On this episode of the world famous Sofa King Podcast, we take on some true crime and conspiracy theories and look at the mass shooting of Las Vegas. On October 1, 2017, a gunman named Stephen Paddock allegedly opened fire on a crowd of 22,000 people. He killed dozens and wounded hundreds in what was the worst mass shooting in American history. He was able to wreak such destruction because he was on the 32nd story of the Mandalay Bay and had a perfect vantage point over an open-air concert 500 yards away. Well, at least that’s the official version.

So, officially, Stephen Paddock was a retired real estate guy who had become a high stakes gambler in Vegas. He specialized in video poker and was known in the casinos and got comped rooms. After a year of spending over a million and a half dollars at the casinos, he started staking out concerts he could shoot. From Lollapalooza to a smaller open air festival, he scoped out venues and made plans that he never went through with. By September of 2017, however, this nut job was crazy enough to do it. He sent his girlfriend to the Philippines and wired her $150,000 dollars and spent several days taking a small arsenal into a pair of hotel suites.

On the day of the shooting, a security guard was alerted to a door being left open and went to investigate near Paddock’s room. Paddock was drilling a metal bracket on his hotel door, so nobody could kick it in, and he opened fire through the door, hitting the security guard and firing on a repair man. From there, he broke his windows with a hammer and opened fire.

The devastation was horrible. People were dying in droves and couldn’t even figure out where to take cover since they couldn’t find a gunman anywhere. It even took the cops several minutes to realize he was firing form the tower.

But from here, problems come in. For one, his brother seemed to have said both positive and negative things about him. Second, the casino seemed to have covered up the shooting and called a private police hotline, not 911. This delayed responses. Then, there was the odd misfire of a cop moments after they barged into Paddock’s hotel room. YouTube videos seem to have audio that indicates there may have been more than one series of gunshots.

And, the most extreme case of all, a CIA agent and an ex member of the White House both claimed Paddock was working with Islamic groups to help topple the Trump White House. At the end of the day, the FBI says they could find no motive for the shooting. Some witnesses claim the guy was a conspiracy theorist based on conversation. Others claim there was a second shooter. Whatever the truth, this maniac killed a lot of innocent people, and Vegas will never be the same.

Interview with the security guard: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F7gj1FoRIfE

Detailed timeline: https://www.businessinsider.com/timeline-shows-exactly-how-the-las-vegas-massacre-unfolded-2018-9#1013-pm-police-outside-realise-where-the-shots-are-coming-from-7

Politico Conspiracy: https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2018/11/16/conspiracy-theory-las-vegas-shooting-dangerous-222576