Las Vegas shooting: First pictures believed to be of Stephen Paddock's gun-filled hotel room emerge
Photos reportedly showing the inside of the hotel room used by Las Vegas mass shooter Stephen Paddock have emerged.
The images appear to show two of the 23 rifles found inside the room used by the 64-year-old to murder 59 people and injure more than 500 as they attended a country music festival on Sunday evening.
Said to be taken inside Paddock’s 32nd floor Mandalay Bay Hotel room, the unverified photos, obtained by Boston 25 News, show military grade weapons, a tripod and spent cartridges.
EXCLUSIVE: these are 2 of 23 guns found in #LasVegas shooter’s hotel room at #MandalayBay - hammer, bipod, optics, ammo. 59 lives. Chilling. pic.twitter.com/gManlUIeZI
— Jacqui Heinrich (@JacquiHeinrich) October 3, 2017
The gunfire erupted as country music star Jason Aldean was performing at the Route 91 Harvest Festival to a crowd of some 22,000. He ran off stage as the shooting progressed.
Video of the attack showed throngs of people screaming in horror and cowering on the open ground as extended bursts of gunfire strafed the crowd from above, from a distance police estimated at more than 500 yards (460 metres).
The bloodshed ended after police swarming the hotel closed in on Paddock, who shot and wounded a hotel security officer through the door of his two-room suite and then killed himself before police entered, authorities said.
In addition to the 23 guns — and two tripods — found in the hotel room, police also found 19 more firearms, some explosives and thousands of rounds of ammunition at Paddock's home in Mesquite, about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas.
A search of Paddock's car also led to the discovery of a quantity of ammonium nitrate, a fertiliser that can be turned into explosives.
