Page 23 - October Newsletter

surveillance footage and other electronic equipment to determine how and why Paddock perpetrated an unprec- edented massacre.
Among the questions they have: How did a former ac- countant with a penchant for high-stakes gambling ob- tain a weapon that sounded to those on the ground like it could fire as an automatic? And how he was able to bring it and many other weapons into a Las Vegas hotel suite un- detected?
Lombardo said hotel staff had been in and out of the two-room suite, which Paddock had stayed in since Sept. 28, and spotted nothing “nefarious,” though he had more than 10 suitcases. “It wasn’t evident that he had weapons in his room” before the shooting, Lombardo said.
Investigators believe at least one of the guns functioned as if it were fully automatic, and they are now trying to de- termine if he modified it or other weapons to be capable of spitting out a high volume of fire just by holding down the trigger, people familiar with the case said.
More than 22,000 people had been at the Route 91 Harvest festival, a three-day country music concert with grounds across the street from the Mandalay Bay Resort, when the shooting began around 10 p.m. Sunday, accord- ing to police. As country star Jason Aldean played what was expected to be one of the last sets of the night, Pad- dock opened fire, his bullets flying from a window on the casino’s golden facade, which Paddock had smashed with some type of hammer. Aldean fled the stage. Thousands began racing for safety under the neon glow and glitz of the Las Vegas Strip.
Some of the wounded were injured by shrapnel, tram- pling and jumping fences.
President Trump appropriately ordered flags flown at half-staff. He praised the “miraculous” speed with which local law enforcement responded to the shooting, assert- ing that their actions saved lives, though he noted that hundreds were mourning the loss of loved ones. Answers for them, he said, would “not come easy.”
“It was an act of pure evil,” Trump said during remarks at the White House.
Eric Paddock, the shooter’s brother, said that Stephen Paddock had no history of mental illness, nor did he have problems with drugs or alcohol. He noted that his broth- er was a high-stakes gambler, sometimes wagering hun- dreds of dollars on a single hand of video poker.
Eric Paddock said his brother was “wealthy,” in part be- cause he had no children to support.
Police said they believe Paddock was a “lone wolf” at- tacker. When they spoke with his girlfriend, Marilou Dan- ley, who lived with him, she told them she knew nothing of the vicious attack. Prior to the attack, Paddock had bought her a plane ticket to the Philippines and told her to go visit family. He also wired her money and said to buy her family a house. She thought he was breaking up with her. But of course, we now know the horrid truth.
There are no words for the victims and families of the deceased except that you are in our thoughts and prayers at this devastating time in our country. I wish we had an answer. d
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