Las Vegas shooting: Gunman fired for 9 to 11 minutes, police say
Las Vegas shooting: Gunman fired for 9 to 11 minutes, police say:- It took about 10 minutes of gunfire for Stephen Paddock to carry out the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.
From his position at a Las Vegas hotel, Paddock fired a barrage of bullets at 22,000 concertgoers below at a country music festival — made possible through what appeared to be meticulous planning.
The shooter had checked into a hotel room overlooking the music festival, stocked a cache of weapons there and set up cameras inside his hotel suite and hallway.
The first call of shots being fired came Sunday, 10:08 p.m. and the gunfire stopped at 10:19 p.m., said Clark County Undersheriff Kevin McMahill on Tuesday. He said the shooting went off and on for nine to 11 minutes.
The massacre left 58 people dead and another 500 people wounded from gunshots to stampede injuries.
No one knows why Paddock gunned them down.
But authorities are hoping for clues as his girlfriend, Marilou Danley returned to the United States Tuesday night from the Philippines. She is being accompanied by the FBI in Los Angeles, where Las Vegas police plan to question her, a law enforcement source told CNN.
Police believe Paddock acted alone.
He had an arsenal of weapons, including bump-fire stocks found in the hotel, which is a legal device that enables a shooter to fire bullets rapidly, similar to an automatic rifle.
Paddock had outfitted 12 of his firearms with the bump stocks, according to the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives.
The shooter also had cameras set up inside and outside the suite. Police are not aware whether the devices were transmitting — the FBI is investigating their use — but the Clark County sheriff told reporters he thinks Paddock might have used them to watch for people approaching his room. One camera looked out the peephole on the suite’s door.
The hail of gunfire stopped when security guards approached Paddock’s Mandalay Bay hotel room, McMahill said. Paddock turned his attention to those outside his door and fired, wounding a security guard who was advancing towards his room.
The security guard was “very heroic” and provided police with information about the shooter’s location, McMahill said. When officers entered the hotel room, they found Paddock dead. Authorities believe he killed himself.
Latest developments
– Paddock’s girlfriend, Danley flew to LAX from Manila, said Maria Antoinette Mangrobang, a spokeswoman for the Bureau of Immigration in the Philippines. Paddock lived in Mesquite, Nevada, with Danley, who was out of the country during the shooting, police said. She had entered the Philippines in September 15, and again on September 25, traveling on her Australian passport, Mangrobang said. There has been communication between authorities in the Philippines, the FBI and US Department of Homeland Security, she said.
— Paddock wired $100,000 to the Philippines, a law enforcement source said. However, officials haven’t able to see yet precisely when the wire happened or who was the recipient. The FBI is working with Filipino authorities to determine details.
— More than three dozen of the 58 people killed have been publicly identified. Among the latest: Charleston Hartfield of Nevada; Stacee Etcheber of California; Christopher Roybal of Colorado; Hannah Ahlers of California; and Jordan McIldoon of British Columbia, Canada.
— Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg said 58 people were killed. Authorities had previously said 59 were killed in the shooting, but on Tuesday clarified that number included the shooter.
— The Daily Mail newspaper of the UK published several photos taken in Paddock’s room after the shooting. In one photo, the legs of a dead shooter can be seen on the floor. The photos show semiautomatic assault-style rifles on the floor and on furniture. Stacks of ammunition magazines used in rifles can also be seen. Police said they’re investigating the source of the leak.
— A total of 47 guns have been recovered from three locations: Paddock’s hotel room and his two Nevada homes in Verdi and Mesquite. The guns were bought in Nevada, Utah, California and Texas, said Jill Snyder, special agent in charge of ATF field division in San Francisco. Thousands of rounds of ammunition were found in his Mesquite home and an ingredient used in explosives was discovered inside the shooter’s car.
— Police released the first body camera footage in the shooting.
‘I felt him get shot in the back’
The massacre started during the Route 91 Harvest festival as the rapid staccato of gunfire confused, then alarmed concertgoers. They scrambled to flee the gunman’s aim.
Source:- http://edition.cnn.com/2017/10/04/us/las-vegas-shooting-investigation/index.html
