The first day of October last year ended in fear, as Stephen Paddock opened fire on a group of concertgoers below his hotel room.

He killed 58 people, wounded 422 with gunfire, and another 851 suffered other injuries during the attack.

Then, for months, it appeared that investigators were getting nowhere, unable to pin down the why behind the attack.

But on Friday, Las Vegas police took an unusual step and released key details about the continuing investigation, reports New York Times:

Sheriff Joseph Lombardo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said in a news conference that while he was confident that Stephen Paddock was the only gunman, there was another person under investigation who is likely to be charged in the next two months.

No charges will be filed against Mr. Paddock’s girlfriend, Marilou Danley, Sheriff Lombardo said.

He also said there was still no motive known for the attack.

However, the details they did release give insight into Paddock’s world before that fatal day.

Investigators uncovered details about the Internet search history on Paddock’s computer, “including child pornography, guidance on ballistics and information about SWAT team practices”:

Law enforcement officials believe Mr. Paddock had recently lost a “significant amount of wealth,” and that may have led him to open fire from his hotel room at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.

Eish.

The room of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas where Stephen Paddock shot at attendees:

The details were released in an 81-page preliminary investigative report, which provided information on the two weeks leading up to the fatal shooting. Lombardo said investigators had reviewed more than 2 000 leads and 21 000 hours of video:

“I am going against normal protocols,” Sheriff Lombardo said, adding that he hoped the preliminary report would “quell the zest for information.”

The report offers extensive details about Mr. Paddock’s actions and planning in the time leading up to the attack.

Mr. Paddock mounted a surveillance camera to the peephole of his room door:

Here are some of the key takeaways from the investigation, from the NY Times:

• Mr. Paddock complained often to friends and family members about pain and fatigue. But the doctor who had been his primary care physician since 2009 said that the only major ailment he had was from a slip and fall at a casino in 2013, when he tore a muscle. The doctor told investigators that Mr. Paddock was “odd” and showed “little emotion.” While he believed Mr. Paddock may have had bipolar disorder, Mr. Paddock refused to discuss it or take antidepressants, though he did accept anti-anxiety medication. Mr. Paddock often refused to take medication, he said.
• Over more than three decades — from 1982 through the fall of 2016 — Mr. Paddock bought 29 firearms, including handguns, shotguns and one rifle. Such purchases accelerated beginning in October 2016: He bought more than 55 firearms in less than a year, mostly rifles. He also bought more than 100 firearm-related items such as scopes, ammunition and bump stocks in the year before the attack.
• Ms. Danley told investigators that Mr. Paddock’s demeanor [sic] changed during the last year — he became “distant” and “their relationship was no longer intimate.” He became “germaphobic” and had strong reactions to smells. During a stay at the Mandalay Bay in early September, Ms. Danley said he had behaved strangely, and constantly looked out the windows of the room and at the concert venue below from different angles.
• Mr. Paddock appeared to begin thinking about a mass shooting last May, searching on Google for “summer concerts 2017” and “biggest open air concert venues in USA.” In early September he searched for “Las Vegas high rise condos rent” and “life is beautiful expected attendance,” a reference to another large outdoor concert in Las Vegas that month. Two weeks later, he looked for “swat weapons,” “ballistics chart 308,” “SWAT Las Vegas,” and “do police use explosives.”

The points below focus on the weeks leading up to the incident:

• On Sept. 25, Mr. Paddock checked into room 32-135 at the Mandalay Bay and checked into the room next door four days later, under Ms. Danley’s name.
• On his first night at the hotel, Mr. Paddock had dinner at a sushi restaurant inside the hotel and returned to the front desk with five suitcases. The next day, he took seven more suitcases up to his room with the bellman.
• On Sept. 27, Mr. Paddock spent the entire night gambling, not stopping until 7 the next morning. The next day, he went to Mesquite and purchased a .308 bolt-action rifle, deposited $14,000 into a Wells Fargo account and transferred $50,000 to an account in the Philippines. He stopped at a gun range before going back to the hotel. He gambled through the night again. On Sept. 30, he brought four more suitcases to his room just before 6 a.m. and two additional one at 3:20 p.m.
• On Oct 1., at about 10 p.m., a hotel security guard named Jesus Campos arrived on the 32nd floor to respond to an alarm set off by an open door to another room. He was shot a few minutes later, just after Mr. Paddock opened fire on the crowd below.

Surely the hotel should have picked up on something?

[source:nytimes&cnn]