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-Lurid Crime Tales-
Las Vegas gunman booked hotel rooms overlooking Chicago's Lollapalooza two months ago where Malia Obama watched The Killers, Charli XCX and Muse - and scouted locations in Boston too
2017-10-06
[DailyMail]
  • Stephen Paddock booked two rooms at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago

  • Hotel is located across the street from Lollapalooza festival area

  • Rooms were booked on the dates of the festival, overlooking the area

  • TMZ reported he insisted on a room with a view of the festival in the Chicago booking made via Expedia

  • Paddock killed 58 and injured 489 during a country music festival on Sunday

  • Multiple reports say he also scouted locations in Boston including Fenway Park
Posted by:trailing wife

#34  What is a "legacy millionaire"? His record of winnings at gambling seems most improbable.

I guess we can eliminate family inheritance. His father's back robbery didn't go as planned either.
Posted by: Besoeker   2017-10-06 22:57  

#33  What is a "legacy millionaire"? His record of winnings at gambling seems most improbable.
Posted by: Anguper Hupomosing9418   2017-10-06 22:48  

#32  Good analysis at #30. I think the murdering bastid ran out of time. (discovered sooner than anticipated)
Posted by: Besoeker   2017-10-06 22:27  

#31  He's money laundering and his compulsive gambling causes him to lose way more than planned, putting him deeply in debt to serious bad guys

Interesting. Years ago story made the rounds about a mysterious horse track gambler in Pennsylvania who was dubbed Mr. Saturday Night. This individual showed up occasionally, placed big bets that always seemed to be winners, then would disappear for some length of time. It was opined that Mr. Saturday Night was what is called in mob parlance a "bridge jumper," a bagman who was betting other people's money and would have no recourse but to jump off a bridge - commit suicide - if the bet was lost.
Posted by: M. Murcek   2017-10-06 22:24  

#30  I believe he was expecting a different outcome after the first 10 minute volley. Since he had never done something as hideous as this, he brought in as many weapons as he could as a security blanket when he was not under the influence.

When the expected post fire fight never materialized with police (the SWAT people simply isolated the area but stayed back after the shooting stopped) and possibly because he got wasted in order to get the nerve to do this, he ended up committing suicide sometime during the event because of drunken mood swings that would occur after the massacre he just committed.

I do think he was influenced by the flame throwing media against traditional Americans. I also think he was competing with his father, who was once on the 10 most wanted FBI list nationally.

Yes. He was a bad guy.
Posted by: Hupeting Sforza8196   2017-10-06 22:19  

#29  https://twitter.com/rcallimachi/status/915998590153129984
Posted by: newc   2017-10-06 20:40  

#28  Here's a scenario;

He's money laundering and his compulsive gambling causes him to lose way more than planned, putting him deeply in debt to serious bad guys (Jihadists?). He is offered a way to clear his debt, a mass casualty attack.

The scouting of locations is him stalling for time. Which he eventually runs out of, and he is forced by the bad guys to act.
Posted by: phil_b   2017-10-06 20:32  

#27  Also, Valium calms the shakes for contract killers and Paddock had night terrors.
Posted by: Whavish Thusoling5684   2017-10-06 20:08  

#26  The tail number of a Cirrus SR-20 can be traced to Volant Associates, a Department of Defense contractor. Paddock sounds like he may be a black ops privateer. He took numerous cruises, mostly to the Mediterranean and Middle East, too. The arms purchase in St. George piqued my interest, as another money laundering case connected to illegal gambling entrenched the Utah Attorney General Swallow and a businessman in a bipartisan scandal, with a recording asking Harry
Reid to "make it all go away" used to indict in 2014. The little resort area is in fairly remote Mormon country on the Nevada border.
Posted by: Whavish Thusoling5684   2017-10-06 20:05  

#25  But for whom?
Posted by: phil_b   2017-10-06 19:41  

#24  'It gets better: according to Paddock's IRS records, the gunman was not only a legacy millionaire, he was a successful gambler, earning at least $5 million in 2015. Some of that could be from other investments, but most of it was from gambling, officials told NBC.'

Money laundering.
Posted by: phil_b   2017-10-06 19:21  

#23  CNN

Personally I'm interested in seeing if those planes flew out of US airspace
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2017-10-06 18:49  

#22  BP, what is the source of the travel allegation?
Posted by: NoMoreBS   2017-10-06 18:23  

#21  Unlinked/Unverified as yet, but it's said he went to Jordan and UAE.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2017-10-06 17:24  

#20  http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4949534/Stephen-Paddock-bought-mystery-rifle-going-Vegas.html

I also find it a bit odd he would buy a bolt action rifle that day, when he had a whole arsenal of semiautomatics.
Posted by: phil_b   2017-10-06 17:01  

#19  @phil_b
Link?
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2017-10-06 16:45  

#18  And the rifle he bought that day still apparently missing.
Posted by: phil_b   2017-10-06 16:43  

#17  Investigators Probing Whether Others Were in Las Vegas Gunman’s Suite
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2017-10-06 16:25  

#16  Some talk sneaking out about accomplice(s) two meals delivered to room service.
Being in hotel days before booked in.
Vehicle being out of hotel garage while room door used etc.
Posted by: Bright Pebbles   2017-10-06 16:18  

#15  Notice also the targets in Vegas, and the comments by the Left/Progressives.
Posted by: Pappy   2017-10-06 16:01  

#14  You expect a Democratically controlled state to break the narrative about Islamo-terrorism???

We're not a Democratically controlled state SPD. Las Vegas is, but not the rest of Nevada, and not all of the state government. Still, there's something rotten in Denmark...
Posted by: Secret Master   2017-10-06 15:42  

#13  It'll be interesting to see if all of the weapons had been purchased by the shtbird and if his fingerprints, or others, were found on them.

The additional targets seem to suggest he wanted carnage, but not specifically conservative country-fan carnage or convenient to where I live carnage.

This last bit points me to ISIS involvement (they do persist in claiming him) or the left trying really hard to protect another Bernie-bro that went psycho after half a year of fascist this and racist that 24/7 on the news.
Posted by: rjschwarz   2017-10-06 14:49  

#12  You expect a Democratically controlled state to break the narrative about Islamo-terrorism???
Posted by: Sock Puppet of Doom   2017-10-06 14:12  

#11  Thank you for your insights Richard.
Posted by: Besoeker   2017-10-06 13:54  

#10  The longer this whole thing drags on without any clear indication of a motive, the more I'm inclined to suspect that Paddock was radicalized online by islamists (ISIS, or whoever) and this was a well-planned and executed terrorist attack on their behalf.

That is my operating hypothesis until proven otherwise and I'm basing it on the evidence we have been given thus far, which has all the hallmarks of a terrorist attack.

I'm also basing it on the fact that the authorities have been very tight lipped about motive and it's been FIVE days since the attack. I find it hard to believe they know nothing at this point. They most surely do, they're just not telling us for some reason.
Posted by: Eltoroverde   2017-10-06 13:53  

#9  We heard Tank Farm was hit earlier this week. Apparently the outer 'tank shells' were all that were damaged. Inner dual-wall tanks (the seriously thick ones) were okay. Patched and re-painted by Monday afternoon.

System worked sort of as designed as airport outer tank shells are rated to protect the inner dual-walled tanks in case of a plane running into them (but not exploding).
Posted by: Mullah Richard   2017-10-06 11:47  

#8  FOX just reported that the tank farm was hit with gunfire from Paddock's room.
Posted by: Besoeker   2017-10-06 11:37  

#7  So why would he bring roughly two dozen guns - 16 of which were rifles?

Same with other preparations he made. Among the possibles are 'chaff'.

Sounds like it needs more digging.
Posted by: Pappy   2017-10-06 10:51  

#6  Mental illness? right. Just like the shooter in Norway who systematically killed that socialist camp. Or say an executive who signed off numerous 'kill' orders for a drone fleet.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2017-10-06 10:25  

#5  He was expecting a bigger crew to join him?
Don't know the guy wasn't already dead when the shooting began. Wonder how many of the weapons were fired.
Posted by: Skidmark   2017-10-06 10:09  

#4  Another thing that doesn't add up. Obviously the shooter"meticulously" planned his attack. By all accounts he was neither stupid nor a raving lunatic. So why would he bring roughly two dozen guns - 16 of which were rifles? Even factoring in malfunction and possible escape he could accomplish his goals with less than half the weaponry.
Posted by: DepotGuy    2017-10-06 09:58  

#3  The shooter was a licensed pilot, so he was familiar with the airport and the tank farm. I wonder where he had is plane parked.
Posted by: Besoeker   2017-10-06 08:44  

#2  Fact is, he found a more deadly target with Aviation Fuel right next to the venue. That could have been real bad.
Posted by: newc   2017-10-06 02:54  

#1  If he'd of smoked Bon Jovi and Fiona Apple, he'd be a national treasure...
Posted by: M. Murcek   2017-10-06 00:56  

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