Vegas Police Gives Update on Shooter’s Timeline, Says There’s No Conspiracy

During a press conference Friday, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo stood by the time 9:59 p.m., which has become a central starting point for the timeline in the October 1 mass shooting in Las Vegas. However, he said the event linked to that time previously is inaccurate. Lombardo also dismissed accusations of a conspiracy between the FBI, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police and MGM Resorts, the owner of the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino.

“9:59 is important. It wasn’t inaccurate when I provided it to you,” Lombardo said. “The circumstances associated with it is inaccurate.” He said he agrees with the statement released by MGM on Thursday.

Lombardo said investigators now believe that 9:59 p.m. is the time Mandalay Bay security guard Jesus Campos first “encountered” the barricaded door next to shooter Stephen Paddock’s room on the 32nd floor. To gain access to the 32nd floor, Campos had to go to another floor to get back there and address an opened door. At that point, he was wounded by Paddock.

Lombardo said there was a six-minute gap from the moment Campos first encountered Paddock and the moment Paddock began firing at the Route 91 Harvest Country Music Festival crowd. Campos received his wounds in “close proximity” to 10:05 p.m., when Paddock started firing.

The sheriff says he still stands by the time of 10:05 p.m. as the moment Paddock began firing. At 10:17 p.m., police officers finally arrived on the 32nd floor, 12 minutes after the shooting began. However, investigators believe Paddock stopped firing at 10:15 p.m. By the time they arrived, they no longer believed there was an “active shooter” situation. They evacuated the other rooms and blew the door to Paddock’s room, where they found him dead.

“There is no conspiracy between the FBI, between the LVMPD and the MGM,” Lombardo said. “Nobody is attempting to hide anything.”

Confusion over the timeline began earlier this week, when Lombardo said there was a six-minute gap between the time Campos was wounded by Paddock and the time Paddock started shooting out his window. This raised questions about MGM’s response, but MGM then offered its own timeline.

The company said that timeline was “not accurate,” adding, “We know that shots were being fired at the festival lot at the same time as, or within 40 seconds after, the time Jesus Campos first reported that shots were fired over the radio.”

During the Friday press conference, Lombardo also said investigators now believe Paddock fired at the Las Vegas airport fuel tanks “with intent.” FBI Special Agent in Charge Aaron Rouse said over 1,000 pieces of evidence was collected in the investigation and so far, they have found “no signs of ideology or affiliation to any groups.”

The shooting on October 1 was the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, with 58 people killed and nearly 500 others wounded.