1,461 days and counting since one of the worst mass shootings in the country’s history, and instead of justice for the victims all the federal government has to offer are lies and obfuscation.
Don Via Jr. | The Rundown Live
Sixty lives snuffed out, and countless families destroyed. More questions than the day after it happened. From authorities, instead of answers and justice, all that is offered are contradictions and silence.
This is the reality of the attack that took place at the Route 91 Harvest Festival/ Mandalay Bay Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas on October 1st, 2017.
Since that fateful day, the media has continued their blatant blackout and cover-up regarding this heinous atrocity. The inconsistencies and holes in their official narrative are innumerable. Families and friends of the deceased are to this day left confused.
The public by and large has once again allowed a major event to be swept under the rug. And in the wake, a wave of unparalleled censorship was allowed to surface. Scrubbing pertinent information about the shooting from the internet, and eventually providing the political fodder necessary to facilitate the infamous October 2018 coordinated purge of independent news outlets across social media.
It was, at one point, the public’s keen eye and willingness to call out the inconsistencies of the official story in the immediate aftermath that was the catalyst for Big Tech’s war on free speech — In an effort to maintain control of the narrative.
Yet despite the silence, censorship, and misinformation from the corporate media gatekeepers, we will not stop asking questions and demanding answers.
A number of revelations are paramount in once again exemplifying the government’s storied history of either egregious incompetence, or deliberate deception. Of which unfortunately the heartbreaking tragedy at Mandalay Bay is just another rung on their dastardly ladder.
While regrettably these facts do fall short of answering the most pertinent of questions — precisely why and how this event took place. They do however exemplify the deliberate obfuscation of crucial information from the public purview committed by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and the FBI.
Which raises perhaps the most glaring unanswered question of all, why? Why would the FBI and the LVMPD not be completely truthful about this event? If they were so concerned about disinformation and “conspiracy theories”, why not just be entirely transparent to avoid such things in the first place?
Chief among these revelations is the confirmation that other persons of interest were indeed being investigated. Time and again authorities insisted that Stephen Paddock was the only suspect under investigation. That all changed when a bombshell admission was made inside of a district courtroom on January 16th, 2018.
Nick Crosby, attorney for the Metro Police Department was addressed in court by District Court Judge Elissa Cadish, who asked —
“Without naming names, there are potential charges against other people, because of the ongoing investigation?”
To which the counselor replied —
“Yes there are charges being investigated,”
Following the incredible admission, Maggie McCletchie, a lawyer for the media outlets had this to say —
“Today is the first time we’ve heard there are additional suspects out there, this contradicts what they have been saying, [Sheriff] Lombardo has said there are no other suspects,”.
But this is just one in a long line of abrupt narrative changes made by Sheriff Joseph Lombardo, the LVMPD, and FBI. That to this day remain unresolved.
In fact, police have changed the timeline of events multiple times during the course of the investigation. Even altering the sequence of events three times in less than two weeks following the massacre.
As well as information otherwise having surfaced seemingly ignored by investigators, or contradicting previous claims.
Leading to more questions than answers, and confusion as well as frustration from a public seeking answers from their seemingly trusted authorities.
For those who maintained an astute observation in the months following this story fading into obscurity, frustration quickly turned to anger. In June 2018, after weeks of no cooperation, police were finally forced to release body camera footage for the officers who respond to Paddock’s room. What it revealed was shocking.
As reported by The Free Thought Project, the footage shows officers cowering in fear, merely one floor below the assailant as he continued his deadly rampage. With reports confirming at least two officers had been inside the hotel the entire time, previously issuing citations to guests.
Instead of intervening, they stood by and did nothing while dozens were slaughtered.
What’s more, video also shows that at one point officers were instructed to turn off body cameras against protocol.
But that isn’t even the strangest abnormality surrounding the moments police finally made contact with Stephen Paddock.
Contrary to initial reports, Sheriff’s later revealed that a deputy did indeed discharge his weapon upon breaching the hotel room. Compelling many to raise the question as to why, considering, according to the official version of events, Paddock had committed suicide and was dead before police arrived. However the sheriff’s department never provided a reason.
More perplexing still is the body camera footage from inside the hotel room. Which purports to show officers acknowledging that no windows in the room where the shooting supposedly took place were broken.
Most curious of all, the coroner’s report. Which much like every other piece of evidentiary disclosure was contested every step of the way. A Nevada Court Judge ruled the records to be unsealed on January 30th, 2018.
That same day Clark County coroner John Fudenberg released a statement saying that the autopsy had not yet been finished, but the report would be soon released upon completion.
Why after nearly four months had the autopsy report not yet been finalized? Especially considering the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported Stephen Paddock’s remains had been cremated on January 17th.
More puzzling still, was the report itself and a conclusion which left many flabbergasted. Indicating that Paddock had died via a self-inflicted gunshot wound at 12 p.m. October 2nd. Not the night before when the shooting took place as police staunchly contend.
One may postulate that the best-case scenario is this is an extraordinary typo. But if so, an incredibly negligent one at that. Considering that to date it has not been corrected.
The events before and in the aftermath of this incident are just as mysterious. And continue to compound even more confusion on this already dizzying series of accounts.
Prior to Stephen Paddock unleashing his hail of bullets on concertgoers, he is said to have had an encounter with hotel security guard Jesus Campos.
Campos, supposedly a security guard employed by Mandalay Bay, was the first to confront Paddock. Though the account of exactly what happened has changed multiple times.
Campos was allegedly shot in the right leg after Paddock fired over 200 rounds down the hotel hallway. Miraculously only being hit once. All before the real rampage got underway (and somehow failing to alert hotel goers in the immediate vicinity that an emergency was taking place.)
Though body camera footage appears to show Campos hardly injured, and favoring a slight wound on his left leg. To this author’s knowledge, there has also been no evidence provided depicting the hallway damage that would have undoubtedly been caused by 200+ bullets.
Further muddying the waters of this scene was the later disclosure that Campos was never actually registered as a security guard. Followed by his abrupt mysterious disappearance just prior to a set of TV interviews, in which he apparently went to Mexico. Before just as abruptly returning, and providing a one-time interview with Ellen DeGeneres that was surprisingly devoid of any actual journalistic inquiries. Before never being mentioned again….
But the strangeness didn’t stop after the smoke had settled either. Questions of how he got his arsenal to the 32nd floor of the hotel; and conflicting reports as to whether or not Paddock was actually alone began to surface.
Ten days after the shooting authorities revealed that Paddock was given access to the hotels service elevator as a perk for high rollers. Providing the ability to avoid suspicion, and circumvent typical security protocols.
Six months later, footage from the service elevators was finally released. Showing Paddock and hotel employees loading his suitcases presumably full of guns and ammunition onto luggage carts, and taking them up the elevator.
This however raises questions of its own, particularly how hotel staff was unable to notice anything suspicious about the weight of the suitcases. Which would have been considerably heavier than a few stacks of clothes.
Or how he was able to hide such an arsenal, considering admissions that staff visited the room at least 10 times before the shooting, and noticed nothing out of the ordinary.
The presence of other individuals near the time of the attack also becomes of pertinent inquiry. Law enforcement has asserted from the beginning that Paddock acted as a lone gunman.
However numerous conflicting reports challenge that narrative. Including a plethora of eyewitness accounts attesting to multiple shooters. And police scanner audio that in some cases corroborate these claims, and contradicts it in others. (Here, and here.)
Due to the lack of police transparency, there is currently no way to concisely confirm or deny whether or not these accounts are entirely accurate.
Nevertheless, what is incontrovertible is that considering the obscene amount of inconsistencies within this investigation, all of these first-hand eyewitness accounts should be regarded as equally credible as anyting the authorities have presented thus far until a real investigation takes place.
Furthermore, conflicting reports also exist of secondary persons inside Stephen Paddock’s room. ABC News confirms that Mandalay Bay staff heard Paddock talking to other individuals while ordering room service. While the FBI states, bizarrely and without reason, that Paddock was merely faking not being alone.
Yet room service receipts posted by a Mandalay Bay employee showing Paddock ordering dinner for two on September 27th seem to corroborate the former assertion.
There is also the question of Paddock’s missing laptop hard drive. Which authorities claimed to have been unable to recover. Which begs the question, if it was not in the room, or recovered by a ground team after having been thrown out the window, where is it? Or better yet, who took it?
With regard to other persons of interest, the final question lies with organization. Whether or not this was a group facilitated act of terror. While many bogus conspiracy theories abound by both left and right wing pundits, it is a well-known fact that the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack four times.
Yet it should be noted that there are anomalies with this as well. As explained by Rita Katz, Executive Director of SITE Intelligence Group, the world’s leading non-governmental counterterrorism organization. In which she challenges the credibility of the claim.
Of course the attempt by ISIS to take responsibility for the attack could have just been baseless terrorist propaganda. But considering the severity of the attack, and the lack of leads ascertained by authorities, to not thoroughly investigate every potential motive is a grave dereliction.
Instead of providing the public with much-needed answers, crime scene photos released by the Las Vegas Police only heightened bewilderment. Particularly regarding how he concealed such an arsenal and other equipment from hotel staff.
It also again raised the suspicion as to whether or not Stephen Paddock was secretly an arms dealer.
Throughout the course of the investigation, authorities released electronic communications between Paddock and another unknown individual. An email exchange suggested he was involved in large quantity weapons sales.
With Paddock stating during the correspondence —
“try an ar before u buy. we have huge selection. located in the las vegas area,”
“We have a huge selection”, also indicative that Paddock was not working alone.
The other individual later replied —
“we have a wide variety of optics and ammunition to try.”
And Paddock’s last message being —
“for a thrill try out bumpfire ar’s with a 100 round magazine.”
The theory that Paddock was a Las Vegas gun smuggler would certainly make sense of some of his strange behavior, and explain why he had such a massive arsenal including explosives tucked away. But it also further suggests the existence of accomplices, and the notion that someone may have had prior knowledge and or assisted in the planning of the attack.
Compounding into this ensuing delirium, in the aftermath a number of other equally bewildering but just as notable incidents occurred that may or may not also play into this puzzling picture.
Including but not limited to; the burglary of Stephen Paddock’s home, which somehow took place all under the seemingly keen surveillance of police. Which was also somehow itself never solved.
As well as the seemingly unrelated, yet admittedly incredibly bizarrely timed arrest of Paddock’s brother, Bruce Paddock, for the possession of child pronography.
And most mysterious of all, the deaths of a handful of surviving witnesses, all under suspicious circumstances. Some of whom claiming to have seen multiple shooters.
Among all of these glaring inconsistencies and peculiarities, one burning question still remains — That of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department and it’s deep-seated corruption. It’s no secret that the LVMPD is one of the most corrupt police departments in the country. In a town like Sin City, that is to be expected. The question is, how exactly does that pervasive nature pertain to their handling of the Route 91 shooting?
Thanks to the hard work of some investigative documentarians, we might have some inclination. Since 2017, filmmaker Ramsey Denison has produced two documentaries; What Happened In Vegas, and Money Machine.
The former dives deep into the storied history of corruption within the Las Vegas Metro Police, and exposes several conflicts of interest among senior officers (which this behind-the-scenes series partially exemplifies). Including that of Sheriff Joe Lombardo himself, which may have directly impacted the investigation into the October 1st shooting.
Chief among these revelations highlighting the fact that sheriff Lombardo was elected to his position primarily off of the campaign contributions of MGM.
The ladder sheds light on the corrupt Casino industry, particularly that of Mandalay Bay/ MGM. And its alleged mistreatment of high roller gamblers to prevent them from winning too much of the casino’s money. Stephen Paddock being among the few individuals that the casino supposedly cost millions.
Since the FBI abruptly closed its investigation in January of 2019, concluding there was “no single or clear motivating factor” behind the worst mass shooting in modern US history, hardly answering even a single question;
The constant irregularities in this case demonstrates probably better than any other that we not only have an FBI and law enforcement that finds it appropriate to critically misinform the public. But – at least at face value by what can be extrapolated from available information – is patently comfortable half-assing their job in what is one of the worst acts of domestic terror committed in the 21st century, is nauseating.
It reeks of either gross negligence, deliberate cover-up, or dare we suggest a possible degree of direct involvement. Which in and of itself raises even worse concerns.
So until a real investigation is carried out. Until these persisting questions are answered. Until the families of the slain have some semblance of understanding why their loved ones were stolen from them. And until justice is done and those insidious enough to hide the truth have been held accountable for their lies. We shall never stop asking questions, or demanding answers..
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