Gunman hit jet fuel tank, but explosion unlikely
Bullets from Sunday night’s Las Vegas shooting spree hit a jet fuel tank at a nearby airport, a spokesman for McCarran International Airport told the Herald last night.
Two shots from Stephen Paddock’s torrent of bullets — fired from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel — struck a tank but did not ignite it, said airport spokesman Chris Jones.
“Airport management learned a total of two rifle rounds struck a single, 43,000-barrel fuel tank located along the airport’s western perimeter,” Jones said in a statement.
He said one round penetrated Tank 202, which was partially filled with jet fuel, and another bullet lodged in the tank’s outer shell. The tank is being drained, he added.
He told the Herald the discovery “adds another twist” to the story, but Jones stressed a blaze resulting from the bullet strike was unlikely. He stated jet fuel is treated kerosene and is not classified as a flammable liquid.
The story was first reported by the local newspaper, the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and raised concerns about a fire.
Jones told the Herald the jet fuel is stored just past the concert site where gunman Stephen Paddock killed 58 and wounded about 500 more before taking his own life.
Meanwhile, former Boston police Commissioner Edward F. Davis said he worries the massacre could lead to a wave of copycat killings at other venues.
“I think the chance of a copycat is fairly high,” Davis said. “Terrorists are watching this. They saw how effective it was.”
Paddock, 64, fired a barrage of automatic gunfire from two windows in his room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip.
An Illinois man, The Associated Press reported yesterday, has installed 58 white crosses on the Las Vegas Strip to honor the victims.
Greg Zanis drove nearly 2,000 miles from the Chicago area to put up the crosses yesterday afternoon.
The 66-year-old retired carpenter is known for installing the markers at other mass killings, including the Columbine and Sandy Hook school shootings and Orlando nightclub massacre.
An executive casino host described Paddock as an analytical gambler who would try to identify video poker machines most likely to provide big payoffs, the AP also reported last night.
Host John Weinreich at the Atlantis Casino Resort and Spa in Reno, Nevada, said Paddock would sit for hours, placing bets of $100 or more, rarely interacting with anyone but always conscious of his surroundings and who was winning.
Weinreich said Paddock’s girlfriend, Marilou Danley, once worked at the casino and initially got on Paddock’s good side by leading him to a machine where someone had lost tens of thousands of dollars.
Many gamblers falsely believe such machines are more likely to pay off.