Las Vegas Shooting: Unsealed documents reveal new details
By Scott Glover and Sara Sidner, CNN
Updated 0631 GMT (1431 HKT) January 13, 2018
Documents released on Las Vegas shooting
Crime scene tape surrounds the Mandalay Hotel (background) after a gunman killed at least 50 people and wounded more than 200 others when he opened fire on a country music concert in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 2, 2017.
Police said the gunman, a 64-year-old local resident named as Stephen Paddock, had been killed after a SWAT team responded to reports of multiple gunfire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay, a hotel-casino next to the concert venue.
Shooter's angle prevented people from escaping
Las Vegas shooter brother background
Vegas shooter's brother in disbelief
Confusion, terror as concertgoers flee
Audio: Officers blast through shooter's door
las vegas concert shooter brother
Brother: 'Like an asteroid fell out of the sky'
LAS VEGAS, NV - OCTOBER 01: People run from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after apparent gun fire was heard on October 1, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. There are reports of an active shooter around the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.
Documents released on Las Vegas shooting
las vegas shooters hotel room 2016 orig _00003509.jpg
2016 video shows shooter's view
body cam video
Las Vegas police release bodycam video
Las Vegas killer's gambling habits revealed
This undated photo provided by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department shows Marilou Danley. Danley, 62, returned to the United States from the Philippines on Tuesday night, Oct. 3, 2017, and was met at Los Angeles International Airport by FBI agents, according to a law enforcement official. Authorities are trying to determine why Stephen Paddock, Danley's boyfriend, killed dozens of people in Las Vegas Oct. 1, in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department via AP, File)
Gunman's girlfriend being questioned by FBI
Crime scene tape surrounds the Mandalay Hotel (background) after a gunman killed at least 50 people and wounded more than 200 others when he opened fire on a country music concert in Las Vegas, Nevada on October 2, 2017.
Police said the gunman, a 64-year-old local resident named as Stephen Paddock, had been killed after a SWAT team responded to reports of multiple gunfire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay, a hotel-casino next to the concert venue.
Shooter's angle prevented people from escaping
Las Vegas shooter brother background orig
Vegas shooter's brother in disbelief
LAS VEGAS, NV - OCTOBER 02: A cowboy hat lays in the street after shots were fired near a country music festival on October 1, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. A gunman has opened fire on a music festival in Las Vegas, leaving at least 20 people dead and more than 100 injured. Police have confirmed that one suspect has been shot. The investigation is ongoing.
Confusion, terror as concertgoers flee
LAS VEGAS, NV - OCTOBER 02: An injured person is tended to in the intersection of Tropicana Ave. and Las Vegas Boulevard after a mass shooting at a country music festival nearby on October 2, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. A gunman has opened fire on a music festival in Las Vegas, killing over 20 people. Police have confirmed that one suspect has been shot dead. The investigation is ongoing.
Audio: Officers blast through shooter's door
las vegas concert shooter brother
LAS VEGAS, NV - OCTOBER 01: People run from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after apparent gun fire was heard on October 1, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. There are reports of an active shooter around the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.
Documents released on Las Vegas shooting
las vegas shooters hotel room
2016 video shows shooter's view
body cam video
Las Vegas police release bodycam video
Las Vegas killer's gambling habits revealed
This undated photo provided by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department shows Marilou Danley. Danley, 62, returned to the United States from the Philippines on Tuesday night, Oct. 3, 2017, and was met at Los Angeles International Airport by FBI agents, according to a law enforcement official. Authorities are trying to determine why Stephen Paddock, Danley's boyfriend, killed dozens of people in Las Vegas Oct. 1, in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
Gunman's girlfriend being questioned by FBI
(CNN)Hundreds of pages of court documents unsealed Friday in the case of Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock offer a blueprint of investigators' pursuits in determining how and why the reclusive high-stakes gambler carried out the deadliest shooting in modern US history.
A federal judge on Friday made public more than a dozen search warrant affidavits that had been filed by the FBI in the days and weeks after the shooting. The judge did so in response to a lawsuit filed by CNN and other media organizations.
The documents describe what investigators believed at the time the affidavits were filed, but do not provide up-to-date information about the investigation. An FBI spokeswoman in Las Vegas declined comment on the documents on Friday evening. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department did not respond to calls seeking comment.
Among the revelations in the affidavits are discussions about mystery email exchanges that occurred two months prior to the attack, which investigators believed may have been related to shooting at the Las Vegas music festival in October, where 58 people were killed and hundreds of others were injured.
"Try an ar before u buy. We have huge selection. Located in the las vegas area," read one message sent to an account investigators believe was controlled by Paddock, the documents state.
Las Vegas victims
Later that day another email read: "We have a wide variety of optics and ammunition to try."
A third read: "For a thrill try out bumpfire ar's with 100 round magazine."
Investigators at the time of the filing had been unable to determine if Paddock was sending emails between two accounts both belonging to himself, or was communicating with someone else.
If there was a second person involved in the communications, an FBI agent wrote, "investigators need to determine who was communicating with him about weapons that were used in the attack."
A CNN review of public records shows that the email account linked to the sender is associated with a "Steve P."
Authorities have repeatedly stated that Paddock acted alone.
Las Vegas killer had money troubles prior to attack, but motive still unclear, sheriff says
Las Vegas killer had money troubles prior to attack, but motive still unclear, sheriff says
The documents also noted that Paddock's girlfriend, Marilou Danely, told investigators that her fingerprints would likely be found on Paddock's ammunition, but she adamantly denied any advance knowledge of the attack, according to the court records.
Danely offered this information as investigators were preparing to take a DNA swab from her, the records state. She told investigators her prints would likely be on the ammunition because she "occasionally participated in loading magazines."
The FBI agent who prepared the affidavit noted that Danely was cooperating with investigators and that the investigation "to date has not produced any conclusive evidence that Danely aided Paddock, had foreknowledge of his plans, or has been deceptive with law enforcement."
The agent also noted: "this aspect of the investigation is still the subject of intense review."
Hotel staff interacted with Las Vegas shooter more than 10 times before massacre
Hotel staff interacted with Las Vegas shooter more than 10 times before massacre
It is unclear what has transpired with respect to Danely since the affidavit was written on October 7.
Danely's attorney did not respond to a call or text seeking comment on Friday evening.
The court records also show that investigators sought to preserve the content of social media accounts on Instagram and Facebook linked to Paddock and Danely.
An affidavit notes that Danely's Facebook account was deleted hours after the attack.
One affidavit filed in the early days of the investigation made a reference to the gunman's health.
"The investigation has also revealed that Paddock may have been treated for yet unidentified medical conditions," an agent wrote.
CNN reported in October that Paddock testified in a deposition that he occasionally suffered from anxiousness, for which he was prescribed Valium.
CNN's Paul Murphy contributed to this report.
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