New Clues into Las Vegas Shooter Revealed After FBI Releases Docs Years After Massacre
New documents released by the FBI provide additional information about the Las Vegas shooter who killed 58 and wounded hundreds of concertgoers in a deadly rampage more than five years ago.
The files indicate that 64-year-old Stephen Paddock was bitterly resentful over his large losses at local casinos when he opened fire from a 32nd-floor suite at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino on Oct. 1, 2017, the Wall Street Journal reported.
A gambling buddy told investigators that Paddock was “very upset at the way casinos were treating him and other high rollers,” according to the report.
The friend said casinos had cut back on some of the perks given to VIP customers. He theorized that stress from that could “easily be what caused Paddock to ‘snap,’” the gambler said.
Paddock fired more than 1,000 rounds into the crowd at the Route 91 Harvest Festival that night, according to KLAS-TV. That news outlet said the newly released FBI files include a list of evidence from the investigation, which found 24 guns and numerous bump stocks in the hotel room.
The Journal quoted Russell Palarea, chief executive of Operational Psychology Services, a threat-assessment firm, as saying the documents “aid in understanding Paddock but don’t reveal a singular motive” for the horrific crime.
The Journal said the documents were released in response to a public records request it had filed.
The Journal stated the FBI declined to comment on it.
The files indicated that Paddock “gambled hundreds of thousands of dollars” at Las Vegas resorts in the decade leading up to the shooting.
“In 2006, for example, he wagered more than $945,000 and won slightly more than he lost, profiting by making about $4,300, according to one casino report,” according to the Journal.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal said local police told them the documents “don’t add anything of substance” to the case, and added that “speculating on a motive causes more harm to the hundreds of people who were victims that night.”
The Review-Journal quoted one shooting survivor, Brittany Castrejon, who said she doesn’t buy the theory that Paddock was pushed over the edge by feeling disrespected by casinos.
She said that sounded to her like “bulls—.”
“The only thing I can chalk it up to is that he was just pure evil,” Castrejon told the news outlet.
“The FBI listed 10 key findings, which painted a picture of a largely apathetic man, declining in physical and mental health as he aged, who may have seen the attack as a way to attain infamy,” the Review-Journal reported.
Paddock left no suicide note or manifesto to explain his actions.
Investigators also found no evidence that Paddock was motivated by ideological or political beliefs, according to the news outlet.
Instead, “they determined that Paddock wanted to die by his own hands, possibly seeing suicide as an act of control in a life that seemed to keep spiraling into decline as he grew older: His financial status fell, his level of functioning slowly diminished, and he grew increasingly distressed at his inability to remedy those issues.”
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