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U.S. NEWS A5
Saturday 20 January 2018
Vegas gunman studied SWAT tactics, music site before attack
By KEN RITTER pain and fatigued, authori- Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo discusses the Route 91 Harvest Festival mass shooting during a
MIKE BALSAMO ties said. His doctor thought
Associated Press he may have had bipolar news conference at the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department headquarters, Friday, Jan. 19,
LAS VEGAS (AP) — The Las disorder but told police
Vegas gunman meticulous- that Paddock refused to 2018, in Las Vegas. Lombardo released a preliminary report on the investigation of the shooting
ly planned the worst mass discuss the possibility, the
shooting in modern U.S. report said. The doctor of- that became the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
history, researching SWAT fered him antidepressants,
tactics, renting other hotel but Paddock accepted (AP Photo/John Locher)
rooms overlooking outdoor only a prescription for anxi-
concerts and investigat- ety medication. He was stakes gambler and real of other potential public phones were found inside
ing potential targets in at fearful of medication and
least four cities, authorities often refused to take it, the estate investor. He had lost targets, including in Chica- his hotel suite. On one of
said Friday. But almost four doctor told investigators.
months after Stephen Pad- During an interview with a “significant amount of go, Boston and Santa Mon- the computers, investiga-
dock killed 58 people and authorities, Paddock’s girl-
wounded more than 800 friend said he had become wealth” since September ica, California, the sheriff tors found hundreds of pho-
others with a barrage of “distant” in the year before
bullets from the Mandalay the shooting and their rela- 2015, which led to “bouts said. tos of child pornography.
Bay casino-hotel, investiga- tionship was no longer inti-
tors still have not answered mate. of depression,” the sheriff His research also sought the The same computer was
the key question: Why did When they stayed at the
he do it? Mandalay Bay together has said. But Paddock had number of attendees at used to search for the
Clark County Sheriff Joe in September 2017, Pad-
Lombardo released a pre- dock acted strangely, she paid off his gambling debts other concerts in Las Vegas height of the Mandalay
liminary report on the Oct. 1 told investigators. She re-
attack and said he did not membered him constantly before the shooting, ac- and the size of the crowds Bay, how to remove hard
expect criminal charges to looking out the windows
be filed against Paddock’s overlooking an area where cording to the report. at Santa Monica’s beach. drives from laptops, the
girlfriend, Marilou Danley, the concert would be held
who had been called the the next month. He moved Prior to the attack, Pad- Among his searches was location of gun shows in
only person of interest in the from window to window to
case. Investigators believe see the site from different dock’s online searches in- “do police use explosives,” Nevada and information
Paddock acted alone, and angles, the report said.
he did not leave a suicide She described him as “ger- cluded research into SWAT the report said. about several other Las Ve-
note or manifesto. maphobic” and said he
Paddock, who killed him- had strong reactions to tactics and consideration Four laptops and three cell- gas casinos.q
self before police reached smells.
him, told friends and rela- The 64-year-old retired
tives that he always felt ill, in accountant was a high-
Prosecutors to seek death penalty in Chinese scholar case
By MICHAEL TARM Court in central Illinois pro- sault. Christensen also once hasn’t been found. penalty in 2011, years after
AP Legal Affairs Writer vides several reasons for expressed his aspiration “to Christensen, who earned then-Gov. George Ryan
CHICAGO (AP) — U.S. pros- why the death penalty is be known as a killer,” the fil- a master’s degree in phys- declared a moratorium on
ecutors will seek the death called for in Brendt Chris- ing says. ics from the University of Illi- executions, citing doubts
penalty for a former physics tensen’s case, including Zhang disappeared June nois, has pleaded not guilty about the guilt of several of
student charged with the because he allegedly tor- 9 on her way to sign an to kidnapping resulting in those on death row. While
kidnapping and killing of tured 26-year-old Yingying apartment lease off cam- death. capital punishment is avail-
a University of Illinois schol- Zhang before killing her. It pus in Urbana, some 140 His trial is scheduled to be- able under federal law,
ar from China, they told a didn’t say how. miles (225 kilometers) south- gin on Feb. 27, though his prosecutors typically seek it
judge in a Friday filing that The new allegation is that west of Chicago. She had attorneys have said pre- in cases involving terrorism
also made a new allega- Christensen “choked and arrived on campus in April viously they would need or multiple deaths.
tion that the 28-year-old sexually assaulted” some- and had just missed a bus more time to prepare, es- A message seeking com-
suspect once choked and one referred to only by the when Christensen lured pecially if the government ment from Christensen’s
sexually assaulted some- initials “M.D.” in 2013 in cen- her into his car, prosecu- intended to seek the death attorney, Robert Tucker,
one else years ago. tral Illinois. He has not been tors say. They say Zhang penalty. wasn’t immediately re-
The filing in U.S. District charged in that alleged as- is dead, though her body Illinois abolished the death turned. q
