Early this morning, police identified the man who opened fire on a concert crowd from his hotel room in Las Vegas, killing at least 59 and wounding more than 500. Stephen Paddock, 64, was staying at the Mandelay Bay hotel, which was adjacent to the Route 91 Harvest Festival, a weekend-long event headlined by country superstars including Eric Church, Sam Hunt, and Jason Aldean, who was onstage when the gunfire erupted.
Paddock, according to authorities, was perched in his room on the hotel’s 32nd floor, and killed himself inside the room shortly before police were able to apprehend him. Per reports, police said Paddock had 23 guns and “hundreds” of rounds of ammunition in his hotel room with him when his body was discovered.
Per NBC, Paddock resided in a retirement community in the Nevada city of Mesquite, about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas. He had a hunting license from Alaska and was “known to law enforcement.” On Monday, police were seeking the identity of a female companion of Paddock’s, but she was located out of the country and is not believed to have been involved in the attack.
This post has been updated.
