similar to a hammer” to break the window.

The U.S. Homeland Security Department says there is no “specific credible threat” involving other public venues in the U.S. after the shooting.

The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed on Monday that Paddock was acting on behalf of the group, but offered no evidence. The terror group said in a statement released by its pseudo-news agency Amaq, citing anonymous sources, that Paddock converted to Islam several months ago and carried out the attack “in response to calls to target states of the coalition” battling ISIS.

U.S. officials dispute ISIS’ claim, telling CBS News there are no signs that Paddock had ties to radical Islamic groups or showed signs of being radicalized.

Lombardo said Paddock was not known to law enforcement in Las Vegas.

The shooting

Aldean, the performer, was in the middle of a song when the shots came rapidly: Pop-pop-pop-pop. Video of the shooting then showed Aldean stopping and the crowd getting quiet as if they were unsure of what had just happened. The gunman paused and then fired another volley of muzzle flashes from the gold glass casino as more victims fell to the ground while others fled in panic. Some said they hid behind concession stands and other crawled under parked cars.

Gail Davis, who was at the Las Vegas outdoor country music concert Sunday night, witnessed the terrifying scene.

“We went there to see Jason Aldean,” she said. “We were standing, like, maybe halfway up. He came on and about 20 to 10, he sang about five songs and all of a sudden we heard about three or four little pop, pop, pops, and everybody looked around and said, ‘Oh, it’s just firecrackers.’ And then we heard pop, pop, pop, and it just kept going and going, and my husband said, “That’s not firecrackers. That sounds like a semi-automatic rifle.’ And then everybody started screaming and started to run.

“I looked over to my right where this girl had been standing right beside me, and she had fallen — first, she stood there and she grabbed her stomach and she looked at her hands and her hands were all bloody, and she was wearing, like, a little crop top and, you know, blue jean shorts and cowboy boots, and she looked at her hands and her hands were bloody, and she just kind of screamed and she just fell back.”

Kodiak Yazzie, 36, said the music stopped temporarily when the first shots began and the tune even started up again before the second round of pops sent the performers ducking for cover and fleeing the stage.

“It was the craziest stuff I’ve ever seen in my entire life,” Yazzie said. “You could hear that the noise was coming from west of us, from Mandalay Bay. You could see a flash-flash-flash-flash.”

Thousands in the crowd fled as the bullets ran rampant. Monique Dumas from British Columbia, Canada, said she was at the concert, six rows from the stage when she thought she heard a bottle breaking, and then a burst of popping sounds that may have been fireworks. She said as she made her way out, it was “organized chaos” as everyone fled. “It took four to five minutes and all that time there was gunfire.”

In addition to Paddock, police said they located a woman connected to Paddock. Marilou Danley, 62, was overseas at the time of the shooting and has spoken to authorities. Police said Danley was not believed to have been involved.

“It’s a devastating time,” Lombardo said.

Police shut down the usually busy Las Vegas Boulevard and authorities across the state and federal ranks converged onto the scene as dozens of ambulances ferried those struck by gunfire. Nearby Interstate 15 and flights at McCarran International Airport were briefly closed. Hospital emergency rooms were jammed with victims delivered by ambulance. Others loaded the wounded into their cars and drove them to hospitals.

Jose Baggett, 31, of Las Vegas, said he and a friend were in the lobby of the Luxor hotel-casino — directly north of the festival — when people began to run, almost like in a stampede. He said people were crying and as he and his friend started walking away minutes later, they encountered police checkpoints where officers were carrying shotguns and assault rifles.

“There were armored personnel vehicles, SWAT vehicles, ambulances, and at least a half-mile of police cars,” Baggett said.

Among those killed were two off-duty police officers who were attending the concert. Two on-duty officers were wounded, including one who underwent surgery and was upgraded to stable condition early Monday, police said.

Hours after the shooting, Aldean posted on Instagram that he and his crew were safe and said the shooting was “beyond horrific.”

“It hurts my heart that this would happen to anyone who was just coming out to enjoy what should have been a fun night,” Aldean said.

The reaction

The shooting prompted reactions from politicians on both sides of the aisle in Washington and around the country.

Mr. Trump said the nation must stay unified. He said that although “feel such great anger at the senseless murder of our fellow citizens, it is our love that binds us today and always will.”

“In moments of tragedy and horror, America comes together as one. And it always has,” Mr Trump said Monday morning at the White House. “Our unity cannot be shattered by evil” and “our bonds cannot be broken by violence.”

Mr. Trump also issued a proclamation ordering flags be flown at half-staff until sunset Oct. 6.

The proclamation covers flags at the White House and all public buildings, military posts, naval stations and naval vessels throughout the U.S. and all territories. It also extends to embassies, military facilities and other sites overseas.

At the daily White House briefing on Monday afternoon, Sanders, the press secretary, said now is not the time to talk about gun control.

“There’s a time and place for a political debate, but now is the time to unite as a country,” Sanders said. She said Mr. Trump is a strong supporter of the Second Amendment.

House Majority Whip Steve Scalise says he agrees with Mr. Trump that the shooting  was “an act of pure evil.”

Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, returned to the Capitol last week after he was shot and critically wounded in June as he and fellow Republicans practiced for a congressional baseball game. Scalise said he prays for the victims of the shooting and that the whole nation grieves with their loved ones.

Scalise encouraged people across America to stand together in solidarity to support the Las Vegas community, “especially by giving blood and encouraging others to do the same. In the face of unspeakable evil, our whole nation must respond with countless acts of kindness, warmth and generosity.”

Democratic Sen. Chris Murphy of Connecticut said it’s time for Congress to do something about mass shootings. Murphy, a leading gun-control proponent, said mass shootings had become an “epidemic” in America.

He said “it is positively infuriating that my colleagues in Congress are so afraid of the gun industry that they pretend there aren’t public policy responses to this epidemic.”

Other Democrats condemned the shooting but did not specifically urge gun-control legislation. Action in the Republican-controlled Congress is unlikely.

House Speaker Paul Ryan ordered flags over the Capitol lowered to half-staff and said “the whole country stands united in our shock, in our condolences and in our prayers.”

This is a developing story and will be updated.

Source: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/las-vegas-shooting-last-night-stephen-paddock-live-updates/

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Mass shooting on the Las Vegas strip

Gunmen opened fire during open-air concert on the Las Vegas strip

A gunman turned a Las Vegas concert into a killing field Sunday night, murdering at least 50 people and injuring more than 200 others in the deadliest mass shooting in modern United States history.

The suspect, who was killed, was identified as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, a local resident. Authorities also said they were “confident” Paddock’s roommate, Marilou Danley, had been located. Officials previously described Danley as a person of interest.

Officials did not immediately reveal a motive.

Authorities said one on-duty officer was in critical condition and another was wounded in the shooting. Two off-duty police officers attending the concert were killed.

The gunman, who fired down on the concert from a room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, was killed by police.

Authorities first received calls about an active shooting at about 10:08 p.m.

Jason Aldean stage hand describes concert shooting

Country music star Jason Aldean was performing at the Route 91 Harvest Festival when the gunfire erupted.

Aldean was performing his last song of the night. Initially, those in attendance said they thought the sound was firecrackers. But as the shots continued, Aldean stopped singing and some concertgoers could be heard yelling to each other to get down.

One witness told KSVN that he heard “hundreds of shots.” The gunfire was rapid and reportedly confused with firecrackers.

“It sounded like a machine gun,” one vendor told Fox News. “It sounded like more than one machine gun.”

Authorities said law enforcement swarmed the hotel and killed the gunman in a room on the 32nd floor.

Las Vegas Police stand at the scene of a shooting along the Las Vegas Strip, Monday, Oct. 2, 2017, in Las Vegas.  (AP Photo/John Locher)

People assist a wounded woman at the Tropicana during an active shooter situation on the Las Vegas Stirp in Las Vegas Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017.  (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP)

Some concertgoers stayed behind to offer help to those around them.

“Everybody I saw breathing, I helped.” a concertgoer told Fox News.

Kodiak Yazzi, 36, said the music stopped temporarily and started up again before another round of pops sent the performers ducking for cover and fleeing the stage.

Police officers stand at the scene of a shooting near the Mandalay Bay resort and casino on the Las Vegas Strip, Monday, Oct. 2, 2017, in Las Vegas.  (AP Photo/John Locher)

As the 40,000 fans in the crowd began to flee, Yazzi took cover and said he saw flashes of light coming from the Mandalay Bay hotel tower high above.

“This was obviously well-planned, they waited for a major, open air event, and obtained a room facing it,” retired FBI special agent and former national FBI spokesman John Iannarelli, who drove past the scene of the event just moments before the shooting took place, told Fox News. “I can see the flashing blue police lights from my hotel window.”

Iannarelli added that the suspect “probably had inside help” from the girlfriend in the room, making her a “criminal accomplice.”

“They were well-trained,” Iannarelli said, noting the use of automatic weapons. “That’s not an easy task.”

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The “nonstop gunfire,” according to one witness, sent bystanders outside the resort on the Vegas strip ducking for cover and fleeing for their lives. Tourists hid in their hotel rooms and flights headed into the McCarran International Airport airport were held elsewhere.

Bystanders sprang into action, caring for the wounded and at least one described someone dying in their arms.

Videos filmed by onlookers gave a window into the chaos that ensued, with some thinking that fireworks were going off. The final night of the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival was taking place across the street from Mandalay Bay when the shooting took place and concertgoers were caught off-guard.

In the wake of the shooting, the Las Vegas Police Department said that “one suspect is down” and they did not believe there were any more shooters.

A spokesperson for the University Medical Center in Las Vegas earlier told ABC News that it received 26 patients; two victims died and 12 people were listed in critical condition.

“We were just at the concert there, and Jason Aldean was playing,” one of the concertgoers, named Mike Cronk, 48, a retired teacher, told ABC News. “Kinda sounded like some fireworks going off. I think there was the first kinda volley, and then all of the sudden second volley. My buddy’s like ‘I just got hit, ya know.’ He got hit three times. Then people started diving for the ground. And it just continued.”

“It was pretty much chaotic,” Cronk continued. “Lots of people got hit. …It took a while to get him out. We had to get him over the fence and hiding under the stage for a while, ya know, to be safe. And finally we had to move him because he had three chest wounds.”

Mike said his group were finally able to track down an ambulance “and basically the one guy ended up dying in my arms because he was bleeding,” he said. “And my buddy got in there. We got three more people in the ambulance. … But I just got a message from my buddy — and he’s going to be okay.”

As bursts of gunfire crackled in the air, people outside of the casino ducked and screamed, according to video filmed by witnesses.

“We’re going to get trampled if we don’t go,” a bystander could be heard saying in a dramatic video of the incident. Confusion appeared to abound as those outside fled the scene with another person saying, “it’s fireworks.”

Another witness, Jake Freeman, said he was standing on the rooftop of a nearby hotel when the shooting broke out.

“I had a bird’s-eye view” of the shooting, Freeman said in a phone interview with ABC News. He said he saw “crowds of people running” as people “dropped to the ground.”

“At the moment we didn’t realize that they were being shot,” he said.

In the wake of the shooting, Aldeen posted an image of Las Vegas on Instagram and wrote “Pray for Las Vegas.”

David Becker/Getty Images

ATF agents have responded to the scene and the FBI is assisting with the investigation.

Source:  http://abcnews.go.com/US/dead-20-wounded-shooting-mandalay-bay-casino-las/story?id=50223240

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