Trump visits injured in Las Veg as hospital as FBI continue to search for a motive
DONALD TRUMP arrived in Las Vegas last night to comfort victims of America’s worst mass shooting.
Mr Trump, who made a private visit to a hospital with his wife Melania, said investigators were “learning a lot more” about mass murderer Stephen Paddock and details would be given at “an appropriate time.”
He added: “It’s a very, very sad day for me, personally. We’re going to pay our respects.” Mr Trump’s motorcade passed close to the Mandalay Bay Hotel where Paddock (64), fired from the 32nd floor, killing 59 people and injuring more than 500 at a country music festival on Sunday night.
It has emerged that Paddock may have intended to target a bigger Las Vegas outdoor music festival the previous weekend.
He tried unsuccessfully to book a room overlooking the Life is Beautiful event where performers included Damon Albarn’s band Gorillaz. That festival was attended by 50,000 people each day.
There were also unconfirmed reports a receipt for Paddock’s last room service meal at the Mandalay Bay, showed there may have been an additional person in his room.
It was also disclosed that Paddock had been taking the anti-anxiety drug Valium. Paddock was prescribed 50 tablets on June 21. He received a similar prescription in 2016, according to records from the Nevada Prescription Monitoring Programme.
Dr Mel Pohl, chief medical officer of the Las Vegas Recovery Center, said: “If somebody has an underlying aggression problem and you sedate them with that drug, they can become aggressive.”
Andrew McCabe, FBI Deputy Director, said he was surprised at the lack of a motive.
He said: “This individual and this attack didn’t leave the sort of immediately accessible thumbprints that you find on some mass casualty attacks.”