LAS VEGAS — Perched in his suite at a high-rise hotel overlooking the Las Vegas Strip, a 64-year-old retiree with no real criminal history and no known affiliations with terrorist groups rained bullets down into a crowd at a country music festival Sunday, killing at least 59 people and injuring hundreds more in the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.
The attack, at least initially, was as inexplicable as it was horrifying. Law enforcement officials said they could not immediately tell what drove Stephen Paddock to fire at thousands of unsuspecting people from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino before killing himself.
Authorities said a sweep of law enforcement databases showed that Paddock had no known run-ins with police, and – despite the Islamic State’s repeated claims – investigators could not find any connections to international terrorist groups. Paddock was a son of a notorious bank robber, and his own crime demonstrated some sophisticated planning.
Police said he had stayed in the large hotel suite for several days and had aroused no suspicion. He brought with him an arsenal of 23 guns – their calibers ranging from .223 to .308, some with scopes – authorities said. One of the weapons he apparently used in the attack was an AK-47-type rifle, with a stand to steady it for firing, people familiar with the case said. He fired, without warning, from an elevated position on an open-air venue, leaving his victims few options to avoid harm.
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