Las Vegas Killer Tried to Blow Up Fuel Tanks

Caveat: This report comes from The Las Vegas Review Journal.

The gunman in the Las Vegas massacre planned to escape after targeting the country music concert, but instead left behind a note and killed himself, according to Sheriff Joseph Lombardo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police. He also appears to have attempted to blow up fuel tanks within 2,000 feet of the hotel, tanks are owned by McCarran International Airport.

Two bullet holes were found in an aviation fuel tank, and one bullet penetrated the container, The Las-Vegas Review Journal reported Wednesday, citing “knowledgable” sources. No fire or explosion was caused.

The bullet holes in the tanks have since been repaired and were inspected by the FBI, according to the Review-Journal.

Paddock visited several music festivals in the Las Vegas area

Paddock booked hotel rooms in Chicago in August overlooking the Lollapalooza music festival which Malia Obama attended. He also rented a room at a condo complex overlooking the rap concert, Life is Beautiful held September 22 to September 25. These could have been dry runs.

Perhaps the fuel tanks were an attraction for him?

Paddock led a secretive life and his girlfriend is not forthcoming. It hardly seems possible that she knew nothing but we don’t have all the information authorities have.

He had an escape plan and perhaps he had help

Lombardo has not ruled out anything including terrorism and he suspects the killer had help. He’s finding it hard to believed he brought up all the equipment by himself. Not having seen the equipment, it’s impossible to judge, but Paddock was big, 6’5″.

“He was doing everything possible to see how he could escape at this point,” Lombardo said.

If he had an escape plan, was the house Danley was told to buy in the Philippines part of an escape plan?

Paddock was seen with another woman in the days before the shooting.

The sheriff seems pretty certain Paddock thought he could escape after the attack which, if true, throws suicide theories out the window and highlights the psychopathy angle.

Before killing himself, Paddock, 64, had set up cameras inside and outside his hotel suite, and in the peep hole.

Police also found 50 pounds of explosives and 1,600 rounds of ammunition in his car in the Mandalay Bay hotel parking lot, according to Lombardo. There was also a note in his hotel room, but it was not a suicide note, he said, without providing details on what it said.

“What we know is Paddock is a man who spent decades acquiring guns and ammo, and living a secret life,” Lombardo said. “Anything that would indicate this individual trigger point, which would cause him to inflict this harm, we’re not there yet.”

Something may have happened between October last year and September this year that compelled him to purchase more weapons and ultimately lead to the massacre. The killer bought 33 firearms, mostly rifles, during that 11-month period, authorities said.

“Do you think this was all accomplished on his own? You’ve got to make the assumption he had to have some help at some point,” Lombardo said.

He highlighted the killer’s many weapons and explosives in his car. Investigators say evidence shows Paddock meticulously planned the shooting, a sign that the man was culpable and not legally insane.

People are making an issue of the medication he took, but Valium just isn’t that powerful and two prescriptions a year apart is hardly an issue. What is an issue is what happened to make him request an anti-anxiety drug starting in June of last year? What happened in September? Was it something political?

“Was he doing pre-surveillance? We don’t know yet, this is all conjecture at this point,” Lombardo said.

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