In another bizarre detail about how Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock spent his last days at the Mandalay Bay resort and casino before launching the worst mass shooting in US history, one unidentified law enforcement source told CBS that Paddock twice called hotel security the night before the shooting to complain about loud country music emanating from the floor below.
Albert Garzon of San Diego said that security guards asked him to turn down music he was playing in his suite on the 31st floor at around 1:30 am Sunday, a little over 20 hours before the rampage on a country music festival. When different security guards paid Garzon another visit about his music a half-hour later, he turned it off.
A staffer at the hotel also reported that Paddock acted abruptly with them over some other issue, Milton reports. Apparently, Paddock had a history of being rude or overbearing with hotel staff. A former executive casino host at the Atlantis Casino Resort and Spa in Reno said Paddock had a “god complex” and expected quick service without regard to how busy the staff was at the time.
All the evidence uncovered by police so far suggests that Paddock started planning his rampage weeks in advance, even booking rooms near music festivals in other cities like Chicago and Boston earlier in the summer. He also booked a room near the Life is Beautiful music festival in Vegas that took place in late September – though it’s not clear whether he planned massacres at any of these sites.
Police also found dozens of guns in Paddock’s Mesquite, Nevada home, and explosives in his car that suggest he was planning a larger attack. Shortly after the rampage, police discovered 1,600 rounds of ammunition in Paddock’s car, along with fertilizer that can be used to make explosives and 50 pounds of Tannerite, a substance used in explosive rifle targets.
Police announced Thursday that they had found a Hyundai Tucson SUV they had been searching for as part of the probe while executing a search warrant at Paddock’s home in Reno, which he shared with his girlfriend, Marilou Danley. It wasn’t immediately clear if the car was found on Thursday or earlier in the week when police searched the home and found several guns and ammunition.
Police still haven’t pieced together a motive for the shooting, and law enforcement sources have lamented that the 64-year-old gunman lived a “secret” life that may never be fully understood.
