The gunman believed to be behind Sunday’s Las Vegas gun massacre that killed dozens was in contact with hotel security the night before he allegedly opened fire on a crowd of thousands attending a country music festival.
Stephen Paddock checked in to a suite on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino last week, bringing more than two dozen guns into his room without being detected by hotel security. As CrimeOnline previously reported, the suspected gunman hung a “Do Not Disturb” sign on his door from the day he checked in until Sunday night, when he took his own life as police and SWAT officers were approaching his room.
CBS News reports that in the early hours of Sunday morning, Paddock called hotel security twice to complain about loud country music coming from the floor below him. Albert Garzon told the New York Times that security guards came to his room at about 1:30 a.m. and again a half hour later to ask him to turn down his music, He said he turned the music off after the second visit.
A staff member hotel also told CBS News that Paddock was “abrupt” with them about an unspecified issue.
Reports emerging from an investigation into Paddock’s background and a possible motive for the attack have drawn a picture of a generally unfriendly person who was not particularly generous or cordial with the service industry workers he encountered frequently as a high-stakes gambler who appears to have spent a great deal of his time in casinos.
A host at the Atlantis Casino Resort and Spa in Reno, where Paddock and his girlfriend were regulars, told the news station that Paddock had a “god complex” and carried an attitude that he should be treated like a VIP.
“He liked everybody to think that he was the guy,” the host said. “He didn’t boast about anything he had or anything. It was just his demeanor. It was like, ‘I’m here. Don’t cross me. Don’t look at me too long.'”
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Paddock was a self-described professional gambler and preferred high-stakes video poker.
Feature photo: U.S. Government
