October 1st will go down as a black day in the history of the United States. Stephen Paddock, 64, has been identified by police as the suspected gunman.
Paddock killed himself during a firefight with police after he began firing on concertgoers late last night, who were attending the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival.
Police officers had to use explosives to break into the room where Paddock was situated. He apparently had an extensive arsenal of firearms with him when he died.
ABC News was covering the event, and revealed some truly chilling details about paddock .
While there aren’t many facts about Paddock, here’s what we now know:
Paddock holds both a pilots license and a hunting license. Two years ago, Paddock sued a Las Vegas casino then settled out of court. Paddock has moved around in his lifetime, from Texas to Nevada. Little is known about his occupation.
His “companion”, a 62-year-old woman named Marilou Danley, has been identified as a person of interest, however, police have stated they do not believe she was involved in the shooting as she is currently abroad.
Paddock used her documents to check into the hotel. Danley posted a picture of herself at the Mandalay casino on social media three years ago, so she was already known there as a customer.
You may notice that there doesn’t seem to be anything particularly remarkable about Paddock, and that’s exactly what is so chilling about this event.
A man who is clearly mentally sound enough to fly a plane and hold a hunting license, who has no obvious links to white supremacists groups or religious extremists, and has no criminal record, was able to consciously make the decision to kill 50 people and hurt 200 more.
Paddock was an evil man, capable of murdering hundreds, and was able to hide in plain sight, seemingly as just a normal guy. That’s a terrifying thought.
Police say the Las Vegas shooting suspect died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound; he was found with 10 rifles. https://t.co/5zSOdKWj3J pic.twitter.com/S9mXQ0pyx3
— ABC News (@ABC) October 2, 2017
