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FBI addresses Las Vegas shooter's motive, provides timeline for info release
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FBI addresses Las Vegas shooter's motive, provides timeline for info release

FBI special agent Aaron Rouse, the chief of the FBI's Las Vegas office, revealed Wednesday that the agency might not be able to reveal Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock's motive until October.

What did agent Rouse say?

Rouse, who spoke to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, said that the report should be finalized by the massacre's anniversary date.

"Now that’s a long time for some people, but speaking for the FBI, that’s light speed, all right?” Rouse said. "And again, it will be thorough."

"[The FBI's report] is focusing a large part on the why, OK? Which is what everybody wants to know," Rouse reported.

He added that through a thorough investigation of the incident, including those whom the FBI interviewed — upward of 400 people who had even the smallest connection with Paddock, according to the Review-Journal — he is confident that a comprehensive report will be released by October.

"I've said this before: I believe at the end of this investigation we will have as many answers as we possibly can without talking to the subject themselves," Rouse explained. "I am comfortable — underline comfortable — with the pace of the investigation, with the quality of the investigation, with the thoroughness of the investigation. We will have as many answers as we can possibly provide."

What do they know about Paddock and the days leading up to the shooting?

Rouse added that he doesn't believe Paddock committed the atrocity with any particular ideology or affiliation in mind, and he stood by the belief that Paddock acted alone in the shooting.

"I believe that there is one person and one person alone to blame for what happened on One October, and that is Stephen Paddock," Rouse added.

Rouse later admitted that no one saw the shooting coming.

"I think that that’s important for people to realize," he said.

What's the history?

Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock shot 58 concertgoers at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival in October. Paddock then purportedly took his own life in a hotel suite at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.

Law enforcement in November revealed what they thought could be a possible motive in the Las Vegas shooting, noting that "status-driven," high-rolling gambler Paddock had been going through a period of depression, and had been losing money in his gambling endeavors.

Is there more?

According to the Review-Journal, here is the FBI's investigation of the Las Vegas shooting so far by the numbers:

  • 400 specialists brought in;
  • 1,500 leads followed locally, 500 worldwide;
  • 400 people interviewed about the gunman;
  • 40 terabytes of data collected;
  • 22,000 hours of video collected;
  • 250,000 images collected;
  • 14 days to comb through the 15-acre festival site;
  • 13 days to collect evidence inside Mandalay Bay;
  • 12 federal search warrants filed; and
  • 500 grand jury subpoenas issued.

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