Vegas shooter scoped out other shows
Paddock previously booked rooms overlooking music festivals including Lollapalooza in Chicago
LAS VEGAS — In the days and months before he mowed down concertgoers from his highrise hotel suite, gunman Stephen Paddock booked rooms overlooking two other music festivals in Las Vegas and Chicago, authorities said.
His movements raised the possibility he was contemplating attacks at those sites.
In early August, Paddock, 64, booked a room at Chicago’s 21-storey Blackstone Hotel that overlooked the park where the Lollapalooza music festival was being held, a law enforcement official said Thursday.
The official said no evidence has been found that Paddock ever came to Chicago that weekend. Lollapalooza draws hundreds of thousands of music fans every year to Grant Park.
TMZ, which first reported the booking, said that Paddock reserved two rooms but never showed up.
Lollapalooza was held between Aug. 3 and Aug. 6. Performers at this year’s festival included Chance the Rapper, Arcade Fire and Run the Jewels, and among those in attendance was Malia Obama, the older daughter of former U.S. president Barack Obama.
Also, the weekend before the Las Vegas bloodbath, Paddock rented via Airbnb — and checked into — a condo in a 21-storey luxury building in Las Vegas that overlooked the Life is Beautiful alternative music festival, Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said.
Lombardo gave no details on what Paddock was up to. The music festival featured Chance the Rapper, Muse, Lorde and Blink-182.
Paddock’s renting of the condo was curious, because as a high-roller, he could have easily gotten a free room at one of the casino hotels on the Las Vegas Strip.
Police in Boston said they were aware of media reports there suggesting that Paddock had also researched locations in that city. In a statement, the Boston police said they were in touch with local and federal law enforcement agencies.
When Paddock checked into the Mandalay Bay on Sept. 28, he requested an upper-floor room with a view of the Route 91 Harvest music festival, according to a person who has seen hotel records turned over to investigators and spoke on condition of anonymity.
Investigators trying to establish the motive for the attack have had little more to chase than hints and shadows.
While other mass killers have left a trail of plain-sight clues that helped investigators quickly understand what drove them to violence, Paddock led a low-key, private life. He had no known criminal record and almost no close friends or social media presence.
The No. 2 official in the FBI said Wednesday he was surprised investigators had not uncovered more.
“There’s all kinds of things that surprise us in each one of these events. That’s the one in this one, and we are not there yet,” FBI Deputy Director Andrew McCabe said. “We have a lot of work to do.”
Investigators have zeroed in on a weapon-buying binge Paddock went on in the year before the attack. They wonder if he had some sort of mental break at the time that drove him to start making plans for mass murder.
They are also looking at his gambling habits and checking records for any disputes he might have had with casinos or fellow patrons.