Vegas concert killer Stephen Paddock’s arsenal included 1,000 rounds of tracer bullets typically used in nighttime military assaults.
Las Vegas concert killer Stephen Paddock’s arsenal included 1,000 rounds of tracer bullets typically used in nighttime military assaults.
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The 64-year-old mass shooter purchased the illuminating ammunition three weeks before the Oct. 1 shooting spree that left 58 people dead at a country music festival on the Vegas strip, The Associated Press reported.
The report emerged Friday as investigators said they chased down more than 1,000 leads since the Sunday night shooting – without finding a reason for Paddock’s rampage.
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“While some of it has helped create a better profile into the madness of the suspect, we still do not have a clear motive or reason why,” said Clark County Undersheriff Kevin McCahill.
“We all want answers. We have been down every one of these paths trying to determine why.”
There remained one indicator that a second person was possibly inside the 32nd floor hotel suite at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino: A phone charger that failed to match any of Paddock’s phones, NBC News reported.
“We are very confident that there was not another shooter in the room,” said McCahill. “What I cannot confirm to you, and what we continue to investigate, is whether anybody else might have known about this incident before he carried it out.”
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It was unclear if Paddock fired any of the tracers from his perch 1,200 feet away from the concert site. The bullets leave a bright-colored trial in their wake, improving a shooter’s accuracy in the darkness.
Paddock purchased the bullets from a private gun dealer after they met at a Phoenix gun show, according to the AP. But it was unclear if the tracers were among the hundreds of bullets rained down on the helpless crowd of 22,000 before Paddock killed himself.
McCahill shot down a report a hotel key card was used to enter Paddock’s room when the millionaire gambler’s car was gone from the hotel garage.
