Las Vegas Mass Shooting: Someone Had To See Something, Sheriff Says

LAS VEGAS, NV — The sheer volume of weaponry and explosives Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock amassed told Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo one thing: The massacre that killed 59 and wounded hundreds more was a premeditated act Paddock had been planning for some time.

The lesson, Lombardo said in a Tuesday afternoon news conference, is one repeated so often in the wake of mass shootings that it has become a cliche: If you see something suspicious or questionable, report it to police.

“We ask you to bother the police,” Lombardo said. (For updates on the shooting and daily news from Las Vegas, sign up for the Patch morning newsletter and breaking news alerts.)

Police found a massive cache of weapons and ammunition when they searched Paddock’s 32nd-floor hotel room at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, where he randomly picked off victim after victim in the 22,000-strong crowd at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival Sunday night.

The retired accountant, high-stakes gambler and real estate investor had 23 weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition in his hotel room alone. Another 19 firearms, explosives and thousands rounds of ammunition were found at his home in a tidy retirement community in Mesquite, Nevada, located about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas.

And, equally disturbing, several pounds of ammonium nitrate — a compound used in bomb-making, including the one used in the deadly 1995 Oklahoma City bombing — were found in Paddock’s car, a signal to authorities that as horrific as the attack was, it could have been worse.

The search also turned up two legally and widely available “bump stocks,” devices that be used to modify semi-automatic rifles to fire rapidly and continuously, like fully automatic weapons.

Las Vegas Shooter Stephen Paddock Armed To The Teeth

Someone — a hotel housekeeper or a taxi driver — had to see something, Lombardo emphasized.

“I pray that a citizen sees something,” he said.

Police, along with victims and their families, are struggling to understand what provoked Paddock, whose reputation as a regular guy who liked to gamble and take cruises was upended in the horrific show of violence.

Clint Van Zandt, a former FBI profiler and hostage negotiator told the Associated Press he is at a complete loss to explain it.

Investigators hope to fill in some of the blanks when Paddock’s girlfriend, Marilou Danley, returns to the United States. She has been speaking to police from the Philippines, where she is traveling, and has been cooperative. Lombardo has described her as a “person of interest” but she is not considered a suspect.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo briefs reporters on the ongoing investigation into Sunday night's mass shooting, at Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department headquarters Tuesday in Las Vegas. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)