Nation plunges into familiar nightmare
Sniper riddles Vegas concertgoers Motive for slaughter mystifies police, family Cries renewed to end cycle of gun violence
A Las Vegas sniper using the 32nd floor of a hotel as his killing perch was responsible for the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, which brought another sweeping call for ways to stop an all-too-familiar story in America: a homicidal attacker raining gunfire on innocent people.
The latest attack pushes the USA grimly closer to the worst mass shooting in modern world history — the fatal shootings of 69 people in 2011 on a Norwegian island.
The USA already holds the dubious distinction of having more mass shootings than any other nation on Earth.
Stephen Paddock, 64, a retiree with no significant criminal history who relatives said enjoyed slot machines and $100a-hand poker, holed himself up in the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino with a cache of rifles. He killed at least 59 people, wounded more than 500 others and set off a stampede of terrified people Sunday when he began firing at an outdoor concert below. Police found Paddock dead when they broke into the hotel room.
His motive is a mystery to not only the police but his own family. Authorities doubted claims of responsibility Monday by the Islamic State terrorist group.
“He has no military background or anything like that,” said his brother, Eric Paddock of Orlando. “He’s a guy who lived in a house in (Nevada) and drove down and gambled in Las Vegas.”
Authorities and relatives described the killer as a retired accountant who lived comfortably in a retiree community about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas. His past seemed relatively mundane, save for one strange fact: His father, Benjamin Hoskins Paddock, was a bank rob-
ber in the 1960s who escaped from prison and landed on the FBI’s Most Wanted list.
Sunday’s shooting brought an immediate outcry for some type of change to come out of the debate about gun control, one of the nation’s most divisive issues.
“Americans need more than our president’s prayers. We need his plans,” said former U.S. representative Gabrielle Giffords, a victim of a previous mass shooting. In a symbolic gesture, she raised her fist at the U.S. Capitol on Monday, declaring, “The nation is counting on you.”
Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said the death toll could rise.
Lombardo described Paddock as “a distraught person intent on causing mass casualties.” Lombardo said Paddock was probably a “lone wolf.”
“This is a crazed lunatic full of hate,” Las Vegas Mayor Carolyn Goodman said. “This has been a hugely traumatic time for all of us.”
President Trump addressed the nation Monday from the White House, calling the attack “an act of pure evil” and ordering flags flown at half-staff.
The three-day Route 91 Harvest festival started Friday, and Lombardo estimated that 22,000 people were in the crowd when the shooting began Sunday around 10 p.m. local time.
At least 19 weapons, many of them rifles, were found inside Paddock’s hotel room, a federal law enforcement official said Monday in an accounting of the firepower that the gunman had amassed before the attack.
The official, who was briefed on the matter but not authorized to comment publicly, said police found two tripods positioned at the hotel windows in what appeared to be a fully equipped sniper’s nest to take better aim at the crowd below.
Hundreds of rounds of ammunition were among the suspect’s possessions, a supply that could have sustained him in a much longer assault, the official said.
Guns & Guitars, a shop in Mesquite, Nev., confirmed that Paddock had bought guns there. Manager Chris Sullivan said all background checks and procedures were followed.
“He never gave any indication or reason to believe he was unstable or unfit at any time,” Sullivan said. Contributing: Jane Onyanga-Omara, Alan Gomez and Kevin Johnson; Emily Havens, The Spectrum and Daily News; Caroline Glenn, Florida Today; Aaron Young, The Des Moines Register; and Brett Kelman, The Desert Sun