Shooter worked out best kill zone

BEFORE he opened fire on thousands of country music fans in America’s worst ever mass shooting, Stephen Paddock spent time calculating how to increase the kill-rate from his Las Vegas hotel room.

The first police officers to attend room 32135 of the Mandalay Bay said a notepad found near Paddock’s body featured a series of numbers including his elevation and the likely trajectory of his gunfire.

Also noted was the distance to the 22,000-strong crowd attending the final concert of the three-day, outdoor Highway 91 Harvest music festival a week ago, according to police officers who were interviewed by 60 Minutes in the US.

“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,” said Officer Dave Newton, from the Las Vegas K-9 unit.

Officer Newton was one of the first Las Vegas Police officers to enter Paddock’s room.

“So he had that written down and figured out so he would know where to shoot to hit his targets from there,” he said.

Graphic crime scene photos, which showed a small notepad near Paddock’s body, had sparked hopes there would be some indication of what motivated the 64-year-old former accountant and professional gambler.

Police say they don’t know what sparked his spree, despite running down more than a thousand leads, combing his finances and emails, and interviewing his Australian partner, Marilou Danley.

Ms Danley, 62, lived with Paddock since 2013 in two Nevada homes where police seized dozens of guns and explosives.

She was in the Philippines at the time of the massacre, but returned to the US last week to

HE HAD WRITTEN THE DISTANCE, THE ELEVATION HE WAS ON, THE DROP OF WHAT HIS BULLET WAS GONNA BE FOR THE CROWD OFFICER DAVE NEWTON

be interviewed by the FBI. Ms Danley denied any foreknowledge of his plans.

She is now in an undisclosed location and her lawyer said yesterday she was not planning to make any further statement in the short term, after describing Paddock as a “kind, caring, quiet man”.

It came as officials revealed Paddock had visited the Middle East on a cruise within the past year. Police had earlier dismissed claims by Middle Eastern terror group ISIS that Paddock carried out the attack on its behalf after converting to Islam six months ago.

Paddock killed 58 people and wounded hundreds of others before taking his own life.