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Automatic Weapon May Have Been Involved in Las Vegas Shooting, Audio Suggests Gunman’s Vantage Point and Preparations Opened the Way for Mass Slaughter
(about 3 hours later)
The police in Las Vegas have not yet offered details of the weapon or weapons used by the gunman in the Mandalay Bay Resort, but audio recordings of the mass shooting suggest that at least one automatic weapon might have been involved. From his hotel room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Stephen Paddock would have looked down upon a crowd of more than 20,000 people, surging to the final sets of a country music festival.
The gunman opened fire from a high floor of the hotel on an outdoor concert festival on Sunday night, killing more than 50 people and wounding hundreds of others in one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history. He opened fire late Sunday, killing at least 59 people and injuring 527 others in one of the deadliest mass shootings in American history, the authorities said.
The limited information available so far raises a host of technical questions, including whether the gunman had a machine gun or a military-style assault rifle, or both. Both classes of weapon have the range to reach the concert from the shooter’s hotel room and can fire multiple bullets with a single depression of a trigger, in what are commonly called bursts. But what may have seemed like a difficult feat, firing across an urban area and into a crowd from about 500 yards away — the equivalent of several football fields — appears to have been offset by Mr. Paddock’s preparations, which made it possible for him to inflict mass carnage.
Weapons capable of burst fire have long been federally regulated in the United States, and are much more difficult to obtain than weapons that fire semiautomatically, for which regulations vary by state. Law enforcement officials cautioned that their information remained preliminary amid a rapidly unfolding investigation, and it was at times contradictory. But officials said Mr. Paddock established firing positions by smashing a pair of windows in his hotel room. He was armed with at least 17 firearms, the authorities said, including rifles designed to be fired at such distances. He was also perched from a vantage point that increased the likelihood that even errant shots were more likely to strike someone than had he fired them from ground level.
In some videos of the shooting, the rate of fire sounds inconsistent, at times sputtering. This suggests another possibility: that a weapon could have been modified to fire faster, a change to a semiautomatic firearms known as bump or slide fire. Such modifications harness the recoil to allow for rapid fire. Among his weapons, a law enforcement official said, were AR-15-style rifles, a civilian variant of a standard service rifle used by the American military for more than a half-century.
The duration of the bursts in Las Vegas, as recorded, also suggest that if the shooter had military or other formal weapons training, he did not follow it. Conventional military training emphasizes brief, controlled bursts of fire, not the extended bursts heard in Las Vegas. The possibility that Mr. Paddock used tripods, which two law enforcement officials said were in the room, indicates that he understood how to overcome some of the difficulties of his plan. Special mounts designed to fit the underside of a rifle and sit atop camera tripods allow the gunman to fire more accurately while standing. Military snipers use tripods in urban spaces, often setting themselves back from a window so neither they nor their weapons can be seen from the streets below.
Bursts of that duration are difficult to control, and cause weapons to overheat, often quickly. These preparations, along with the downward angle of Mr. Paddock’s gunfire and the density of concertgoers, would make the shooting more lethal than it might otherwise have been, and more difficult to counter or escape.
The authorities identified the gunman as Stephen Paddock, 64, of Mesquite, Nev. When the gunshots started, videos showed, those in front of the stage dropped to their stomachs — often an adequate first measure when under fire. But on Sunday night, the decision potentially put them at greater risk.
Maj. Dave Eastburn, a Pentagon spokesman, said on Monday morning the branches of the military were checking their records to see whether Mr. Paddock had served in the armed forces. Mr. Paddock’s position overhead gave him a vantage point over objects and obstacles that would typically protect people from bullets flying from a gunman at ground level. It also meant that inaccurate shots — the sort common to rapid or hurried fire, which typically sail high or strike the ground short — could still plunge into areas where people were huddled.
How the gunman organized logistically for the attack raises still more questions. It was not yet clear, for example, whether Mr. Paddock fired more than one weapon, used iron sights or optical sights, changed barrels, or how much ammunition had been prepared in ammunition belts or magazines before the crime. Audio recordings of the shooting suggest that at least one of Mr. Paddock’s weapons fired automatically, discharging multiple bullets with a single depression of a trigger, in what are commonly called bursts.
Nevada, unlike some states, has no laws limiting ammunition magazine capacities, meaning the shooter could have purchased equipment locally that could hold scores of rounds, allowing him to fire longer without reloading. Weapons capable of burst fire have long been federally regulated in the United States and are more difficult to obtain than weapons that fire semiautomatically, for which regulations vary by state.
Preliminary reports from Nevada also indicate the shooter had stayed in the room for several days, which would have allowed ample time to create, or at least plan for, a shooting position allowing him to stabilize a weapon — potentially improving accuracy despite the high rate of fire. It was not clear on Monday evening whether Mr. Paddock possessed such weapons, or used semiautomatic weapons that had been altered. In some videos of the shooting, the rate of fire sounds inconsistent, at times sputtering.
More than 10 rifles were found in the room, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said at a news conference on Monday. This suggests the possibility that a weapon could have been modified to fire more quickly, a change to semiautomatic firearms known as bump or slide fire. Such modifications harness the recoil to allow for rapid fire.
The range at which the shooting occurred, roughly 400 yards from the resort to the concert stage, and longer to many areas where the concertgoers had congregated, was at the long end for many military-style rifles but average for light machine guns. The density of the crowd would mean that even relatively inaccurate fire would strike many. Sheriff Joseph Lombardo of Clark County, Nev., said that 16 rifles, ranging from .308 to .223 caliber, and a handgun were retrieved from Mr. Paddock’s hotel room. A federal law enforcement official said that AR-15-style rifles were among them. The authorities did not detail all of the guns, or which weapons Mr. Paddock fired.
Mr. Paddock had purchased some guns in Arizona, according to a gun seller there who spoke with the authorities.
Several pounds of a nonflammable exploding target used for practice were recovered from Mr. Paddock’s home in Mesquite, about an hour outside Las Vegas, Sheriff Lombardo said. Ammonium nitrate was found in Mr. Paddock’s car in Las Vegas, the sheriff said, but he did not say how much was recovered.
Determining which weapons were used will fall to investigators reviewing the crime scenes, including the hotel room, which would be littered with spent cartridge cases.
The duration of the bursts, as recorded, suggest that Mr. Paddock cared little about the military’s prescriptions for automatic fire. Sustained rapid fire is difficult to control and causes many weapons, especially light weapons, to overheat quickly.
Maj. Dave Eastburn, a Pentagon spokesman, said that the military had no record of Mr. Paddock serving in any of the uniformed services.
The length of the bursts also indicate that Mr. Paddock had magazines capable of holding scores of rounds, allowing him to fire longer without reloading.
Nevada, unlike some states, has no laws limiting ammunition magazine capacities.
The remaining limited details about how Mr. Paddock organized for the crime raise more questions. Two law enforcement officials said he used a hammer to break the windows through which he fired, and Sheriff Lombardo said he possessed scopes for at least some of his weapons, though it was not clear what roles they played.