Las Vegas massacre documents detail the horror, chaos and victims’ pleas

Stephen Paddock kept his hotel room clean, but made his housekeeper uneasy as she cleaned up days before he slaughtered 58 people in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.

These are among the details — some mundane, others chilling — revealed in documents and videos police released on the October 1 massacre at an outdoor Las Vegas concert.

The hundreds of pages of documents and calls include Paddock’s interactions with hotel staff and casino employees, witness interviews and statements from victims after the shooting, providing a glimpse into the massacre as the shooting unfolded at the outdoor concert headlined by country star Jason Aldean. Others detailed their encounters with Paddock before he opened fire from his hotel room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.

Here are some highlights from the documents and videos:

BEFORE THE SHOOTING

The housekeeper: One of the last people to see Paddock was the housekeeper who cleaned his suite four days before the shooting. She told investigators Paddock stayed in his room and spent much of his time on the computer, eating soup from room service. “He (kept) staring at me,” she said.

Casino employees: A man who worked for Caesars Entertainment Corp. said Paddock was a regular guest for years, but he stopped coming after Caesars took out his favorite video poker machines.

He described Paddock as an odd guy who either came to one of the Caesars properties alone or with his girlfriend.

A host at another casino said Paddock was an introvert who kept to himself and never requested any prostitutes or drugs. He was only seen with his girlfriend, though he didn’t show her much affection, the host said. Paddock was easy to deal with, and he always paid his debt promptly, the host said.

He twice won contests with big payouts. One was for a car worth about $90,000, and Paddock took the cash equivalent instead. Another was for a $150,000 cash prize.

Restaurant encounter: Another witness claims he once saw Paddock at a Denny’s or IHOP. Paddock was with another man, the witness said, and they were talking about the 1993 standoff in Waco, Texas.

Stairwell incident around the time of the shooting: A Mandalay Bay facilities worker talks about receiving a phone call via dispatch from a security guard asking if they had any work on the 32nd floor because the stairwell is “bracketed shut.” The worker and an engineer headed to the floor. When they arrived, police were at the elevators.

THE SHOOTING

The calls: In one of the first 911 calls after the shooting, a woman screams in the background as an operator tries to get her location and more details on the shooting.

“Please send help,” the woman implores, saying someone has been shot and they need an ambulance. One man implores the 911 dispatcher to send help, saying people are firing guns everywhere.

“The whole concert is down on the ground,” he yells into the phone. “Just send everybody.”

He frantically says there are 100 people down, bleeding out, including his best friend who has been shot in the stomach.

“Please hurry up,” he pleads as the 911 calls stack up.

“Everybody is just running,” another caller says.

Cameras placed at the rooftop of the hotel showed panicked concertgoers fleeing, illuminated by the bright lights from the concert venue.

THE VICTIMS

The terror: One man said he took cover to the right of the stage once he heard gunshots. The witness, whose name was redacted, said he ran during breaks in the gunfire.

“Then on the third round of shots is when I got, I got hit running, right in the back,” he told an investigator.

The man and his friends ran again until he couldn’t go on. Someone carried him to an ambulance, he said.

One woman said she pleaded with a friend to get up, but her friend wasn’t moving and her lips had turned blue. A man tried CPR as bullets came down, but the victim remained unresponsive. Another man eventually put a red bandana over the victim’s face.

A woman was at the concert with a female friend. Her friend was shot. An off-duty emergency medical technician ran up amid the gunfire and helped the woman drag her injured friend away. They got into a taxi and raced to the hospital.

One victim said the shooting “sounded to me as if there were helicopters directly above us shooting down at us. At that moment I thought this is a terrorist attack. They are shooting at us from up above.”

THE INVESTIGATION

The many documents are part of a series of investigation materials made public after media organizations, including CNN, went to court petitioning for access.

Last month, Las Vegas police released hours of body camera footage, providing details on officers’ actions after the shooting.

The footage captured the moments before and after officers entered the gunman’s hotel room.

After Paddock opened fire on concertgoers, officers stealthily moved down the hallways with guns drawn, ordering hotel guests to stay indoors. “Lock the door, your door was open. There’s someone shooting inside the casino!” an officer warns people in one room as they sweep Mandalay Bay.