NATION

New FBI docs: Las Vegas mass shooter was angry at casinos

Rio Yamat
Associated Press

Las Vegas – The high-roller gambler who opened fire on concertgoers on the Las Vegas Strip had lost tens of thousands of dollars while gambling weeks before the mass shooting and was upset about how the casinos had treated him, according to FBI documents made public this week.

In this Oct. 2, 2017, file photo, Eric Paddock holds a photo of himself, at left, and his brother, Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock, at right, outside his home in Orlando, Fla.

The documents reveal the strongest indication of a motive for the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. They paint a detailed account of gunman Stephen Paddock's final days before the Oct. 1, 2017, mass shooting that killed 60 people and injured hundreds more.

A gambler whose name is redacted from the hundreds of pages of documents told the FBI that Paddock “was very upset at the way casinos were treating him and other high rollers."

FILE - This Oct. 2017 file photo released by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Force Investigation Team Report shows a number of guns in the interior of mass shooter Stephen Paddock's 32nd floor room of the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas. Paddock a high-roller gambler who opened fire in 2017 on concertgoers in Las Vegas had lost tens of thousands of dollars while gambling weeks before the mass shooting and was upset with the way the casinos had been treating him, according to FBI documents made public this week. (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department via AP, File)

Neither the FBI nor the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, the lead investigating agency, presented an official motive for the shooting. Both agencies have said Paddock acted alone.

The 10-minute massacre unfolded on the final night of the three-day Route 91 Harvest music festival across the street from the Mandalay Bay resort. Authorities have said Paddock, 64, unleashed a barrage of bullets into the festival crowd from his corner suite on the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay.