UK Edition
Las Vegas gunman sprayed 200 shots at hotel security guard six minutes before opening fire on crowd
A hotel security guard was shot by the Las Vegas gunman six minutes before he opened fire on concert-goers, authorities said on Monday, revising the timeline of the attack.
Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo had previously said the guard was shot after Stephen Paddock fired at the country music festival and that the his arrival in the hallway of the Mandalay Bay Hotel may have caused the attacker to stop firing.
It was not immediately clear why the timeline of the shooting changed a week later and what the impact could be on the investigation.
On Monday, Mr Lombardo said security guard Jesus Campos was in a hallway of the Mandalay Bay Hotel responding to a report of an open door when he heard drilling from Paddock’s room.
Paddock, who had installed three cameras to monitor the approach to his suite, opened fire through the door, spraying 200 shots down the hall and wounding Mr Campos, who alerted other security officials, Mr Lombardo said.
Six minutes later, Paddock began a 10-minute killing spree in which 59 people lost their lives - the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.
Paddock had power tools and was attempting to drill a hole in an adjacent wall, perhaps to mount another camera or to point a rifle through, but he never completed the work, Mr Lombardo said.
He also drilled holes and bolted a metal bar to try to prevent the opening of an emergency exit stairwell door near the door of his room.
Mr Lombardo again expressed frustration with the pace of the inquiry, but not with the investigators who have yet to pinpoint Paddock's motive for firing into a Las Vegas Strip concert crowd of 22,000.
"It’s because this individual purposely hid his actions leading up to this event, and it is difficult for us to find the answers to those actions," Mr Lombardo said. "We believe he decided to take the lives he did and he had a very purposeful plan that he carried out."
There is still no evidence Paddock was motivated by ideology, or that there was another shooter. Investigators have found 200 incidents of Paddock moving through the city, and at no time was he with anyone else.
Mr Lombardo said police and FBI agents, including behavioural profilers, still have not found a particular event in Paddock’s life that might have triggered the shooting.
The sheriff added that a complete evaluation of Paddock’s mental condition was not yet done. Authorities did not find a note in his room, only a paper with numbers, he said.
Investigators believe the numbers represented calculations for more precise shots, according to a law enforcement official.
The sheriff also confirmed investigators were talking with Paddock’s brother Eric Paddock, who travelled to Las Vegas, and were continuing to speak with his girlfriend, Marilou Danley.
Mr Lombardo declined to reveal what they have said, but he stated: "Every piece of information we get is one more piece of the puzzle."
Eric Paddock said he went to Las Vegas to retrieve his brother’s body in hopes of sending the cremated ashes to their 89-year-old mother in Orlando.
Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg said on Monday he could not discuss the results of an autopsy done on Paddock, who police said shot himself dead before officers arrived.
Eric Paddock told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he planned to put his brother’s assets in a trust that would benefit the shooting victims.