LAS VEGAS — StephenPaddock was the only person in the Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino rooms 32-134 and 32-135 during the time the gunfire was reigning down into the Route 91 Music Festival, according to the body-camera footage.
After the gunfire stopped no one left either room.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s Force Investigation Team (FIT) Preliminary Investigative Report photographs showed the entry door to room 32-135. One photograph indicated that the deadbolt was engaged while the other photograph showed the deadbolt disengaged. Because of that, at first, I could not reach a conclusion in my previous story as to which one depicted the correct position of the deadbolt when the door was explosively breached by the police at 11:20 p.m. on October 1. But after re-examing the footage, I am certain Paddock was the only one in that room.
The FIT report indicated that according to lock interrogation reports, on October 1 the deadbolt to room 32-135 was engaged at 9:36 p.m. and the deadbolt to room 32-134 was engaged at 9:46 p.m.
Paddock started firing at about 10:05 p.m.
The question that has been out whether Paddock acted alone in the room during the shooting spree and could someone have exited the room after the shooting stopped at 10:15 p.m. and prior to the police breaching the door over one hour later at 11:20 p.m.
As I previously stated, I zoomed in on the door lock to room 32-134 from the photograph attached to the FIT report and there is no doubt that the deadbolt knob on that door is turned to the right which would indicate that the deadbolt was engaged.
Because the lock interrogation reports for both doors have not been released to the public yet, I re-examined the body-worn camera video footage that was released when the police breached Paddock’s suite at 11:20 p.m. on October 1 for any indication of the position of the deadbolt on the room door to 32-135 immediately after the explosive breach.
As you can see in the attached photo from the footage, the deadbolt on the door is engaged, meaning the deadbolt is in the out position.
A hotel guest must manually turn the deadbolt knob to engage the deadbolt and this can only be done by the guest from inside the room. A guest cannot activate the deadbolt from the outside.
The deadbolts to both doors were engaged when the police made entry at 11:20 p.m.
Nobody could have left either room 32-134 or 32-135 since both deadbolts were still engaged on both doors.
Stephen Paddock was found dead inside the room when the police breached the door.
Paddock was the only person inside those rooms after the deadbolts were engaged at 9:36 p.m. and 9:46 p.m., during the time of the gunfire and after the gunfire stopped.
Without any doubt, Paddock was the lone shooter inside Mandalay Bay rooms 32-134 and 32-135.
When the lock interrogation reports are released, I firmly believe they will indicate that once the deadbolts were engaged they remained so throughout and up to the time the room was breached.
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