Arsenal, high perch made it so lethal
Stephen Paddock’s lethal attack on a Las Vegas country music festival was distinguished from most mass shootings by two features: the size of the arsenal he smuggled into the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino and the great height from which he shot.
With a cache of mostly powerful firearms, Paddock, 64, smashed the windows of his 32nd floor hotel suite and then, from high above the Las Vegas Strip, sprayed bullets down on 20,000 people.
One of the weapons Paddock apparently used in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history was an AK-47 type rifle, with a stand to steady it for firing.
Investigators believe at least one of the guns functioned as if it were fully automatic and are now working to determine if he modified it or others to be capable of spitting out a high volume of fire just by holding down the trigger.
AP reported he had two “bumpstocks” that could have converted semi-automatic firearms into fully automatic ones. The device basically replaces the gun’s shoulder rest, with a “support step” that covers the trigger opening. By holding the pistol grip with one hand and pushing forward on the barrel with the other, the shooter’s finger comes in contact with the trigger. The recoil causes the gun to buck back and forth. Technically, that means the finger is pulling the trigger for each round fired, keeping the weapon a legal semi-automatic.
Video from the attack suggests Paddock may have used at least one fully automatic rifle, marking the first time such a weapon has been wielded by a public mass shooter in the United States, experts said. “I really can’t recall another case where one has been used,” said James Alan Fox, a Northeastern University criminologist who studies mass shooters and believes Paddock was armed with an automatic weapon.
To Fox and others, the Las Vegas rampage represents a frightening turn in the nation’s struggle to stop mass shootings.
In addition to Paddock’s choice of weaponry, mass shooting experts were struck by his decision to shoot at the concertgoers from high above.
Police estimated that he was shooting at victims at least 500 yards away.
Adam Lankford, a University of Alabama criminologist, said attacking from such a high location gave Paddock a tactical advantage that “rendered moot” everything Americans have been taught to do in mass shooting situations — to run from the gunfire, hide or even fight back if encountering the shooter. “The people below are . . . helpless.”
The vast majority of active shooter incidents end within five minutes, with the shooter being stopped by police, bystanders or their own suicides, according to an FBI study of attacks between 2000 and 2013.
Fox said the apparent automaticstyle firing combined with an elevated shooting position is what led to the extraordinary victim count. If Paddock had been on the ground, Fox said, “he still would have killed a lot of people, but he would have been overtaken more quickly.”
Will other shooters go for automatic firepower? Will tall buildings become coveted shooting perches?
Fox is most troubled by news organisations repeating that Paddock’s attack is the worst mass shooting in modern US history. Mass shooters typically revere their predecessors and often leave writings or other evidence that show attempts to set new killing records. “Why do we keep such records? That’s more of an enticement to follow in his footsteps.”