On 18 January, 2018, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) released a preliminary report on the mass murder committed on 1 October, 2017.
The report is unusual, a unique response to the public clamoring for facts after the shooting. Ordinarily, the LVMPD does not release information about an ongoing investigation.
This is an ongoing investigation, and is not a complete report. However, the report lists a number of preliminary conclusions that many people will disagree with. Whether you disagree or not, the report contains a wealth of information, and provides significant amounts of valuable data for those who are interested and attempting to understand the event, how it occurred, and what the shooter did in the years and weeks previous to the shooting from Mandalay Bay in Las Vegas.
There are excellent diagrams and pictures of the scene and the layout that make clear many of the confusions about the event.
A detailed inventory of the firearms found in the Mandalay Bay suite consisting of rooms 32-135 and 32-134 provides significant information. Time references to the numerous times that the shooter took luggage to the suite makes it clear that there was no difficulty in the shooter bringing the 23 AR-15 and AR-10 clones, 1 bolt action .308 rifle with scope, and 1 revolver to the suite without fear of detection.
The shooter brought five suitcase bags with him on September 25th. The shooter rolled one bag, and a bellman took the other four bags on a luggage cart. On 26 September, the shooter brought six suitcases and one rolling suitcase to the Mandalay Bay. The six suitcases were brought up by luggage cart with a bellman. The rolling suitcase was brought by the shooter. This movement of luggage was with a different bellman than on 25 September.
On 26th September the shooter was seen in the valet area of Mandalay bay with two rolling suitcases. It appears he left the Mandalay Bay with the two suitcases, then returned on 28 September with two rolling suitcases.
On September 30th, the shooter brought more suitcases to his room, which was now the suite of 32-135 and 32-134.
On October 1st, the shooter brought two more rolling suitcases and a bag into the Mandalay Bay.
In total, over a week and in at least four different events, the shooter, using rolling suitcases, luggage carts and bellmen, moved at least 17 pieces of luggage in the Mandalay Bay.
None of this was even remotely a cause for alarm. Those of you who have spend any time traveling and using hotels know that the movement of five, six, or seven large suitcases into room and suites is a commonplace occurrence. All of the rifles found in the suite could easily be disassembled into components that can fit into a large suitcase. Some of the suitcases may have been used more than once.
All of the rifles and the revolver are identified by manufacturer and serial number in the report. There were 13 AR-15 clones with 100 round magazines and bump stocks. This meant that the shooter never would have had to change magazines to shoot the number of cartridges expended. One AR-15 type rifle had a 40 round magazine. One AR-15 type rifle did not have a magazine in it. That shows 15 AR-15 type rifles in the suite.
There were Six AR-10 clones with 25 round magazines and two AR-10 clones without magazines in the rifles. There was on Ruger scoped bolt action rifle chambered in .308.
One Smith & Wesson model 342 AirLite Ti .38 revolver was found with four live rounds and one fired cartridge case in the cylinder. The shooter had purchased 29 firearms from 1982 to September 2016. Of the firearms found in the Mandalay Bay suite, only the revolver had been purchased before September, 2016.
At least 10 suitcases were found in the suite during the investigation.
Approximately 1,050 .223/5.56 empty cartridge cases were found in the suite. Only 8 .308/7.62 cartridge cases were listed as being found.
At least 14 loaded magazines were found in the suite, with about 5,280 rounds of live ammunition. The loaded magazines included steel 100 round AR-15 magazines, polymer 40 round AR-15 magazines, and polymer 25 round AR-10 magazines. Empty rifle magazines were also found. The magazines are not numbered by type in the report.
The report mentions that there were 1,965 leads investigated, including 21,560 hours of video and 251,099 images obtained. Analysis found 529 sightings of the shooter.
While it has been reported that the door of the suite had a hundred bullet holes, in fact, there were only about 35 shots fired through the door, resulting in about 200 bullet strikes as the projectiles went through the door and struck additional walls and doors inside Mandalay Bay. Security officer Campos was struck in the left calf by a bullet fragment, which he initially though was from a BB or pellet gun.
On page 47 of the report, it is reported that several hundred images of child pornography were found on a Dell laptop in the Mandalay Bay suite. Investigation into those images is ongoing. The same laptop held evidence of numerous searches about outdoor venues and other information that would be relevant to planning the mass murder that took place.
The shooter fired about eight rounds of .308 at the fuel tanks at the airport. Google Earth shows the range to the tanks to be about 675 yards. The bullet strikes did not ignite any fuel. The pictures in the report look as though the bullets did not penetrate the tank.
This review covers only a small portion of the information in the preliminary report. Those who are interested can read the entire report at this link.
©2018 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice and link are included.
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