Las Vegas, NV – -(Ammoland.com)- Ever since Stephen Paddock opened fire from his room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas on October 1 2017, questions have swirled around the shooter, his motive, the actions of the hotel’s security staff, and virtually ever other aspect of the attack and subsequent investigation.
Many of the questions were a direct result of the Las Vegas police department changing the reported timeline – repeatedly — of the events that night.
The latest news, which won’t do much to quiet conspiracy theorists, came from courtroom testimony on Wednesday January 17th. Following a virtual news vacuum in recent months, a number of media outlets had filed suit to obtain documents related to the investigation, including 14 search warrants that had been executed by police.
An attorney for the media organizations argued that releasing the information is “crucial to helping Las Vegas heal.” That’s when an attorney representing the Las Vegas Metro Police dropped this bombshell on the proceedings:
Attorney Nicholas Crosby did not identify new evidence or suspects but said charges might be possible depending on the results of an ongoing investigation.
The claim by Sheriff Joe Lombardo ever since the shooting had been that Paddock acted on his own. So Crosby’s argument apparently took the presiding judge by surprise.
‘Without naming names, there are potential charges against others as a result of the ongoing investigation?’ Clark County District Court Judge Elissa Cadish asked Crosby as he argued to keep police search-warrant records sealed.
‘Yes,’ said Crosby, who represents the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, which Lombardo leads. ‘There are charges being investigated.’
That, of course, directly contradicts the narrative that Paddock was a lone wolf shooter, a reclusive gambler and real estate investor whose motive remains a mystery.
This latest revelation, though, will only serve to throw more gasoline on the slow burning fire of conspiracy theories that has swirled around the investigation.
In case you’ve lost track of all the accounts the Sheriff Joe Lombardo and the Metro PD have given since the shooting…
1) Lombardo initially reported that Paddock began shooting on the crowd below, then shot at Mandalay Bay security guard Jesus Campos when he approached Paddock’s room.
2) Days later, the Sheriff changed the timeline radically. The new story was that Paddock had shot at Campos a full six minutes before shooting at concertgoers. If that were true, it would reflect poorly on hotel security’s response to a report of shots fired.
3) The six-minute gap story was then denied by Mandalay Bay security.
…Mandalay Bay hotel officials disputed the police timeline of the concert shooting. They claim Paddock, a high-stakes gambler and real estate investor, fired into the crowd just 40 seconds after shooting Campos.
The most recent timeline that had been offered by authorities has Paddock shooting 200 rounds into the hallway of the 32nd floor of the hotel, wounding Campos in the leg at 9:59 p.m. — six minutes before he shot into crowds watching Jason Aldean perform.
4) And that was just before Campos disappeared for days, ducking out of Fox News Studios minutes before he was scheduled to give his account of what happened that night. He later turned up on the Ellen Show, of all places, where he backed up the hotel’s story under kid glove treatment by host Ellen Degeneres. And he hasn’t appeared in public since.
Now, in light of yesterday’s arguments, it appears that the investigation is looking at other parties. If you were thinking that Paddock may have bought some of his firearms illegally and the sellers may be the targets of the investigation, that was refuted by subsequent media reports. Paddock appears to have purchased all of his firearms legally and passed the requisite background checks.
So, like so much of what happened back in October, the persons of interest and their relationship to Paddock that the Metro PD’s attorney referred to remain a mystery. And given the deafening silence about the massacre and investigation, unless Judge Cadish rules for the media outlets, we’re not likely to find out more any time soon.
About Dan Zimmerman:
I just hate it when people jump to conspiracy theory conclusions. Authorities can be doing an excellent job, but when people jump to conclusions like those I have read here, it helps to destroy any credibility the people have in law enforcement and government. Exactly what the socialistic liberal progressive Democrats want. I’m not saying the conclusions are wrong, but, you are not helping save the nation from destruction from within. I think it best not to make accusations, inferences, allegations, etc, which can not be backed up by hard evidence. Instead, ask questions loudly. Don’t use the tactics of… Read more »
STOP publishing this dirtbag’s name. Refer to him simply as “trhe as Vegas Shooter”, or the “Mandaly Bay Concert Shooter”/ Don’t give these pererts the glory they seek. It ony encourages others to play monkey see monkey do.
Another example of those working for the taxpayer and controlling the taxpayer and any information the taxpayer should be privileged to know. Out of control government that is there and paid to serve the people but tries to rule the people.
This you can take to the bank! Paddock never fired a shot at the concert attendees. What kind of powerful state actors, and foreign governments, have the ability to put at least four helicopters in the air at one time? Eyewitness accounts of gunmen firing from several helicopters. Eyewitness accounts of multiple shooters near the strip and other hotels. Undeniable audio recordings of belt fed machine guns being fired from at least two sources, from two different locations. What Saudi Arabian princes were in Vegas at that time? Why was one of those Saudi’s pictured leaving one of those hotels… Read more »
As a retired police officer who investigated major crimes, a firearms instructor and armorer, and competitive shooter, this whole thing stinks. There are too many issues that don’t add up. This was a planned attack and not by just one person. Do I think it was staged by antigunners? Put me down for about a 75% yes.
Hey Dan, Ever been to Vegas? Get your photos right. You are showing the Bellagio in the photo. Poor Journalism!
Really Ammoland??? This passes as news to you folks. This is a total NOTHINGBURGER of an article. Absolutely NOTHING NEW from a week or so ago. You are becoming sadly, a collection of clickbait rehash articles and little worthwhile NEWS. Sad to see what you are devolving into
The most simple explanation is that Vegas just wants this to go away to protect the tourist industry.
BS, this is a ploy to keep those records sealed. You watch, these new, ongoing investigations will produce nothing because they ARE nothing. They don’t exist. Mark my words. It’s a ploy, a stall tactic.
WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
What happens in VEGAS , STAYS IN VEGAS………..And something is ROTTEN in DENMARK.
Somebody was in that room before the “police”, because hard drives don’t remove themselves from computers and run away and hide. Someone removed it and left before the “police” did. FBI sting gone wrong? Deep State tactics for getting gun confiscation or “assault weapons ban” ? You will have to decide…
Exactly. There is no other explanation for this incident other than an obvious and feeble attempt by the left to gather the sheep-like general public to agree to more anti-gun legislation. Why else would they unnecessarily load the room with so many “legally-purchased, scary, black, legally-modified to be more deadly” weapons unless they were trying to prove their points? Why else would the lib media make such a huge deal about the specific mods and number of weapons, showing all the photos of nothing but the line-up of rifles in the room and the chaos below? Every gun-wise person knows… Read more »
Not to mention, just how did this one guy get all of those weapons and thousands of rounds of ammo into that room, given the cameras and security that these hotels have!
NAnd don’t forget all of the cell phones containing video that was confiscated from concert goers.
Conspiracies? I even saw a story the other day, complete with map, about six additional bodies having been found “staged” in the blocks surrounding the hotel. Propaganda at work? A flood of narrative, intentionally conflicting to obscure the truth?
Unfortunately we will never truly know the facts surrounding the Vegas shooting, at this point even if somehow the truth was to come out how would anyone be able to believe anything “they” say!
And yet all the video still hasn’t been released.
To pieslapper: Do you honestly think that any unedited cell phone, or videos from other sources, will ever be released for American Citizens? As that pencil necked communist congresscritter from cali said of we citizens earlier this week ” the American people are to dumb to understand it”!