Police release aerial video records of Vegas Strip shooting

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(AP Photo/John Locher, File). FILE - In this Oct. 1, 2017, file photo, police run toward the scene of a shooting near the Mandalay Bay resort and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas. Police in Las Vegas are promising to release dispatch logs and... (AP Photo/John Locher, File). FILE - In this Oct. 1, 2017, file photo, police run toward the scene of a shooting near the Mandalay Bay resort and casino on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas. Police in Las Vegas are promising to release dispatch logs and...
(AP Photo/John Locher, File). FILE - In this Monday, Oct. 2, 2017 file photo, drapes billow out of broken windows at the Mandalay Bay resort and casino on the Las Vegas Strip, following a mass shooting at a music festival in Las Vegas. Police in Las Ve... (AP Photo/John Locher, File). FILE - In this Monday, Oct. 2, 2017 file photo, drapes billow out of broken windows at the Mandalay Bay resort and casino on the Las Vegas Strip, following a mass shooting at a music festival in Las Vegas. Police in Las Ve...

By KEN RITTER and MICHELLE PRICE
Associated Press

LAS VEGAS (AP) - Las Vegas police released some video records Wednesday compiled during the investigation of the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

A partial review of the files shows they include video of police cars streaming down Las Vegas Boulevard on the night of the shooting and an aerial view of the Mandalay Bay resort and concert venue.

The release came after courts ordered the department to make public police body-camera video, dispatch logs, witness accounts and officer reports from the Oct. 1 shooting.

Fifty-eight people died and hundreds were injured when gunfire rained from a high-rise hotel into an outdoor concert crowd on the Las Vegas Strip.

It's the fourth batch of records to be released under the court order. Previous material has not detailed a possible motive and instead recounts tales of horror and heroism by officers and witnesses.

Courts ordered the release in response to a lawsuit by The Associated Press and other media organizations.

Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo has banned department employees from talking about the material. Officer Jacinto Rivera, a department spokesman, said there would be no comment Wednesday.

FBI spokeswoman Sandra Breault also declined to comment.

Police and the FBI have said they don't know a motive for the attack, and the investigation is ongoing.

The agencies say gunman Stephen Paddock acted alone, shooting from a 32nd-floor suite at the Mandalay Bay resort into the crowd of 22,000 country music fans. They say the attack had no link to international terrorism.

Authorities say Paddock, 64, a real estate investor and high-stakes gambler, had amassed an arsenal of nearly two dozen assault-style rifles and numerous high-capacity ammunition magazines in the hotel suite where he broke the windows and opened fire for about 10 minutes.

Police argued in court that it would be too time-consuming and costly to comply with the records requests by the media.

The department also said the materials could disclose investigative techniques, and Lombardo warned that the records would "further traumatize a wounded community."

On May 2, the department made public several hours of video including footage from two officers' body cameras showing police blasting through the door of the room where authorities say Paddock killed himself before officers arrived. Paddock is seen dead on the floor.

Two weeks later, the department released 1,200 pages of police reports containing witness statements and officer accounts, including reports from at least two people who said a person they believed to be Paddock ranted in the days prior to the attack about the federal government and gun control.

The claims by those people and others could not be verified because the names of witnesses were blacked out.

The release last week of about 2,100 pages of police reports, witness statements and dispatch logs provided more details of the chaos and confusion at the Route 91 Harvest Festival concert. The records also chronicled how officers and hotel security responded.

Some reports described officers racing from casino to casino while debunking reports of multiple shooters and bomb threats. Other officers put themselves in harm's way to protect wounded and fleeing concert-goers.

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