The shooter: Stephen Paddock
The gunman was found dead at the scene and was identified by Lombardo as Steven Paddock, 64, from Mesquite, Nevada. Investigators are still trying to discern Paddock’s motive.
Authorities recovered 16 rifles and one handgun in Paddock’s hotel suite. They found 18 additional firearms, some explosives and several thousand rounds of ammunition in his home, Lombardo said. Officials also discovered ammonia nitrate in his vehicle.
Lombardo said investigators believe some of Paddock’s rifles were modified to full automatic, but the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives hadn’t evaluated them yet.
Paddock brought the weapons into the hotel himself and used “a device similar to a hammer” to break the window, Lombardo said.
Officials said Paddock shot and killed himself before a SWAT team breached the door.
The U.S. Homeland Security Department says there is no “specific credible threat” involving other public venues in the U.S. after the shooting.
The Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) claimed on Monday that Paddock was acting on behalf of the group but offered no evidence. The terror group said in a statement released by its pseudo-news agency Amaq, citing anonymous sources, that Paddock converted to Islam several months ago and carried out the attack “in response to calls to target states of the coalition” battling ISIS. U.S. officials dispute ISIS’ claim, telling CBS News there are no signs that Paddock had ties to radical Islamic groups or showed signs of being radicalized.
Lombardo said Paddock was not known to law enforcement in Las Vegas.
His brother, Eric Paddock, told reporters Monday that the gunman was a multimillionaire who made much of his money investing in real estate.
He said his brother was an accountant for many years and he wasn’t aware of him having financial difficulties.
The shooting
Aldean, the performer, was in the middle of a song when the shots came rapidly: Pop-pop-pop-pop. Video of the shooting then showed Aldean stopping and the crowd getting quiet as if they were unsure of what had just happened. The gunman paused and then fired another volley of muzzle flashes from the gold glass casino as more victims fell to the ground while others fled in panic. Some said they hid behind concession stands and other crawled under parked cars. Gail Davis, who was at the Las Vegas outdoor country music concert Sunday night, witnessed terrifying scene.
“We went there to see Jason Aldean ” she said. “We were standing, like, maybe halfway up. He came on and about 20 to 10, he sang about five songs and all of a sudden we heard about three or four little pop, pop, pops, and everybody looked around and said, ‘Oh, it’s just firecrackers.’ And then we heard pop, pop, pop, and it just kept going and going, and my husband said, “That’s not firecrackers. That sounds like a semi-automatic rifle.’ And then everybody started screaming and started to run.
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