- Police said the gunman fired on the crowd of about 22,000 people from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, several hundred feet southwest of the concert grounds.
- Country music singer Jason Aldean was performing when the gunshots began, according to witnesses’ cell phone video.
- “The gunshots lasted for 10 to 15 minutes.
- Police say Paddock fired for nine to 11 minutes after the first 911 call came in.
- Paddock set up cameras inside his hotel suite and in the hallway. Police are not aware whether the devices were transmitting.
- Authorities identified the shooter as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock of Mesquite, Nevada, a retired and twice-divorced accountant with no known children.
- Paddock was alive when officers first made contact with him outside suite 32135. After taking gunfire from him, police backed off and waited for SWAT teams to respond. A security guard was shot in the leg.
- Officers “breached the hotel room” where Paddock was and found him dead, police said. Authorities believe he killed himself.
- Police said they believe Paddock acted alone.
- Police say they have not determined Paddock’s motives. As such, they are not calling the shooting terrorism — an attack on civilians to intimidate or coerce society for political purposes. “We have to establish what his motivation was first,” said Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo, when asked why the shooting has not been labeled domestic terrorism.
- The FBI says it has determined no connection with an international terrorist group.
- “We had no knowledge of this individual,” Lombardo said of Paddock. “I don’t know how it could have been prevented.”
- Twenty-three weapons were found in the hotel room, including multiple rifles, and some had scopes on them, authorities said.
- Lombardo says several pounds of ammonium nitrate, a material used to make explosives, were found in Paddock’s car.
- Authorities searched Paddock’s home in Mesquite and found at least 19 more firearms, as well as explosives, several thousand rounds of ammunition, and some electronic devices.
- The shooter had bought multiple firearms, several in California, a law enforcement official told CNN.
- So far, investigators believe the firearms were purchased legally. The suspicion, based on initial reports, is that at least one of the rifles used was altered in order to function as an automatic weapon, said the official.
- The shooter had been at the Mandalay Bay hotel since September 28, authorities said. Hotel employees had been in his room prior to the shooting and did not notice anything amiss, according to Lombardo.
- Paddock wired $100,000 to the Philippines to his companion/girlfriend who later said it was to buy a house.
- At least 58 dead, 500 more taken to hospitals–some will never walk again. It will take years for some to heal and some will never heal.
- Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock bought more than 30 weapons and had 23 firearms in his hotel room as he carried out the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
- The deadly cache included converted, fully automatic AR-15 style assault rifles with high capacity magazines, according to a law enforcement source. The weaponry suggests Paddock passed numerous FBI background checks.
- Police said late Monday they recovered 23 firearms from Paddock’s hotel room. Weapons found were both .308 and .223 caliber.
So, no clear motive. No clear “reason”. No reason why a 64 year-old-man would mow down innocent people while gathered for a concert. As with other terrible tragedies, this incident has raised the issue of gun control. A lot of people believe that if he had not been able to legally purchase the weapons and add on’s, he wouldn’t have been able to carry out the worst mass shooting in American history. Others believe that because of our 2nd Amendment, we all have the right to purchase firearms and enforcing gun control will put guns in the hands of criminals and take away protection from law-abiding citizens.
So, where do YOU stand?
Are you for gun freedom or are you for gun control?
I am writing this blog post to create discussion. It is not an attempt to create anger, hate, people bashing or name calling. Please feel free to comment at length on where you stand. But, please do NOT be disrespectful of others. Do NOT name call, do NOT use the F-word and do not take God’s name in vain. If you do any of these, your comments will be deleted.
If you are for gun freedom, please type “for gun freedom“.
If you are for gun control, please type “for gun control“.
I look forward to seeing your comments.
Charity