On Sunday night, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock opened fire on the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel, killing 58 people and injuring hundreds more in what has become the deadliest mass shooting in recent U.S. history.
Investigators are currently working to determine the motive behind the attack, although answers are proving hard to come by, as Paddock did not appear to share with anyone his reasons for carrying out the shooting.
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The attack was meticulously planned, but authorities are still having trouble determining a motive. As Paddock killed himself before police arrived in his hotel suite, investigators must piece together what they can from the few clues that Paddock left behind.
A piece of paper
A piece of paper was reportedly found in Paddock’s hotel room after the attack, although investigators say it was not a suicide note, The New York Times reports.
While authorities did not reveal its contents, Sheriff Joseph Lombardo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said the paper was not a note or manifesto but contained numbers that were being analyzed for their relevance.
Lombardo also said that there was evidence that Paddock had planned to leave Mandalay Bay alive, although he did not elaborate further.
Electronics
Investigators have also been looking at Paddock’s electronic devices, and the F.B.I. took his computers and cell phones to its laboratory in Quantico, Va., for review. Authorities are currently attempting to piece together Paddock’s life in the months before the shooting in an effort to discover a motive.
“In the spirit of the safety of this community or anywhere else in the United States I think it’s important to provide that information, but I don’t have it,” Lombardo said Thursday. “We don’t know it yet.”
A weapons stockpile
Authorities say Paddock had been stockpiling weapons for months, and investigators have identified 47 firearms belonging tot he 64-year-old. His hotel room contained at least 10 weapons that were altered to fire at a faster rate, and a search of his Mesquite, Nevada home revealed even more firearms. Explosive materials and more ammunition were also found in Paddock’s car.
“Stephen Paddock is a man who spent decades acquiring weapons and ammo and living a secret life, much of which will never be fully understood,” Lombardo told reporters, according to the Washington Post. “Anything that would indicate this individual’s trigger point and would cause him to do such harm, we haven’t understood it yet.”
Hotel reservations
Authorities have also shared that Paddock appeared to have cased several major music festivals over the past few months, including concerts in Chicago and Las Vegas, as well as hotels around Fenway Park in Boston.
ABC News reports that Paddock booked hotel rooms in Chicago in early August during the weekend of the Lollapalooza music festival, although he reportedly didn’t use the bookings. One of the hotels was across from Grant Park, where the festival took place.
He also tried to rent a room at the El Cortez Hotel and Casino and did rent a room at the Ogden hotel in Las Vegas during the weekend of the Life Is Beautiful music festival in late September.
Photo Credit: Twitter / @billboard
