“Minute” Changes to Facts about Las Vegas Shooting

Above is video of the press conference given yesterday, October 9, 2017, by Sheriff Joseph Lombardo of the Las Vegas police department. This press conference was a stunner, in that many of the facts previously given to the public have been changed (“clarified” or “updated”) over the 8+ days since the terror attack.

The most stunning change was in the timeline. The unarmed casino security guard, contrary to prior information provided by authorities, was shot before any concert goer was shot.

The guard was shot in the leg a full 6 minutes before Stephen Paddock opened fire on the concert venue. Paddock then rained bullets down upon the concert goers for next 10 minutes. That makes 16 minutes during which the security guard waited somewhere (in the hall?) for assistance. At some point, the guard encountered a maintenance worker, whom, the sheriff says, he prevented from being harmed by the gunman.

The guard had gone to the 32nd floor to respond to an alarm that a door was open. It was not, according to the sheriff, one of the doors to the shooter’s suite. It possibly was the door to the stairs leading to the emergency fire escape, a door which the shooter secured to stymie first responders. His activities on that door may have triggered the alarm to which the guard responded.

Unexplained is how police did not seem to know the location of the shooter as they responded to the massacre, given that the guard had definitely known where a shooter was for at least 16 minutes. The guard notified casino security that he had been shot and by whom, so why didn’t they advise the police? The police who arrived by elevator on the 32nd floor first learned of the security guard’s injury at that time, according to the sheriff. (Note that the link contains the incorrect timeline with regard to the guard.)

Apropos, perhaps, of nothing:  The sheriff is a Republican who was elected by a close margin in 2014 and plans to run for reelection next year.  As a member of the military and as someone who studied at the FBI academy, he no doubt knows how to follow orders from above. He also reportedly supports some types of gun control.

The FBI agent seen to the right of the sheriff in the video was appointed to his Las Vegas position in summer 2016 by then-FBI Director James Comey. This FBI agent closely watched the sheriff during the presser and nodded at particular moments, when the sheriff gave certain facts (which tended to support the official narrative). At one point, the agent prevented the sheriff from telling the public how many cell phones were found in the shooter’s room and what they may have revealed to investigators.

Why did it take 8 days for the authorities to nail down the sequence of events with regard to the security guard and to apprise the public of this change (or update)?

The guard, in the meantime, has been hailed as the hero who stopped the gunman from shooting at the concert crowd. This, as we now know, is not true.  On the contrary, after his encounter with the guard, the shooter began his killing spree.

Had this been his original plan, moved up by necessity after being interrupted  by the guard, or was he planning something altogether different?

The sheriff did not volunteer most of these changes or updates. Instead, reporters asked pointed questions, which elicited the revelations.

The sheriff did mention his responsibility to “ensure the public safety” and to bring about “calming of their minds,” which, he implied, meant that “some things are gonna change,” but in his opinion these changes are “minute.”

To prevent panic, or to keep from tipping off potential accomplices, or to keep from triggering more attacks, perhaps it’s necessary to keep the public in the dark about certain “facts.”

The sheriff admitted that the shooter had checked into the hotel on the 25th, not the 28th, as previously reported. He cut off a woman who seemed to be trying to question him about the room service ticket from the 27th, in the  name of Stephen Paddock, which listed at least 2 meals delivered to 2 guests in the room.

After being asked about the sound of drilling, the sheriff said that the security guard had heard Paddock drilling a hole in the wall adjacent to one of the doors, apparently to install a camera or perhaps a gun. The sheriff answered some questions, he said, because reporters “picked up on it.” The sheriff also indicated there was no evidence that Paddock had rigged any electronic device with which to trigger the explosives in his car from a distance.

The sheriff offered facts to support his theory that Paddock may have expected to escape. For example, the shooter had personal protection (body armor?). In addition, he shot at large tanks containing jet fuel located near the concert venue and he also had explosives in his car, perhaps to create distractions during which he could just “leave the hotel.”

So many questions remain to be answered. Why, for example, did the shooter have two separate rooms, with two separate perches from which to shoot, which required him to walk 20 or 30, perhaps 40 feet, between one window and another? Why did he have so many guns? Was the plan for there to be other shooters, yet to arrive–a plan that was interrupted by the curious security guard?

We’re still instructed to believe, however, that there was only one shooter. This link presents a video, documenting a citizen’s analysis of the acoustics of the gunshots. His analysis suggests that there was more than one shooter–there was another shooter who was not in the hotel but instead was positioned several hundred yards closer to the concert venue than was Paddock. Some concert attendees had reported a shooter within the crowd or, variously, one who was shooting into the crowd from another direction than Paddock’s hotel. This link presents police radio transcriptions, documenting reports of more than one shooter. This link provides more analysis of these recent timeline changes.  Of particular interest is the image providing the layout of the shooter’s suite, in which you can see the distance Paddock had to walk to shoot from either window.

The sheriff says there will be no more press conferences until Friday, the 13th of October. The FBI and LV police continue to reexamine the various scenes and to develop a behavioral analysis of the shooter. They also are interviewing his brother and girlfriend.

The sheriff said that it took his team 12 minutes to get to the shooter’s door. The guard was shot at 9:59 p.m. The shooter began shooting concert attendees at 10:05 p.m. He shot, according to the sheriff, for 10 minutes. That means that he stopped shooting at 10:15 p.m. Was the shooter already dead when the police arrived at the door at 10:17 p.m.? The sheriff said,

You know, and during a critical incident, 12 minutes is a long time, you know? Could you imagine being in a fistfight for 12 minutes? It’s a very long time. But when you step back and you evaluate it after the fact, it’s a s– very short period of time for th– to get the intelligence, figure out what the hell is going on– put a team together. Go up 32 floors and evaluate the situation. I think they prevented a thousand deaths. And I think it’s important for the American public to understand that.

Let’s hope that We the People eventually learn the whole truth about this domestic terror attack, so that we can understand.

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