Las Vegas maniac ‘tried to target another festival headlined by Muse one week earlier but couldn’t book hotel room’
LAS Vegas gun maniac Stephen Paddock may have tried to target another festival headlined by Muse and Lorde the week before the bloodbath.
The mass murderer reportedly tried to book specific suites at The Ogden hotel during the Life is Beautiful open-air festival, but was unable to get the rooms he requested.
Police sources suggested he may have been seeking rooms at the 21-storey hotel that directly overlooked the festival, which featured a performance from Chance The Rapper.
Melissa Warren, public affairs officer for Fais Foley Warren, owner of the Ogden, told the they are “not in a position to confirm or deny anything about Mr Paddock's dealings”.
It is not yet know exactly which room he tried to book at The Ogden, but one on its eastern corner would have overlooked most of the festival.
Paddock appears to have backed out of his original plan and instead set his sights on the Route 91 country music festival.
He smuggled a terrifying arsenal of 23 weapons into the Mandalay Bay hotel and set up a sniper’s nest in a suite on the 32nd floor.
From there he unloaded hundreds of rounds of ammo onto the crowds below, killing 59 and injuring 527 others in the deadliest shooting in US history.
Chilling pics have emerged showing the body of the Las Vegas shooter surrounded by bullet shells and guns after he shot himself as cops burst into the room.
Paddock’s legs and torso are visible in one of the leaked images, taken from inside his room at the Mandalay Bay hotel.
He had pushed two chairs together for a makeshift gun rack, near to a table with a note and pen on it - with theories he could have penned a suicide note before the killing spree.
Police believe he fired for between nine and 11 minutes - from 10.08pm and 10.19pm - cutting down hundreds of gig-goers in a hail of bullets.
The pictures also reveal the extent of his preparations for his massacre that killed 59 and injured 527 - with cops refusing to rule out a terror link.
Nearby was a hammer he used to smash two windows to fire from.
Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo told reporters the shooter installed cameras inside and outside the room that were linked to a computer - potentially to watch for officers approaching the room.
Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said police expected to know more in 48 hours, saying: "This person may have been radicalised, unbeknownst to us, and we want to identify that source."
Las Vegas police confirmed today his girlfriend Marilou Danley was again a “person of interest” after it emerged Paddock wired £75,000 to her home country of the Philippines days before the attack.
Danley, 62, who had been in the Philippines, was flown back to the United States in the early hours of this morning and was met by the FBI at Los Angeles airport.
The media outlet reported that she had moved to the US as Marilou Natividad and married a Geary Danley in 1990.
She then married Jose Bustos in 1996, not filing for divorce with Geary Danley until 2015.
The woman, who held two social security numbers, later became the live-in girlfriend of Paddock.
Despite naming her as a person of interest, cops appear to have cleared her of any involvement in the massacre, saying Paddock acted alone.
Reports also claimed Paddock, 64, had collected snipers’ notes about changing wind direction that might have affected his aim.
Other snaps show the floor is littered with bullet casings after the sick killer rained down hundreds of rounds on concert-goers below.
FACES OF THE INNOCENT We remember the 59 victims killed in the senseless Las Vegas shooting
It emerged he had wired £75,000 to the Philippines, Danley’s home country, the week before his spree.
Paddock’s massive cache of weapons was believed to include an AK-47, an AR-15, four DDM4 rifles, three FN-15 rifles and Sig Sauer rifles.
One long gun appeared to have been modified with a “bump stock” that would render it fully automatic and have allowed Paddock to unleash hundreds of rounds a minute.
The weapon also had a holographic sight and an over-sized magazine, letting the multi-millionaire shooter fire in longer bursts than usual before having to reload.
Meanwhile, eerie footage also shows inside the £600-a-night room from which Paddock unleashed the worst massacre in modern US history.
An assault rifle can be seen resting on a stand through a massive hole in the blown-out door of the killer’s luxury lair on the 32nd floor of the building.
Earlier yesterday a photo showed crime scene tape across the smashed-in wooden doors and a trail of destruction can be seen in the hotel corridor.
A cable can also be seen snaking its way across the marble floor of the suite.
Paddock smuggled a cache of 23 weapons into the hotel, including AK-47s and “bump stock” devices to make his guns fully automatic.
The mass murderer, 64, is understood to have smashed the window of his hotel room with a hammer, giving himself a deadly sniper position.
Paddock used tripods to steady his weapons so he could unleash a hail of bullets onto the Route 91 music festival, killing 59 and wounding more than 500 others.
Footage of inside the hotel room was shared by a tourist who had stayed in the Mandalay Bay Resort last year - with the man shocked when he realised it was the same used by Paddock.