David Vance SubstackRead More
They say that what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas but I’m still curious about the Oct 1st 2017 Las Vegas shooting. This was the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in modern U.S. history, allegedly perpetrated by Stephen Paddock from the Mandalay Bay hotel. I had been for dinner in that very hotel in 2015 and remember it well. Like many hotels along the strip it was pretty upmarket. There are several oddities about what happened that night that should give us pause for thought.
First and foremost, what was Stephen Paddock’s actual motive? Despite extensive investigations by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (closing in 2018) and the FBI (closing in 2019), no single or clear motivating factor was ever identified. Paddock left no manifesto, note, or explanation, and officials concluded he acted alone without ties to ideological, religious, or political groups—leaving the “why” officially undetermined. If he had a motive, it died with him. That’s odd.
Another mystery is how did Paddock transport and accumulate such a large arsenal undetected? He brought over 20 rifles, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and other equipment into his 32nd floor suite over several days, including modifying weapons with bump stocks for rapid fire. Questions persist about hotel surveillance, check-in procedures, and why multiple trips with heavy bags did not raise significant alarms prior to the attack. It’s hard to understand how nobody saw anything.
We might then wonder why there were so many more conflicting reports of multiple shooters or gunfire from other locations? Even stranger, many of these reports came after Paddock was confirmed dead. Numerous eyewitnesses, 911 calls, and initial police scanner audio described shots from various directions (including lower floors or hotels as far away as the Bellagio), muzzle flashes elsewhere, or even helicopter involvement. Official reports attributed this to echoes, chaos, and acoustic confusion in the urban environment, but some accounts remain hard to reconcile with a single shooter.
What explains the shifting timeline of events, particularly involving the security guard? The initial public narrative changed multiple times, including when unarmed security guard Jesus Campos was shot (about six minutes before the concert gunfire began, rather than during). This raised questions about hotel communication with police, potential delays in response, and whether information was withheld or clarified slowly.
Unlike other major mass shooting incidents, the Vegas shootings received massive initial coverage but this quickly diminished, with remarkable limited long-term media follow-up, documentaries, or public inquiries. 60 people died, over 800 were injured and yet, crickets. There was something very strange happening that night in Sin City and I don’t think we have been told the half of it!
