As the investigation into the October 1 Las Vegas shooting evolves, Las Vegas police are defending the frequently changing timeline of events and have warned that it could change again. There have been questions about the six-minute time span between the moment Stephen Paddock shot Mandalay Bay hotel security guard Jesus Campos and when he began firing on the crowd of 20,000 attending the Route 91 Harvest Country Music Festival.
Police said on Monday that Campos was wounded before the shooting began and not afterwards. Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo defended his department, insisting that investigators weren’t trying to hide anything.
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“Nobody’s trying to be nefarious, nobody’s trying to hide anything, and what we want to do is draw the most accurate picture we can,” Lombardo told 8 Las Vegas Now Wednesday. “I’m telling you right now, today, that that timeline might change again.”
Meanwhile, Mandalay Bay owner MGM Resorts cast doubt on the new timeline.
“This remains an ongoing investigation with a lot of moving parts,” MGM Resorts spokeswoman Debra DeShong said in a statement to the Las Vegas Review-Journal on Tuesday. “As evidenced by law enforcement briefings over the past week, many facts are still unverified and continue to change as events are under review. We cannot be certain about the most recent timeline that has been communicated publically, (sic) and we believe what is currently being expressed may not be accurate.”
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As 8 Las Vegas Now reports, the new timeline of events put forth by police begins at 9:59 p.m., on October 1, when Paddock shot at Campos and a maintenance worker, who was working on the stairwell. Paddock wounded Campos in the leg. Six minutes later, at 10:05 p.m., Paddock started firing at the festival crowd from his 32nd-floor room. At 10:12 p.m., two police officers arrive on the floor below and heard gunfire. Three minutes later at 10:15 p.m., Paddock stops firing.
Police still aren’t sure why Paddock stopped firing or why it took six minutes from the moment he shot Campos to the moment he started.
But Lombardo told 8 Las Vegas Now that the six minutes could shrink.
“The individual that put the timestamp associated with the radio call they received,” the sheriff said. “Maybe their watch was different, or maybe they looked at a different time when they put it down. So it may condense smaller — maybe less than six minutes when it’s all done, but let’s not let’s not get wrapped around the ax on that.”
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Lombardo continued, “I think it’s important for people to understand that no matter what that timeline is, the response was as quick as possible. I don’t think the response could have been any faster.”
The shooting in Las Vegas was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, with 58 killed and nearly 500 others wounded. Paddock was found dead by police when they entered his room.
