When retiree Stephen Paddock checked into his 32nd-floor hotel suite at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino last Thursday, nothing appeared unusual.
Paddock had booked room 32135, described by Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Joseph Lombardo as one large suite with uninterrupted views of the Las Vegas Strip.
The former accountant would've had a clear view of the Route 91 Harvest Festival, a 3-day country music event taking place in an open-air, ground-level venue across the Strip, some 400 yards away from his hotel.
On Sunday night, as the crowd of about 22,000 people listened to headliner Jason Aldean below, Paddock smashed two windows of his hotel suite — one in the front and one on the corner — and fired into the crowd, ultimately killing 59 and injuring hundreds of others.
The attack was the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.
The hotel suite
Housekeepers said they “saw no signs of anything” suspicious in the two-room suite, Nevada Rep. Dina Titus told CNN.
Paddock had 23 guns inside the suite, as well as hammers, LVMPD Assistant Sheriff Todd Fasulo said. The arsenal “was pretty well hidden,” Titus said.
The gunman had brought “in excess of 10” suitcases to his room over several days, Lombardo told reporters Monday. Authorities believe Paddock brought the weapons into the hotel by himself, but they did not provide specifics.
The raid
