Las Vegas police released new photos Friday of Route 91 Harvest Festival shooter Stephen Paddock’s room, including frames of his dead body.
The images also show several guns and weapons, the broken window from which he fired shots and how he hid cameras within the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino suite.
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Photos from the Oct. 1 shooting reveal Paddock hid a camera in a food cart outside his hotel room, and mounted one on the door’s peephole. The images confirm he was actively watching for anyone trying to enter his room.
A close-up shot of the broken window through which Paddock shot his assault rifles is also included in the new photos, along with pictures of guns and ammo tossed throughout his room.
Weapons in suite:
In Paddock’s main suite at Mandalay Bay, which he rented for multiple nights ahead of the Oct. 1 attack, investigators found several semi-automatic rifles and other weapons.
Some of the guns were rigged using bump stock additions, allowing him to fire rapidly on the crowd outside his room.
Despite his coordinated attack during the country music festival, Paddock reportedly did not fit the typical profile of a mass shooter.
The 64-year-old gunman was a resident of Nevada who lived in a local retirement community in Mesquite, Nevada, about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas.ย Las Vegas police had no criminal record on Paddock other than a routine traffic violation, and he had no previous contact with local police in Mesquite.
TMZ found record of Paddock’s hunting license in Alaska, as well as a pilot’s license issued in 2003, noting that he would have undergone physical and mental evaluations to obtain the latter.
Scene in suite:
Among the scene police found was Paddock’s body, where he was dead by the time policeย gained access inside the suite.
In December, the coroner declared that the gunman died of a gunshot wound to the mouth and ruled his death a suicide. He also revealed that all 58 victims were killed via gunshots; no one died attempting to escape the mass attack.
Food cart camera:
Paddock set up several cameras throughout his hotel suite and the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay to keep a watchful eye on anyone who may have come near his room. The camera shown was hidden on a food cart which was placed outside the hotel room.
Despite his careful measures, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardoย said Friday that investigators had not uncovered a motiveย for the shooting. Though his girlfriend Marilouย Danley, who was not in the country during the attack, was once considered a person of interest in the case, she will likely face no charges, Lombardoย said.
Peephole camera:
Another camera was positioned to look through the peephole of Paddock’s hotel room.
Lombardoย previously revealed that multiple cameras inside and outside the shooter’s room were rigged to notify him of police presence near his attack site.
Throughout the investigation, Mandalay Bay has been the source of major criticism for its lack of security measures in allowing Paddock to book his room for multiple nights without his gaggle of weapons being spotted.ย Paddock was reportedly holed up in his hotel room at the Mandalay Bay for three days,ย and Wynn Resortsย CEOย Steve Wynn believes a proper “do not disturb” policyย should have alerted staff to investigate the situation.
Handwritten calculations:
As reported, Paddock left behind handwritten calculations in his room which predicted the trajectory of his gunfire on the crowd below.ย
Officer Dave Newton of the Las Vegas Police Department’s K-9 unit previously said he discovered the note lying face-up on Paddock’s nightstand.
“I could see on it he had written the distance, the elevation he was on, the drop of what his bullet was gonna be for the crowd,” Newton said. “So he had that written down and figured out so he would know where to shoot to hit his targets from there.”
Ammo and small sledgehammer:
Ammunition was found throughout the hotel room, allowing Paddock to spray continuous rounds of gunfire on the crowd. The small sledgehammer shown may have been used to break the window from which the gunman opened fire.
According to Clark County Sheriff Joeย Lombardoย on Friday, Paddock is believed to have conspired and acted alone in what is now considered the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
Weapons in second hotel room:
In a second room, weapons were strewn around on the beds and throughout.
Though the ongoing investigation of the Las Vegas shooting has been stretched over three months, authorities claimed to had pursued more than 1,000 leads in less than a week following the attack. More than 1,000 pieces of evidence were also collected less than two weeks following Paddock’s gunfire.
As for the fate of the rooms Paddock used to unleash terror on the crowd below, MGMย said the spaces will never be rented again.
“This was a terrible tragedy perpetrated by an evil man,” MGM Resorts International toldย Newsweekย in a statement. “We have no intention of renting that room. We’ve been cooperating with law enforcement from the moment this happened, which includes preserving evidence.”
View of broken window:
From this angle, the broken window from which Paddock unleashed the mass attack is visible.
In the wake of the shooting, several hotels along the Las Vegas Strip have updated their security policies on the use of ‘do not disturb’ signs in an effort to provide safer accommodations to guests.
While some have openly altered their policies to check on guests after the use of the sign from three days to two days, others have kept mum on specifics, ensuring they are properly reworking their security measures.
View of festival from room:
From Paddock’s roomย 32-135, he broke the window to look out to this view of the Route 91 Harvest Festival happening on the Lasย Vegas Strip.ย
He reportedly fired nine minutes of consecutive shots on the crowd of 22,000 below, killing 58 and injuring hundreds.
Aside from the scene in Paddock’s hotel room, guns, weapons, explosives and other dangerous products were discovered in his vehicle and at his Mesquite home.
