rigorousintuition.ca

http://www.oxygen.com/blogs/distressing ... as-shooter

In another audio clip, the SWAT team can be heard discussing with a dispatcher how they were planning to close in on the shooter.

“I am inside the Mandalay Bay on the 31st floor. I can hear automatic fire coming from one floor ahead. One floor above us,” one officer said, as reported by Inside Edition.

“We are coming out on the 32nd floor. Just about a dozen officers,” another said.

An officer expressed the urgency of taking down the shooter, “We can't worry about the victims!" he shouted. "We have to stop the shooter before we have more victims!"

Here is what Sheriff Lomardo's story about this was before he realized that he could not control the time line reports.

http://www.news.com.au/world/north-amer ... 48e6ba084a

Research from past mass casualty shootings suggest that one person is killed every 15 seconds, so police hesitation can make atrocities worse.

Mr Lombardo said his officers were taught that police intervention — no matter how small — had the power to save lives in situations such as the one they were faced with on Sunday, when Stephen Paddock rained gunfire down on a music festival crowd, killing 60 and injuring more that 500.

“As a result of what occurred in Columbine, what occurred in Sacramento, what occurred in Boston, what occurred at the Pulse nightclub, police response is changing. We have found it’s better, instead of securing the perimeter and hoping the person doesn’t continue to do acts of carnage associated with their actions, that even a small police response will stop the suspect’s actions.”

It took officers 72 minutes from the first report 911 call to find the shooter[ The response time was lengthened, the sheriff said, because there was so much confusion about where the gunfire was coming from.

The original story was that the "fog of war" resulted in a 72 minute delay in simply FINDING the shooter!

Instead of waiting for the SWAT team to arrive at the scene, a small group of officers teamed up with the Mandalay Bay security guards to perform a sweep of the 29th, 30th, 31st and 32nd floors in a desperate attempt to find the exact location of the shooter.

“Officers, on their own, without direction of a supervisor, knew what they had to do,” Mr Lombardo said. Broken windows on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino where a lone gunman opened fired on the Route 91 Harvest country music festival.

“They came together, formed a team, made a response and they didn’t wait on SWAT, they said ‘We have to stop [him]’. It’s easy to say ‘We’ll wait on SWAT, they’re the experts in tactical intrusion’, but our officers took it upon themselves to act.”

In fact, it was a security guard who was first to identify the shooter’s location.The guard was shot at and hit by Paddock as he approached his room as part of the sweep. By the time they had found Paddock’s room on the 32nd floor, the SWAT team had arrived and stormed in. Paddock then took his own life.

Mr Lombardo said he was proud of the police response and believed it helped to shut Paddock down earlier than might have otherwise been the case. "I want to say kudos to those officers that got together, said ‘this is what we trained for, active shooter, we'll put an element together, let’s go engage this individual and locate them’. And that’s what we did,” he said.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... ooter.html

The most concerning issue is there appears to have been an unexplained 24 minute delay, where SWAT teams were armed and ready to go outside Paddock's room, but waited until 11.21pm to enter.

10:37pm: SWAT officers report they are now moving up to the 32nd floor to help the police officers.

10:38pm: Cops say they haven't heard gunfire in about 10 minutes. Police radio transmissions reveal there is still some confusion over which floor the gunman is on, and whether there could be multiple shooters.

10:55pm: An officer said he was on floor 32 and was readying to make entry.

But he warned to be 'careful' on police radio transmissions by control, who asked 'Are you with the SWAT guy?' When the officer replied he was not, he was told to wait for them.

10:57pm: An officer reports they had locked down the hallway outside the gunman's room, telling dispatch they had 'multiple rifles and plenty of officers'.

But there was then a 24 minute delay while they appeared to wait for the SWAT team to arrive.

Oh, about that idiotic mendacious "security camera" plot twist

The security guard had been responding to customer’s calls about a shooting, which had begun at 10.05pm. One customer was a man who had served in the military and was able to identify that shots were coming from directly above his room that was towards the end of a hallway.

On the 3 nd floor, noticing an ajar door, the security guard began approaching and was then hit by some of the hundreds of bullets Paddock fired into the hallway.

Police, who had been checking the 31 st floor, arrived “in a matter of seconds” to find the security guard at 10.17pm, who was able to identify the shooter’s room.

Despite earlier reports that Paddock had cameras set up in the hallway and in his doors’s peephole police now say the cameras weren’t in use at the time of the shooting.

newly minted "official" Las Vegas PD timeline

10:05 p.m. — First shots fired by the suspect. This was seen on closed-circuit television from the concert venue.

10:12 p.m. — First two officers arrive on 31st floor and announce gunfire is coming from directly above them.

10:15 p.m. — Last shots are fired from the suspect per body worn camera.

10:17 p.m. — First two officers arrive on 32nd floor.

10:18 p.m. — Security officer tells Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers he was shot and gives them exact location of suspect's room.

10:26-10:30 p.m. — Eight additional officers arrive on 32nd floor and begin to move systematically down the hallway, clearing every room and looking for any injured people. They move this way because they no longer hear the gunfire of an active shooter situation.

​10:55 p.m. — Eight officers arrive in stairwell at the opposite end of the hallway nearest to the suspect's room.

11:20 p.m. — The first breach was set off and officers entered the room. They observed the suspect down on the ground and also saw a second door that could not be accessed from their position.

11:27 p.m. — The second breach was set off, allowing officers to access the second room. Officers quickly realized there was no one else in the rooms and announced over the radio that the suspect was down.

Obvious questions that will never be asked or answered:

1) Why did it take the two officers 5 minutes to get from the 31st floor to the 32nd floor where the shooting was coming from? Why didn't they at least attempt to engage the active shooter together as per standard post-Columbine USA police protocol?

2) With two officers on the scene at 10:12, why weren't more officers or at least armed hotel security personnel called in for back up at that time? Why were (supposedly) just these two officers on the scene some five minutes later?

3) Why did Mandalay Bay wait more than 10 minutes after the shooting started to send an unarmed security guard to the respond to an occupant's complaint with an obvious bloody war zone crisis in progress right outside their doors? Note that there are an average of 17 armed security guards on duty at Mandalay Bay 24/7.

4) Who barricaded the stairwells leading up to the 32nd floor? Did Paddock do this while he was setting up his non-operational security cameras?

5) Since two officers supposed finally arrived at the 32nd floor one minute before the unarmed security officer told "Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers he was shot" and gave LVPD exact location of suspect's room, were these officers witnesses to his shooting? Why did they let the poor security guard approach the shooter's door by himself when they were the ones with two man active shooter training?

6) According to the timeline, the last shots were fired at 10:15. Does this include the 200 rounds supposedly unleashed by Paddock toward the security guard? Were these 200 rounds the last shots the active shooter took? Or maybe he took one shot right after that to his own head before waiting more than an hour for the SWAT team to enter his room? Exactly how cold was the body when finally discovered?

7) Did Paddock rent out both hotel rooms? Why? Is there an adjoining door? Why were two windows busted, one in Paddock's suite and one in the next hotel room over? Did Paddock shoot at people from both rooms through both windows? If so, why? If not, why were both windows broken? How did the cops know they had to breach the second room?

Full Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Dispatch Scanner Audio Mass shooting (Warning Graphic)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=y ... xAcTKNpDeY

14:45 "three shooters"
15:45 "32 floor room 135"
17:40 "shots on 29 and 32"
18:20 "security officer shot on 32"(shooter listening to scanner)
18:55 "two shooters, fully auto weapons"
20:15 "black dually east towards delano"
26:45 "on 29th floor"
34:02 "older white male wearing black fatigues and carrying bag spotted running from area of shooting into RV"
35:10 "someone stole patrol car, need medical"
37:00 "northern most room on 32, unknown on 29"
38:31 "casualties at allibaba and giles, two scenes"
45:01 "allibaba/giles, and mandalay bay two shooting locations, possible 3rd?"
45:10 "Confiriming the Mandalay Bay, and Alibaba and Giles are the shooting locations, do we have a third?" (Giles & Alibaba are two streets that connect behind the music festival.....near motel 6 where WMA with black bag went into RV.
59:30 "possible bomb at luxor valet"
1:01:00 "advising active shooter is coming down new york new york escalator to excalibur"
1:11:00 "floor 32 room breech"
1:14:30 "one susspect down inside room 135 32nd floor"
1:20:30 (this is very hard to hear/understand) "one s__ officer that did fire, no other injuries"

& https://www.broadcastify.com/news/21

Check out the suppression of other shooting events that went on that night.

Sounds like Sheriff Lombardo is not completely on board with the "lone wolf" BS:

Paddock, who lived in Mesquite, Nevada, fired on the crowd of 22,000 for about 10 minutes, and killed himself as police closed in on him, authorities have said. Police are still trying to determine whether he had any help or whether anyone knew about his plans.

Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said he thought the gunman probably did have some kind of assistance, because he had prepared an elaborate escape plan that would have been difficult to execute by himself.

http://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/las-ve ... li=BBnb7Kz

This sounds like PTSD. My sister used to tell me that her ex-husband, who claimed he was involved in black ops in Central America in the 80s, would wake up screaming like this.

Oct 5 2017, 6:41 pm ET
Vegas Shooter’s Girlfriend Says He Would Lie in Bed Moaning, Screaming

by Julia Ainsley and Ken Dilanian

WASHINGTON — Marilou Danley, the woman investigators hoped would provide key details into the motive behind her boyfriend's deadly shooting attack, said she remembers him exhibiting symptoms such as lying in bed and moaning, according to two former FBI officials who have been briefed on the matter.

"She said he would lie in bed, just moaning and screaming, 'Oh, my God,'" one of the former officials said.

The other former official said Danley spoke about Paddock displaying "mental health symptoms."

Investigators believe Stephen Paddock, who claimed nearly 60 lives and injured hundreds more in Las Vegas on Sunday, may have been in physical or mental anguish, the sources said.

But so far the FBI has not identified a clear motive, said two FBI officials. And they do not believe Paddock's mental health had deteriorated to a point that would have triggered him to commit such an act.

Other lines of inquiry the FBI and Las Vegas police are investigating include what Paddock did in the hour between shooting a security guard and his room being breached by officers. Paddock was found dead after a SWAT team breached his door, but it is unclear when he took his own life.

Investigators are also examining approximately six media devices left behind by Paddock, one of the former officials said. Included in that search is an inquiry into Paddock's web browsing history. Multiple law enforcement officials told NBC News that Paddock researched other attack locations in Boston and Chicago.

Danley's lawyer did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

supposed eyewitness report

The Shooting Begins

After taking a few steps the madness began. The noise was debilitating. Whenever I close my eyes I can still hear the exact sound. I have spent a decent amount of time around firearms and I have fired every caliber, yet this sound was not identifiable. It truly sounded as if multiple weapons were being fired simultaneously and in different directions. Not only that, but it also sounded as if there were two or more different caliber rifles (both fully automatic) that were in use. One of which sounded like a deep, fast-paced base drum seemingly coming from and aerial vantage point to the west, and one of a smaller caliber weapon (higher-pitched) coming from much closer to the ground (still to the west). My first assumption was that there were gunmen in the crowd and that we needed to get as far away from the general population as possible.

Immediately after the first round of gun fire began, people started to scream. I did not see any movement in the crowd and did not see any casualties at this point. After a brief pause in gunfire, the second round went off. Immediately a sudden wave of people in the center of the crowd fell to the ground. Some hit by bullets, others ducking for protection. It was hard to tell which ones were which due to the immediacy of it all but we saw our fair share of both. Massive amounts of people in front us were struck. People began to panic and many were being trampled in the crowd’s pursuit to get out of the center.

...

After the second fence Natalie and I found ourselves in a gravel/sand parking lot. It was a fairly open parking lot and I assume that it was only for staff and vendors due to the sparse number of vehicles parked in it. We sprinted as fast as we could. After about 20 feet from the fence, 3 bullets struck the ground approximately 4 feet from our 2 O’clock direction. The bullets made a sharp whizzing sound as they passed by and with a sharp “pang” on the ground sent gravel flying into the air. As soon as this happened we hit the ground as fast as we could. At this point I was almost certain that a gunman was approaching and as soon as we noticed a pause in the gunfire we jumped up and began running again. With the next round of fire, I noticed 3-4 people suddenly fall to the ground. I wasn’t sure if they were ducking for cover or if they were hit by bullets. The suddenness of this movement made me assume the latter… Once this occurred we immediately ducked behind a vehicle and waited for the current round of fire to halt. Once we heard the gunfire cease we began running until we approached a large blue dumpster. We took cover and found ourselves next to three Hispanic men in janitorial outfits yelling in Spanish. All five of us were laying on the gravel on the same side of the dumpster, when suddenly the men started screaming and immediately motioned for us to get on the other side. At this point I was almost sure that there was someone approaching and at this time it sounded as if gunfire was coming from at least 3 different directions. We thought we were surrounded and rather than waiting there like sitting ducks we made the decision to keeping running East even though the shots were active. We were terrified that a wrong decision would put us face-to-face with danger.

...

(Being underneath that dogpile was terrifying. Looking at Natalie was an expression of pure pain and being unable to do anything about it was the most powerless I have ever felt. The only good thing about this incident was that underneath the dogpile was the last time we had heard shots fired. This airport was a private one which the high rollers and celebrities used to get into Las Vegas)

...

In the Airport

About 30 minutes after being in the airport building a guy stood on top of a sky bridge and loudly announced for all of us to be quiet. He announced that he was part of the FBI and that the building that we were in was now secure. He told us that we were to wait there until further notice. During this time Natalie and I huddled with many others around a TV broadcasting the incident. Dozens of people were crying, still shouting for their loved ones, crying in agony over their wounds and looking at the TV with despair. We spent about an hour and a half total in that building until we were told that busses were going to be picking us up and escorting us to the other end of the runway. Natalie and I told the security personnel that there was no way in hell that we were getting on that bus. We figured that a bus full of people would be a great target for a shooter if there was still one out there.

---After thoughts--- (Not quite sure how the freaking FBI was able to “secure” the building so quickly (about 30 minutes) after the event but nonetheless we finally felt somewhat safe.)

Two distinct sources of gunfire around the 2:00 mark?

From the press conference last night:

*over 200 strafing rounds were fired through the door at the responding Mandalay Bay security guard, Jose Campos.
*several of the weapons Paddock was using jammed during the shooting.
*gunman had an apparent escape strategy (unidentified).
*non of the cameras discovered (4) were recording.
*suspect vehicle held ten 1lb containers of tannerite explosive. Two 20lb containers of tannerite and an additional 1,600 rounds of ammunition.
*no idea why Paddock did not utilize explosives. Why bring them?
*police still seeking tips on Stephen Paddock activity for months, weeks, days up to the event.
*motive still unknown. Local LEO does not know results from FBI interview with Ms. Danley.
*the possibility of an accomplice is strong.
*there was a great deal of premeditation involved in carrying out this attack.
*possibility of Paddock having done pre-surveillance of alternate attack venue.
*thousands of rounds of ammunition present in room.
*no suicide note was found in the room.
*assumption is Paddock stopped shooting because security guard knock spooked him.

more eyewitness reports

“As it happened we heard the staff and security say they think there is a shooter out the front and then (they said) it was up on a high level, shooting down at the Route 91 music festival.”

Mr Shaw said everyone was ordered out of the gaming area and into a secure lockdown zone where they remained for several hours. At one point the group watched as eight police vehicles suddenly arrived in the lockdown area and medics rushed into the Mandalay Bay.

***

Jessica Nelson was partying with friends at Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas when she heard the volley of rifle fire.

“We heard two popping sounds that sounded like fireworks,” Mrs Nelson told Sunshine Coast Mix FM.

“We then heard another lot of single shots. I looked at my friend Justin and the colour just drained from his face. He just screamed and I froze. Thankfully we were near an exit.”

***

Another Australian man staying at the Mandalay Bay Resort has spoken about his close call with the Las Vegas gunman - claiming he launched his murderous attack from the room next door. Australian Brian Hodge, who previously worked at Jupiters Casino on the Gold Coast, claimed he was staying in the room next to the shooter on level 32 at the Las Vegas resort. He said he managed to escape the initial horrific scenes inside the hotel but found himself forced to hide in a bush for several hours after the event.

“I got outside safely and was hiding in bushes,” Mr Hodge said.

“There were multiple people dead and multiple shooters. I was just hiding waiting for police to come get us.

“It was a machine gun from the room next to me,” he said.

“My floor is a crime scene. They killed a security guard on my floor.”

***

Mr Claridge posted the video to Facebook with the status saying: “Stay off the (Vegas) strip - leaving work in Vegas, multiple shooters up near Mandalay Bay at country music festival.”

Speaking to the Gold Coast Bulletin after getting safely back to his accommodation several miles away, he said: “I have never been involved in something like that before. It was nuts.

“It was surreal, it was like ‘Is this really happening?’.”

***

Gold Coast bar owner Nathan Claridge (left) an MC with Thunder from Down, was caught up in the Las Vegas shooting.
He and colleague Benny Cleary, of the Sunshine Coast, who was driving the car asked people if they needed help - and people shouted back at them to turn around and “just get out of there”.

Another Gold Coast woman and local business owner Jessica Winters said she and her partner Peter Tutton were locked out the back of the MGM Grand nearby after being evacuated from an internal restaurant twice.

Wendy Miller from Cooroy, on the Sunshine Coast, was also caught up in the attack.

She was at a bar in the nearby Luxor Hotel with her husband when she saw what she described as a “man of interest” run by.

“We managed to make our way back to our room…” she told The Courier-Mail.

“We are in lock down.

“Our door is dead locked and a chair against the door.”

Ms Miller said the man sprinted through her hotel after coming off an escalator from the Mandalay Bay.

“The man that they [security] were chasing was wearing a security jacket like them,” she said.