Days after the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, several major questions have yet to be answered about presumed gunman Stephen Paddock and the motive behind opening fire on a crowded concert in Las Vegas on Sunday night.
A Las Vegas police officer found what could provide some answers on the nightstand of Paddock’s room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.
The New York Post provided a preview of a 60 Minutes interview with Dave Newton, which will air in its entirety Sunday night on CBS. In it, the officer describes a pink piece of paper revealing some of the thought that went into orchestrating the massacre that killed dozens and injured hundreds more.
“I could see on it he had written the distance, the elevation he was on, the drop of what his bullet was going to be for the crowd,” he said.
According to Newton, those figures were “written down and figured out so he would know where to shoot to hit his targets from there.”
There was additional evidence of the planning that went into the deadly mass shooting. As Business Insider reported, Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo alluded to that aspect of the crime when he announced the arsenal of weaponry, ammunition and technology found at the hotel.
Earlier reports of a slip of paper spotted in photos from the scene prompted rumors it might have been a suicide note.
Authorities dismissed that notion, though, and Lombardo mentioned there was some evidence Paddock intended to leave the hotel alive.
CBS provided a few other details from the interview with Newton and other officers who searched Paddock’s room after the shooting.
Newton went on to describe using explosives to enter the room and what he felt upon walking inside.
“Very eerie,” he said. “Yeah, the dust from the explosive breach. And then you have the flashing lights. And that looked straight, like, out of a movie, you know?”
[Featured image: Associated Press]