Stephen Paddock, the man who rained bullets down on a crowd of concertgoers last October, killing 58 people, appears in newly released surveillance video to be an ordinary hotel guest and casino patron in the days leading to the massacre.
Video and stills provided by MGM Resorts International of the Mandalay Bay resort where Paddock stayed shows him checking in at the hotel lobby, escorted by a valet and gambling in the casino. He is also seen wheeling large suitcases into his room that contained the arsenal – in all, 23 assault-style rifles and a handgun – that were recovered from his room after the attack.
Records show that Paddock made several trips between one of his homes, in Mesquite, Nevada, to the hotel, apparently to transport the weapons.
All the while, his demeanor suggests no clue that on Oct. 1, six days after checking in, he would use his 32nd-floor suite as a perch from which to carry out the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
"In the interest of providing greater context around Stephen Paddock's actions in the days leading up to October 1, MGM Resorts has released these security videos and images," MGM said in a statement accompanying the release of the images.
"As the security footage demonstrates, Stephen Paddock gave no indication of what he planned to do and his interactions with staff and overall behavior were all normal," it said. "MGM and Mandalay Bay could not reasonably foresee that a long-time guest with no known history of threats or violence and behaving in a manner that appeared outwardly normal, would carry out such an inexplicably evil, violent and deadly act."
In addition to the 58 he killed, Paddock, a 64-year-old retired accountant and real-estate investor, wounded hundreds before police reached his room and found him dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Police have been unable to develop a clear motive for the attack and the surveillance images released on Thursday appear only to deepen that mystery.
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