“Abu Abd Abdulbar al-Ameriki” killed 59 people and hurt 527
The Islamic State is not backing off from its claim of responsibility for the Las Vegas massacre. They don’t seem to be afraid that Stephen Paddock will turn out to be a white supremacist neo-Nazi or some such. They don’t seem to be worried about being exposed as grandiose liars. They’re doubling down.
Millionaire Vegas gunman who killed 59 people and hurt 527 took TWENTY THREE guns in TEN bags into Mandalay Bay sniper’s nest where he put legally converted full-auto assault rifles on tripods
The candlelight vigils have already started. Stay tuned for the rest of the usual routine.
- Stephen Paddock killed at least 59 people and injured 527 when he opened fire on concertgoers Sunday
- A SWAT Team blew open the door to Las Vegas suite he was using as a sniper nest, but he’d shot himself dead
- Cops recovered 23 guns, some with scopes and military-grade ammo, two with tripods, at least one full auto
- Other semi-auto weapons had been modified with legal bump-stocks that simulate fully automatic fire
- He’d smashed two windows of his corner suite to create a kill box at the Route 91 Harvest music festival below
- He also had 19 other guns, as well as explosives and as-yet-undetermined electronic devices, at his home
- Paddock, 64, made a fortune in real estate but also gambled heavily on poker and slot machines, brother said
- He lived in a $400,000 retirement home with girlfriend Marilou Danley, 62, who is currently in Tokyo, Japan
- Paddock had no criminal record, no army training and no religious or political affiliations, his brother said
- Police are still trying to figure out his motive – other than his gambling, his life appeared largely unremarkable
- Paddock’s father was a ‘psychopathic’ serial bank robber who spent eight years on the FBI Most Wanted list
- People trying to locate missing family members in Las Vegas should call 1-800-536-9488
- WARNING: GRAPHIC CONTENT
The man who shot dead 59 people and injured 527 others in Las Vegas on Sunday night was a multimillionaire who took a huge arsenal of 23 guns into his Mandalay Bay hotel room, which he transformed into an elaborate sniper’s nest before opening fire on a country music festival.
Stephen Paddock, 64, had made millions from real estate deals, according to his brother; he also owned two planes and several properties across the US, and seemed normal apart from his passion for gambling large sums.
But he’d also secretly amassed a massive arsenal of 42 firearms. At least one of those was automatic, while another two had been modified with legal bump-stock devices that allows semi-automatic guns to give full-auto fire of up to 800 rounds a minute. Several had scopes, and packed military-grade ammunition.
He took 23 of those guns into his Mandalay Bay suite over several days and set up two rifles on tripods at windows overlooking the Route 91 Harvest country music festival.
Thousands of rounds of ammunition were also found in the suite, enabling him to fire repeatedly over the course of 72 minutes. His car had several pounds of a fertilizer used in bomb-making.
Paddock had lived in 27 residences in Nevada, Florida and Texas as an adult, but other than that he had apparently lived a quiet and unremarkable life – and the reason for the most deadly assault in American history remains a mystery.
Scroll down for video
Stephen Paddock, 64, turned his luxury Las Vegas hotel suite into a sniper’s nest on Sunday by smashing open two windows on the hotel’s corner and setting up two guns on tripods before opening fire on the Route 91 Harvest music festival below
Four DDM4 rifles – made by Daniel Defense – were among the 23 weapons found in Paddock’s hotel room by the SWAT team after they busted in. They sell for around $1,700
Also in his terrifying arsenal were three of these FN-15 rifles, as well as guns made by Sig Sauer. Some of the semi-automatic guns had been fitted with bump-stocks that allow for, essentially, fully automatic fire. They’re priced around $1,300
An AK-47 was also found in the room with the other weapons. AKs can come with fully automatic fire functions, but it’s not known if that was the case here. AKs vary in price depending on the manufacturer, but cost around $1,000
A Colt AR-15 was also found in the room. Such weapons are semi-automatic when bought legally and cost around $1,000. At least one full-auto weapon was found, but it’s not known if it was modified or had that function when manufactured
A woman cries while hiding inside the Sands Corporation plane hangar after the mass shooting on Sunday
Stephen Craig Paddock pictured (in the middle of the back row) as a junior in 1970. He went to John H. Francis Polytechnic High School in Sun Valley, California. He is shown posing for the tennis team. Forty-seven years later, he committed a massacre in Las Vegas
Las Vegas concert attack is America’s deadliest mass s…
‘Breach, breach, breach’: Moment SWAT storm shoot…
Automatic gun fire and sirens audible from Las Vegas hot…
Vegas concert-goers take cover from rapid gunfire insi…
Panicked crowd run for their lives from gunfire at Vegas …
People scramble for cover for as gun shots ring out in Las …
The retired accountant had worked as an internal auditor at Lockheed Martin for three years in the late 1980s, and was a manager and investor in apartment complexes located in Mesquite, Texas and California, which made him millions, his brother said, according to the Las Vegas Sun.
Local police said they had no run-ins with the man, not even traffic violations, and his brother described him as ‘just a guy who lived in Mesquite who drove down and gambled in Las Vegas and… liked burritos’.
So the discovery that he had used 10 suitcases to methodically move an arsenal up into his Mandalay Bay room over the preceding weekend came as a shock to those who knew him.
Eric Paddock said he thought his brother was far from a gun fanatic.
‘He had a couple of guns but they were all handgun, legal… he might have had one long gun, but he had them in a safe,’ he said.
He said he didn’t know about the 23 guns that were found in the hotel room.
Why Paddock (pictured with girlfriend Marilou Danley, 62) shot up the crowd is unknown. He had no religious or political affiliations, no military background, and was known to have just a couple of handguns, his brother said
A law enforcement source told the Wall Street Journal that they found at least one fully automatic rifle among the batch, which included AR-15-style rifles and AK-47-style rifles.
And it later emerged that two other semi-auto guns had been legally modified with bump-stocks that allow them to function like fully automatic rifles, pumping out 400-800 bullets a minute.
Bump-stocks replace the gun’s shoulder rest with a ‘support step’ that covers the trigger opening. By holding the pistol grip with one hand and pushing forward on the barrel with the other, the shooter’s finger comes in contact with the trigger.
The recoil then causes the gun to buck back and forth, ‘bumping’ the trigger and firing off multiple shots. But because the finger is technically pulling the trigger each time, it still counts as a semi-auto weapon.
Still others could have been properly converted into fully automatic fire, the LA Times reported.
Among the weapons found in the room were four Daniel Defense DDM4 rifles, three FN-15s and other rifles made by Sig Sauer. A handgun was also found.
Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said on Monday it wasn’t clear whether the full-auto gun was modified, or if it was originally made that way.
He also said that the ammunition ranged in size from .308, usually used in hunting rifles, to .223, associated with AR-15s and other assault rifles – the latter being military-grade, the New York Daily News reported.
Eric said the revelation of his brother’s deadly plan, which saw thousands of rounds falling on a crowd of 22,000 people at a music festival below, was as unexpected as seeing a meteor suddenly landing on his street.
The shocks only grew in number Monday as police raided two of Paddock’s properties.
The first was his Mesquite home in a sleepy retirement community, which he purchased for just over $369,000 in 2015 according to public records.
What they found was a second arsenal, even bigger than the one in the Mandalay Bay room.
Some 19 additional firearms were in the house, along with the explosive Tannerite – which is used to make explosive targets for target practice – and several thousand rounds of ammunition, Lombardo said Monday.
He added that electronic devices were also found, but that they are still being examined to determine their purpose.
Photos of the property showed the garage door torn off its hinge and crumpled after the search.
Above, the view from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel, in an updated photo. The concert was taking place diagonally across the street, where the stage is seen, with its green roof.
Investigators load bodies from the scene of the mass shooting on Monday; the mass shooting that occurred on Sunday is the deadliest in American history
Home: Paddock, 64, lived just 90 minutes outside Las Vegas in the city of Mesquite (above circled in red), where he bough a home in a retirement community back in 2015. The home was raided on Monday by police
He lived at the $400,000 property (pictured with crumpled garage door after police raid) with Danley. The home is in a quiet retirement community in which residents must be over 55. Cops found 19 guns there, plus explosives
Bomb experts were included in the SWAT deployment due to the fear that Paddock may have left booby traps at the home. Explosives had been found in his Mesquite house, and fertilizer used in bomb-making found in his car in Las Vegas
Police block the roads leading to the Mandalay Hotel (which is in the background) and inspect the site after the deadly attack in Las Vegas
A general view of the scene after the slaughter in Vegas. The Route 91 Harvest stage can be clearly seen to the right
Police block the roads leading to the Mandalay Hotel, where mass murderer Stephen Paddock fired on thousands of people
Hundreds of people gather for a vigil on the Las Vegas strip for the victims of the Route 91 Harvest country music festival massacre
Student mourners console each other during a candlelight vigil at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) for victims of a mass shooting
The door to the Reno home was broken open to aid entry, but police sent in this robot first, to ensure that any explosive devices inside would not threaten police. Electronic devices were found in the other home; they are being analyzed
Police also found the fertilizer ammonium nitrate – which can be used to make bombs – in Paddock’s car in Las Vegas on Monday.
A SWAT team also raided a second property owned by Paddock in Reno on Monday. Bomb experts were on hand, due to concerns over booby traps.
Police have not yet revealed what, if anything, they found there. Speaking on Monday evening, police said that the scene was still being examined by detectives.
Although ISIS have repeatedly attempted to claim credit for the shooting, saying Paddock had recently converted to Islam, both his brother and authorities have dismissed the claims.
He had ‘no religious affiliation, no political affiliation,’ Eric said, adding: ‘He just hung out.’
He also had no Army training, nor expressed any particular interest in guns, Eric added – though he admitted that, as he lives in Florida, he had not spoken much with his brother over the last year.
‘His life is an open book. It’s all in public record,’ he said. ‘Once again, there is nothing. He went to college. He had a job.’
Paddock had both hunting and fishing licenses according to public records, as well as his pilot’s license, but no criminal record in the state of Nevada.
Only his gambling habit stood out as unusual; Stephen would play $100 hands of video poker, and ‘once texted me a picture that he won $40,000 on a slot machine,’ Eric said.
Neighbors at one of his properties in Florida said that they had barely talked to him – that he gave them keys to check on the property, and would only turn up every three months or so.
When he did, they said, he would rarely be seen because he stayed up late at night playing poker online.
Law enforcement officials said that in recent weeks he had made a number of transactions in Las Vegas that were in the tens of thousands of dollars.
On some days he spent more than $30,000, and on others more than $20,000, according to an individual who had seen Paddock’s Multiple Currency Transaction Reports.
It’s not known whether he made money back on any recent bets, or lost it.
Fifty-nine people are dead and 527 have been left injured after the Sunday shooting at the Las Vegas music festival
On some days Paddock spent more than $30,000, and on others more than $20,000, according to an individual who had seen Paddock’s Multiple Currency Transaction Reports. Pictured: The scene of the nightmare in Vegas
A man lies on top of a woman as others flee the music festival grounds. She appears to be alive and moving
Images of the Mandalay Bay Resort show two windows blown out on the 32nd floor of the building (above) that Paddock smashed out so he could shoot crowds from two locations
This is one of the Mandalay Bay Resort corner rooms (above), which is similar to the one from which the gunman launched his attack
Paddock checked into the hotel on Thursday, September 28, using his girlfriend’s ID according to sources. He then smuggled 23 guns up into the room in 10 suitcases over the next few days
Donald Trump is seen here holding a moment of silence for the slain people on the South Lawn of the White House. He denounced the violence as ‘evil’ and offered his ‘warmest condolences’ to the families of the victims
The usually colorful lights on New York’s Empire State Building (left) were turned off on Monday night in recognition of the atrocity. In Paris, France, lights were switched off on the Eiffel Tower (right) in respect for the victims
Jonathan Neighbors, 15, of Botetourt County, Virginia, adds light to one of the 59 luminaries on the front steps of Greene Memorial United Methodist Church in Las Vegas on Monday, in recognition of those slain
Paddock lived in Mesquite with his 62-year-old girlfriend Marilou Danley. She was initially named a person of interest in the shooting, because she appeared to have checked into the hotel with him.
Danley is currently in Tokyo. Police do not suspect her to be an accomplice, but will interview her on her return to the US
But when police called her, they found out she has been out of the country and that Paddock had used her ID to check into the hotel.
They no longer believe she had anything to do with the massacre, but plan to interview her when she returns to the US.
A friend told the Reno Gazette-Journal that Danley is in the Phillipines, but Lombardo said Monday afternoon she is believed to be in Tokyo, Japan.
In his private life, Paddock enjoyed country shows on the Las Vegas Strip – such as the one he eventually attacked.
Paddock’s time in Las Vegas wasn’t totally without event, however; in 2012 he filed a lawsuit against Cosmopolitan Hotels & Resorts following an incident that occurred at their Las Vegas casino.
Paddock spent two years in court fighting his case after submitting his initial complaint citing ‘Negligence – Premises Liability.’
It was ultimately dismissed with prejudice in late 2014, and exact details of the case were not available on the Clark County Courts website.
Paddock was also the son of Benjamin Hoskins Paddock, a serial bank robber who ended up on the FBI Most Wanted list back in 1969 when he escaped from federal prison in Texas while serving a 20 years sentence.
The FBI kept him on the list for the next eight years, and he was eventually found one year after he was removed from the list in 1978 while outside an Oregon Bingo hall.
The agency said that the fugitive had been ‘diagnosed as psychopathic’ and also had possible ‘suicidal tendencies.’
Las Vegas concert attack is America’s deadliest mass s…
‘Breach, breach, breach’: Moment SWAT storm shoot…
Automatic gun fire and sirens audible from Las Vegas hot…
Vegas concert-goers take cover from rapid gunfire insi…
Panicked crowd run for their lives from gunfire at Vegas …
People scramble for cover for as gun shots ring out in Las …
The retired accountant had worked as an internal auditor at Lockheed Martin for three years in the late 1980s, and was a manager and investor in apartment complexes located in Mesquite, Texas and California, which made him millions, his brother said, according to the Las Vegas Sun.
Local police said they had no run-ins with the man, not even traffic violations, and his brother described him as ‘just a guy who lived in Mesquite who drove down and gambled in Las Vegas and… liked burritos’.
So the discovery that he had used 10 suitcases to methodically move an arsenal up into his Mandalay Bay room over the preceding weekend came as a shock to those who knew him.
Eric Paddock said he thought his brother was far from a gun fanatic.
‘He had a couple of guns but they were all handgun, legal… he might have had one long gun, but he had them in a safe,’ he said.
He said he didn’t know about the 23 guns that were found in the hotel room.
Why Paddock (pictured with girlfriend Marilou Danley, 62) shot up the crowd is unknown. He had no religious or political affiliations, no military background, and was known to have just a couple of handguns, his brother said
A law enforcement source told the Wall Street Journal that they found at least one fully automatic rifle among the batch, which included AR-15-style rifles and AK-47-style rifles.
And it later emerged that two other semi-auto guns had been legally modified with bump-stocks that allow them to function like fully automatic rifles, pumping out 400-800 bullets a minute.
Bump-stocks replace the gun’s shoulder rest with a ‘support step’ that covers the trigger opening. By holding the pistol grip with one hand and pushing forward on the barrel with the other, the shooter’s finger comes in contact with the trigger.
The recoil then causes the gun to buck back and forth, ‘bumping’ the trigger and firing off multiple shots. But because the finger is technically pulling the trigger each time, it still counts as a semi-auto weapon.
Still others could have been properly converted into fully automatic fire, the LA Times reported.
Among the weapons found in the room were four Daniel Defense DDM4 rifles, three FN-15s and other rifles made by Sig Sauer. A handgun was also found.
Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said on Monday it wasn’t clear whether the full-auto gun was modified, or if it was originally made that way.
He also said that the ammunition ranged in size from .308, usually used in hunting rifles, to .223, associated with AR-15s and other assault rifles – the latter being military-grade, the New York Daily News reported.
Eric said the revelation of his brother’s deadly plan, which saw thousands of rounds falling on a crowd of 22,000 people at a music festival below, was as unexpected as seeing a meteor suddenly landing on his street.
The shocks only grew in number Monday as police raided two of Paddock’s properties.
The first was his Mesquite home in a sleepy retirement community, which he purchased for just over $369,000 in 2015 according to public records.
What they found was a second arsenal, even bigger than the one in the Mandalay Bay room.
Some 19 additional firearms were in the house, along with the explosive Tannerite – which is used to make explosive targets for target practice – and several thousand rounds of ammunition, Lombardo said Monday.
He added that electronic devices were also found, but that they are still being examined to determine their purpose.
Photos of the property showed the garage door torn off its hinge and crumpled after the search.
Above, the view from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel, in an updated photo. The concert was taking place diagonally across the street, where the stage is seen, with its green roof.
Investigators load bodies from the scene of the mass shooting on Monday; the mass shooting that occurred on Sunday is the deadliest in American history
Home: Paddock, 64, lived just 90 minutes outside Las Vegas in the city of Mesquite (above circled in red), where he bough a home in a retirement community back in 2015. The home was raided on Monday by police
He lived at the $400,000 property (pictured with crumpled garage door after police raid) with Danley. The home is in a quiet retirement community in which residents must be over 55. Cops found 19 guns there, plus explosives
Later on Monday, the FBI, SWAT and ATF raided another home owned by Paddock, based in Reno. Police have not yet revealed what – if anything – was found at the location
Bomb experts were included in the SWAT deployment due to the fear that Paddock may have left booby traps at the home. Explosives had been found in his Mesquite house, and fertilizer used in bomb-making found in his car in Las Vegas
Police block the roads leading to the Mandalay Hotel (which is in the background) and inspect the site after the deadly attack in Las Vegas
A general view of the scene after the slaughter in Vegas. The Route 91 Harvest stage can be clearly seen to the right
Police block the roads leading to the Mandalay Hotel, where mass murderer Stephen Paddock fired on thousands of people
Hundreds of people gather for a vigil on the Las Vegas strip for the victims of the Route 91 Harvest country music festival massacre
Student mourners console each other during a candlelight vigil at the University of Nevada Las Vegas (UNLV) for victims of a mass shooting
The door to the Reno home was broken open to aid entry, but police sent in this robot first, to ensure that any explosive devices inside would not threaten police. Electronic devices were found in the other home; they are being analyzed
Police also found the fertilizer ammonium nitrate – which can be used to make bombs – in Paddock’s car in Las Vegas on Monday.
A SWAT team also raided a second property owned by Paddock in Reno on Monday. Bomb experts were on hand, due to concerns over booby traps.
Police have not yet revealed what, if anything, they found there. Speaking on Monday evening, police said that the scene was still being examined by detectives.
Although ISIS have repeatedly attempted to claim credit for the shooting, saying Paddock had recently converted to Islam, both his brother and authorities have dismissed the claims.
He had ‘no religious affiliation, no political affiliation,’ Eric said, adding: ‘He just hung out.’
He also had no Army training, nor expressed any particular interest in guns, Eric added – though he admitted that, as he lives in Florida, he had not spoken much with his brother over the last year.
‘His life is an open book. It’s all in public record,’ he said. ‘Once again, there is nothing. He went to college. He had a job.’
Paddock had both hunting and fishing licenses according to public records, as well as his pilot’s license, but no criminal record in the state of Nevada.
Only his gambling habit stood out as unusual; Stephen would play $100 hands of video poker, and ‘once texted me a picture that he won $40,000 on a slot machine,’ Eric said.
Neighbors at one of his properties in Florida said that they had barely talked to him – that he gave them keys to check on the property, and would only turn up every three months or so.
When he did, they said, he would rarely be seen because he stayed up late at night playing poker online.
Law enforcement officials said that in recent weeks he had made a number of transactions in Las Vegas that were in the tens of thousands of dollars.
On some days he spent more than $30,000, and on others more than $20,000, according to an individual who had seen Paddock’s Multiple Currency Transaction Reports.
It’s not known whether he made money back on any recent bets, or lost it.
The bomb-making materials he kept in different locations in different towns indicates he didn’t suddenly “snap” or have it in for a casino or two. He probably was a new ISIS recruit.
either that, or he really hated country music.