Las Vegas Strip gunman had fully automatic converter
Oct 3, 2017, 7:27 AM | Updated: 10:10 pm
In this Feb. 1, 2013, file photo, an employee of North Raleigh Guns demonstrates how a "bump" stock works at the Raleigh, N.C., shop. The gunman who unleashed hundreds of rounds of gunfire on a crowd of concertgoers in Las Vegas on Monday, Oct. 2, 2017, attached what is called a "bump-stock" to two of his weapons, in effect converting semiautomatic firearms into fully automatic ones. (AP Photo/Allen Breed, File)
(AP Photo/Allen Breed, File)
Investigators of the massacre in Las Vegas said the gunman had “bump-stocks” that can be used to convert semi-automatic firearms to fully automatic.
Shooter Stephen Paddock, who killed 59 people and wounded over 500 others at a country music festival on the famed Strip, had 23 guns in his room at Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino.
The Las Vegas Police Department said in a news briefing Tuesday night that 47 guns across three locations, including the hotel room and Paddock’s home, have been recovered. LVPD said the guns came from Nevada, California, Texas and Utah.
On Monday, Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said they were “aware” one of the guns was from Arizona, but as of Tuesday, Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms did not mention one coming from the Grand Canyon state. However, they were still waiting on results from some of the guns found in Paddock’s home in Mesquite, Nevada.
ATF also announced during Tuesday’s briefing that devices were attached to 12 weapons allowing semiautomatic rifles to mimic fully automatic gunfire.
Paddock stood in the windows late Sunday night 500 yards away and fired down on a crowd of about 22,000, discharging rapid-fire round after rapid-fire round.
It was the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. A SWAT team said Paddock was dead in the room when they broke down the door.
Authorities say the Las Vegas shooter put a camera inside the peephole of his hotel room to see down the hallway as he opened fire on a crowd of concertgoers.
Undersheriff Kevin McMahill told reporters Tuesday that Paddock also set up two cameras in the hallway outside his room at the Mandalay Bay casino-hotel so he could watch law enforcement or security approach.
He says Paddock fired on and off for nine to 11 minutes and unleashed a dozen or so volleys. He says the first call about shots fired came in at 10:08 p.m. Sunday and the gunfire stopped at 10:19 p.m.
The Los Angeles Times reported that Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), who sits on the House Intelligence Committee, said investigators told him fully automatic weapons had been found in the room.
Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said Paddock, 64, of Mesquite, near the Arizona border, used multiple rifles in the killings.
Las Vegas Police said at least 19 weapons were found at Paddock’s home and that ingredients that could be used to make a bomb were in his car at the hotel.
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Private citizens can only own fully automatic weapons through a license from the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms. The applicant must pass a federal background check.
“I’d be surprised if he actually had a license to own one of those,” retired FBI agent Rich Frankel told KTAR News 92.3 FM’s Arizona’s Morning News on Monday.
“Usually only SWAT teams or military (have them) and they only come out in actual engagement,” Frankel said.
A semiautomatic weapon requires one trigger pull for each round fired. With a fully automatic firearm, one trigger pull can unleash continuous rounds until the magazine is empty.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
