Hey guys, welcome back to the Conspiracy Podcast. What it do, what it is, what it be, what it did, what it win. As always, I’m Eric. How’s everybody doing? Good, yeah, good, man. [bleep] Ready to rock and roll. Yeah, my kids, uh, becoming a nightmare. She’s amazing, I love her more than anything on Earth, but terrible. What do they call it, terrible, ter and a twos, threes, four? She doesn’t listen to me at all. I’m going through the terrible 12 right now, and then Eric’s going through, going through car insurance and [bleep], like having teenage boys. Yeah. Well, tonight is, uh, a special one. Um, it’s actually, this is our third in a row of VIP rich person status selections, and this one is, this one’s brought to you by Gamer Dave.

O, Gamer Dave, the original OG, like the OG triple OG Gamer Dave. He’s also the mod, the the lead moderator. Yeah, and if you have a moment, actually, he’s got a pretty good following on Instagram, and he’s a gamer, and if you wanted to go check him out, some of his live stuff. Yeah, check him out, Twitch, he’s on Twitch, and he’s a [bleep] all-around great dude. He’s a good man, appreciate. Yeah, absolutely, 100%. So this is the Las Vegas mass shooting, a [bleep], yeah, and this is, this is one of those ones that’s really hard to dive into because, uh, I mean, mass shooting is [bleep] up, just overall a hard, hard thing to get into, top, and we want to say this is like, cuz we know, we, you know, people listen, and you know they’re expecting this to be [bleep] NPR, and like, yeah, we do try to have fun and make jokes and stuff, and we’re purposely not going to get into the victims a lot, because we’re not going to do them justice, and they deserve, they deserve like dedicated stuff for them.

Yeah, and we don’t want to, we don’t want to upset the, we don’t want to, you know, yeah, this isn’t, we’re not here to bring shame on, yeah, their lives, which were tragically lost. Yeah, exactly, instead we’re focusing on the shooter, the events, [bleep], superior, the, yeah, surrounding him. Yeah, yeah, exactly, and so, uh, yeah, we don’t joke, we’re not joking about the circumstance or the victims, you know. So yeah, you made a, you made a great part, I don’t even need to keep talking about it. Um, okay, so here we go. On the night of October 1st, 2017, Steven Paddock carried out basically the deadliest mass shooting in US history, uh, and it was from a suite on the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino.

Paddock opened fire on the crowd attending a Harvest music festival and killed 60 people and injured hundreds of others. So, to understand this horrific event, what we’re going to do is we’re going to examine Paddock, and we’re going to examine what he was doing, uh, and hopefully find out why. He, I mean, did some, put another, another one in the solve column for the conspiracy pod. Exactly, exactly. So, and also, what we are going to do is, uh, in our Patreon, and I’m going to figure out another way to, I will post all 60 victims, uh, because, you know, as in this story, we will, what I noticed is that when we do these stories, it’s also about keeping the story alive.

Yeah, of course, keeping, keeping the memory of certain people alive, and, you know, not, not Steven Paddock, cuz [bleep] that guy. Yeah, yeah, yeah, like a lot of times, even like with, um, with the one, the one we just did on the murders on the Bayou, it’s like, you know, when people forget about that, you start to forget that things like this are possible, and you know, people need to be aware, like, [bleep] like this, [bleep] goes down and like, it’s damn. Yeah, we got some, we got some, we got some background music, sound effects going on. I know, this is, we’re down by the tracks.

Yeah, no big deal, have some [bleep] beers down. No. And you know what’s, what’s an interesting exercise in this is, so the murders on the Bayou, thousands of people have listened to that episode, and, uh, thousands of people now, more, look into that story. Yes, and look, and know more about those girls that passed. Of course, you know what I mean, so you know, so like you’re saying, you bring some, some not justice, but like at least some attention, like, to their memory and to these girls. Yeah, like you remember, OKC episodes we did, and that was heart-wrenching, God, but at the same time, maybe that story was, I don’t want to say forgotten, but some people didn’t know about that story, they don’t know about it, you know.

As we grow up, I feel like the younger generation doesn’t know about half this [bleep], they don’t, they’re, you know, they’re doing TikTok [bleep] dances and [bleep], like, they’re not worried about, they’re not thinking about that. Exactly. Okay, so let’s, let’s dive in here. Um, so Stephen Craig Paddock was born on April 9th, 1953, in Clinton, Iowa. He was born to Benjamin and Dolores. Funny, and, are super weird, I didn’t know this part of the story, was his father was a notorious bank robber. Holy [bleep], what the [bleep], who spent, really, who spent about four years on the FBI’s 10 Most Wanted list. Holy [bleep], wow, okay.

Yeah, and this was after he escaped from prison in 1960. Damn, back in the day, like escaping from prison was like just a regular thing, they’re like, oh [bleep], did lock up. Damn it. Well, it’s just like the chain gang. Exactly. On what we have here is a failure to communicate, name that movie. Anyways, so his early life is not well documented, which is the dad, right. Uh, he eventually married Dolores, had four sons, including Steven. Despite being a father, Benjamin’s criminal inclinations overshadowed his domestic responsibilities, meaning classic, he just wasn’t really there, you know, obviously, like, ooh, take baseball or robbed this [bleep] bank though, get that money, the come up.

So his criminal career was really a series of bank robberies. He was arrested in 1960 in Arizona, convicted for robbing banks. He was known for his unremorseful demeanor, he seemed to view crime as just the way of life. He was sentenced to 20 years in federal prison. He was incarcerated at Luna Federal Correctional Institution in Texas. However, in ’68 he escaped, and that’s what landed him on the Top 10 list of the FBI. Crazy that you can still escape, like what do you do after you escape? Like, I don’t even, I don’t even know what to do, I’m like [bleep], where, where do I go?

It seems like, seems easier back then. Back then, yeah, no camera, doctor, no, yeah, nothing, your ID is paper, face, [bleep] no, holograms and [bleep] in there. You’re like [bleep], it’s like you just write your name on the ID, like, looks legit to me, trust me. Yeah, my name is, my name, Tiffany. Okay sir, you want a bank loan? What’s, oh, DB Cooper, okay, absolutely, let’s go, is 100s cool with you? So, following his escape, Benjamin adopted various aliases, including the following names: Big Daddy, Chrome Dome, and my all-time favorite, Old Baldy. I feel like this guy just liked, got to be your favorite. I feel like he just wanted to get like an AP, is like, like he seems like, thought you were going to say one of the aliases was DB Cooper.

I know, well, this is before DB, oh it would, right, I am not far before it though, just a few years. [bleep] Chrome, chrome, like, he must have been Pixar, like side villain, he must have been an early Boulder. Yeah, have all these B names. Yeah, I know that game. Sorry, is it really early though? Yeah, not that early. Yeah, it’s not that early. Yeah, I mean, these are perfectly timed, I’m going to keep those in. Oh, for sure. So he lived as a fugitive for almost a decade, reportedly settling in Oregon under an alias named Bruce Ericson. During this time he managed a bingo parlor, he engaged in other fraud schemes, etc, uh, gambling, financial manipulation, apparently he was rather intelligent.

So, he was able to evade capture, for [bleep], escaped prison, I mean, you got to have some sort of smarts for that. In ’78, law enforcement finally apprehended Paddock. He was returned to custody and served additional time. Though he was eventually released, the FBI described him as psychopathic and noted he had diagnosed psychosis, making him a manipulative and unpredictable individual, which is, I mean, seems like an obvious, yeah, you don’t need a degree to figure that one out. Crazy psycho piece of [bleep] loser. But the reason we’re bringing that up is because we’re kind of painting the backstory, to, you know, uh, Stephen’s father, in his family life.

Yeah, you know, that’s starting to make more sense with, yeah, just psycho, it’s not a good influence, right. But I mean, he was kind of gone the whole time, I mean, you know, running the chrome dome and running around town and that sort of thing. His absence left Dolores, the wife, to raise the four sons alone, and it remains unclear how much Stephen Paddock knew about his father’s criminal history, though. But it also goes to show that, you know, not having a stable father figure, oh yeah, has an effect, true, on grown children, not just boys, girls too. Yeah, like you know, you see a lot of these same issues in like the demographics today, like, you know, when they do these random statistics and stuff, like, you know, you’re far more likely to, for, I’m like making this up as I go, but likely to do a massacre.

No, you’re like, be a criminal, like, if the family unit is like [bleep], the odds tip not in your favor. Exactly, yeah, for sure, not saying like you’re automatically destined, but, you know, sucks. So Benjamin Paddock died of natural causes 1998 in Texas at the age of 71, which again makes me mad, about karma. I know, it’s like, you, he 200 years old, natural cause is like, yeah, oh [bleep] this guy. I know, I was about to get real mad for a second, but I’m not. Um, so, but the last part of his life, he kind of faded into obscurity, so we don’t really know, he kind of almost just lived a quiet life at the end.

I don’t know, once again, not sure how, like, no social security card, no [bleep]. So despite this wild start to his life, Steven Paddock’s early life appeared unremarkable. He graduated from John Francis Polytech in LA in 1971, and he went on to earn a degree in Business Administration at California State. Damn, he got a one up on us. Mhm, damn, it should have his own podcast. Steven worked various jobs over the years, including a postal worker, he was an IRS agent. Oh, well, that makes interesting, what the correlation between criminality and IRS. Interesting, later as an auditor for a defense contractor, even more interesting. In the 80s, Paddock began investing in real estate and reportedly began to amass a large amount of wealth.

Huh, so Paddock’s childhood, while appearing ordinary on the surface, was shadowed by the wildness of his dad, not being there, being a criminal, being the FBI’s Most Wanted, etc. Right, but there’s no evidence showing that he was a bad kid or a bad youth. Yeah, he wasn’t like [bleep] like burning lizards and [bleep]. It’s very kind of strange. You know, by the 2000s, Paddock was living a life of pretty much affluence. He owned multiple properties across the US, Nevada home, Florida home. Jesus. Uh, he was also known to frequent all the casinos, he became a high stakes gambler. Like, he’s the dude walking in, and there’s nobody at the high roller table, and he walks in, he plays for hours, he’s got like reserved, and they’re like funneling Hennessy to him, often betting tens of thousands at a time.

Jesus Christ, wow. Casinos treated him as a valued guest, they do, they comp the rooms, the meals, the perks, God knows what else. They free titty bar action. Exactly, oh like, oh yeah, free champagne, rooms, what do you want, Chas, it’s like, just stay one more night, trust me, you won’t regret it. However, destiny is coming. Over, beneath this veneer of success, so it’s like a veil of success, it seems like somebody would be happy, but in reality he was growing more isolated, and this is per the interviews of friends and neighbors later, right, obviously these are interviews after he committed a mass murder, insane atrocity, going to be a little skewed.

Like, I knew something was off with him, a little sketch, yeah. It would be kind of like, like a dude you don’t like, yeah, you’re like, that [bleep], I hate that, I know, they’re always like jealous of him, like, his [bleep] yard’s premium, [bleep] this guy, and then they do something atrocious, and then you’re like, I knew that [bleep], he was definitely. Yeah, but it’s also probably people that were probably like homies with him, they’re like, they’re trying to distance himself from him, like, we didn’t see him for months, I don’t remember the last time I saw him. Point, yeah, so he had no close friends, he rarely interacted with neighbors and was described as aloof and a recluse.

I mean, but that’s like the typical [bleep]. I was just about to say, like, people would might think that I’m a recluse, I mean, I see you [bleep] twice a month. Yeah, yeah, no, and that’s, that’s, it’s actually a great point, is that, what does that mean, it’s just circumstantially, I think, like, I think a lot of people think, like, the neighborly thing to do, like, you talk to your neighbors, hang out with the neighbors or whatever, but like, that doesn’t happen anymore, talk, you know, that just doesn’t happen anymore. Does he have kids though, cuz that would be a different, like, if it’s like a single dude, and he’s like not, like, talk, no kids.

Okay, so that’s a little bit different, like, when you have kids, yeah, no, it’s less acceptable to be less social when you have kids, have an excuse. Oh yeah, the [bleep], the kid [bleep], that, like, I go to [bleep] Target, you know, like, I just have a good excuse. Like, when you’re just like a dude, like a rich single dude, and they’re like, like, why aren’t you, why don’t you calling us, like, what are you doing, I think it’s a little more odd. So, I had this neighbor, uh, one day I was walking out, and I was walking out of my house, and he’s walking by, just like exercising, but he’s like walking fast, right, he’s like doing the speed walk, speed walk or whatever, and as soon as I come out of the house, he like just, boom, he like takes a right turn, like towards me, and he puts, and he puts his hand out, almost like, like, I don’t know, I just automatically thought he was trying to sell me something.

I’m like, no, no, no, no, no, like, what, or, literally pulls a gun on him, you [bleep] back the six feet. Oh, it’s so funny cuz I’m like, no, no, no, I don’t want, I’m not buying anything, I forgot what I said, I’m like, I’m not interested, I think I said. He’s like, oh, I’m your neighbor, he’s like, dude, I’ve lived next to you for six years, what are you talking, he’s like, oh, your kid plays with my kid, I just want, oh wow. We’re like, lit, okay, these are the signs. Yeah, I’m going to keep an eye on you. Yeah, exactly, [bleep], so my point is, think their kids play together, or it’s like, who the [bleep] is this guy, there you go, that’s what I’m talking about, like, nobody knows their [bleep] neighbors anymore.

Yeah, this isn’t, this isn’t like, it was cool back in the day though. Yeah, oh, back in the day, you know what I mean, bring a pot pie. It was also back in the day where you could just, you know, I just, I’m going to go ride my bike, my mom’s like, be on by 10, no cell phone, no way. No, meaning like, what changed, like, I think, I mean, a lot of [bleep], probably social media, just, I think, I think put the scare in you. Yeah, I think the act, of social media files came out, yes, and then you start to, people start to get more aware of like the [bleep] that’s actually going down, and then [bleep], you got an app now, you can look at all the [bleep] sex offenders and all that [bleep] around you, you don’t want to do that, not around Florida, you don’t want to do that, that, my wife has done it, and I’m like, I don’t want to now, like, moving.

Anywhere, yeah, but the problem is, you can’t move anywhere in Florida cuz everything’s like that. That’s why I said Antarctica. I know, like [bleep] Florida, [bleep] hot, hot spot for [bleep] psychos, Jesus, damn it. So Paddock’s relationships were also strained. He had been married and divorced twice, and was in a long-term relationship with somebody by the name of Mary Lou Danley, and that was at the time of the shooting. Danley later described him as being moody, and said he would often lie in bed groaning and complaining of some sort of illness or some sort of pain. Okay, his gambling habits, which initially appeared as a source of employment and status, gradually went to the dark side.

Oh yeah, like when you start losing consistently and you’re like, now you’re taking markers. And, wait, wait, you’re saying, so, like, that’s what he lived off of? Well, some think that he would like, okay, so just imagine, you go in with 100 grand, you turn it to three. Yeah, and then you’re like, I know what I’m doing. Yeah, yeah, yeah, you know those guys. Oh yeah, I figured out the, the, the Blackjack system, you know, like, yeah, like, did you, yeah, like, this, that’s what they want, eat it, and then they’re like, ooh, look at this, sweet, come back, stay, from stay for a while.

I had a, I had a, this is super stupid, sorry, but I was convinced I figured out a roulette system. Yeah, you and [bleep] everyone else, bro. Convinced, right, it was all mathematical, you always play black and red, so you always win. No. Have you ever heard, have you ever heard this, I guess theory or whatever, which is that you double down. Oh yeah, you keep doubling, infinite double down, and you will always, like the, is that you’ll always make it back. Yes, well, if, but if you have enough, if you have enough money, you’re like, okay, 27 million on 37, and then, but when you get so deep, all you do is break even.

I know, just don’t get murdered by the casinos. And then, and then nobody takes into account those little green [bleep] zeros. I know, they’re like [bleep] you, like, two of them, it makes it so it’s 47%, not in your favor. Yeah, you know, or whatever, oh, that’s only for playing the colors. Yes, only if you’re playing the colors, yeah, anyways, and there’s also, there’s, some that’s single zero, and then some have double zero. Yeah, so I’m assuming that’s what they’re talking about, is where he made some money and then started to get really addictive, and then started to be like, this is how I’m going to make money now.

Okay, unlike real professional gamblers, like, you know, there’s a bunch of like these poker players I follow, I love poker, like, like Patrik Antonius and like all these guys who are like literally, they go, they do, he goes, cash games, three, four, five times a week, it’s like the buy-in’s like 500 grand. Yeah, but they’re playing like amateurs? No, no, they play other professionals, but they’re not playing against a bank, right? No, exactly, or casino, I think that’s why poker is like a, much, but it’s also, but it’s still like, still they still lose shitloads of money, but like they’re actually like geniuses, and they’re really, they’re actual professionals.

They’re not a dude who like, always on to come up on some couple properties, and he like, now go to the casino, like these [bleep] have been doing this for 25 years. Yeah, I guess what I meant, says poker’s a little bit less chance and a little more, a little more skill. Yeah, it’s individuals versus individuals, as opposed to the house who’s like, [bleep]. Yeah, so, all on black, while he won large sums of money at sometimes, he also lost large sums of money at sometimes, so this pattern created financial pressure. Despite his outward appearance of having a lot of money, his gambling habits were not just recreational, but seemed to serve as, like, his high, and his, you know what I mean, shit’s [bleep] exhilarating.

I mean, oh dude, you get that. Thank God I don’t have the money to gamble, [bleep], and my wife be like, [bleep] you. I don’t know, I’m the other way, I get upset if you win. No, we’re saying if you win, it’s like a, totally, everyone gets upset when they lose. I’m super pissed. Well, even if I’m breaking even, I’m upset, and you’re like, [bleep] this, I’m out. Like, well, like, it’s just not fun. I don’t get that. Like, no, but like, you’re always just chasing the next win though, cuz when you get that win, you’re like, it’s all worth it. Thank God, the, uh, the hardware, I know, it’s like the drive.

I’m like, I’m going to have some beers there, like, I’ll never be able to drive back. So friends and family noticed subtle but alarming changes in his behavior in the years that were leading up to the shooting. He became increasingly irritable and paranoid, showing distrust even toward those that were closest to him. He began expressing concerns about the government, that somebody was spying on him, that somebody was invading his privacy, you know, he became a conspiracy theorist essentially. This is all part of the narrative, singer, like he started not trusting the government because he was a criminal, I’m like, okay. Additionally, on top of the mental, I guess you would call it mental deterioration, his health was deteriorating.

He reportedly suffered from chronic pain and significant sleep problems. I, he did, so his, his, like his long-term relationship, he’d be groaning. Mhm, you know, so maybe he did have some, maybe he had like a [bleep] tumor or something, I don’t know. And so these physical ailments may have contributed to him and his mood. Yeah, you know what I mean, makes sense, dude. I bet, if it was like a brain tumor, that [bleep], [bleep] with you. I slept wrong the other day, and I was [bleep] pissed the whole day, I was like getting old, pissed off, and I was like, great, and my kid wakes up at six, and like, I went to bed at like 2, and I’m like, great, yeah, I’m super happy, love life, and she wakes.

So I understand that, I feel that, I feel the irritable. Yeah, uh, these physical ailments may have contributed to his mood, etc. Despite his wealth, he avoided seeking medical help or any sort of spiritual or psychiatric help. So he, he wanted to tough it out, he became. Yeah, I feel like it’s, like, my dad, [bleep] fine. Yeah, it’s kind, put a band on, it’s kind of like, like, don’t trust the medicos, and that kind of, like, well, my dad, my dad’s like, he wants to fix everything with garlic, he’s like, I’ll just take some garlic, I’ll grab some [bleep] orange juice, baby, this [bleep] some garlic on it, mince a little garlic on that [bleep], good to go.

So, um, and then leading up to the actual attack, uh, and this is some of the stuff that I newly learned, but I didn’t know, you know, I mean, we all lived through it. Yeah, but it’s like, we didn’t, I didn’t do like, AEP, yeah, exactly. Yeah, uh, he began planning the attack many, many months in advance, even years. Investigators discovered that he had made extensive preparations, purchased dozens of firearms, ammunition, accessories, and things that are called bump stocks, they allow semi-automatic weapons to be fully automatic essentially. Yeah, so the stock, yeah, yeah, cuz the stock is the part that goes like on your shoulder, I guess, right, like, and then it makes it so that when it, when the rifle recoils, it just like automatically just keeps going, keep going.

Yeah, the recoil causes, cuz that’s like, you know, like how when you shoot a bullet, and the slide goes back, and then it chambers another round. Yeah, through the recoil, but I think that maybe allows it, so it’s like a bump, just makes it so that it keeps the same motion. Sim, it’s sim, simulated automatic, I got it. So essentially it takes it, the word semi, and it, yeah, makes it, bas, simul, simulated, because it’s not actually, it’s not actually like, you know, with a full auto, you can just hold, just put it down, and it goes. I think this is the action of the motion causing it to simulate.

Yeah, so, a year up to it, right, between 2016 and ’17, he bought 55 firearms. Damn, that’s, so you know that’s a lot of money on fire. Jesus Christ. Mainly rifles, and what he would do is he would go to many different gun shops, many different retailers, and so he was trying not to cause red flags, the same place, he’s like, there, 17th one this week, buddy, what are you doing. In the months leading up to the shooting, Paddock’s behavior became increasingly erratic. He sold off several of his properties, including his Nevada home, and he began making large cash transactions. Now keep this in mind for part two, what was cash mean, action for, exactly, we don’t know.

Okay, but how do they know they were large transactions? Well, cuz he was selling it, and then he was doing wire transfers, and there some that we know to where these, there were some that were out of country, like the Camons. Yeah, so now, we’ll take that up in a little, in a little bit, because he was also dating, little teaser, he was dating, he was dating Marily Danley, who is from the Philippines. Oh, he sending it to his Filipino bride, I’m getting you here baby. We don’t know a lot about what all of this means. Essentially, so, after the attack, the investigators started combing through his financial transactions, of which he wired large sums of money to two different accounts in the Philippines, where Mary Lou was visiting her family.

Oh, he’s probably like stashed the cash, right? Right, so authorities initially speculated that she was part of it. Yeah, that totally, that’s what I would think. True, but she denies it, of course, and to her credit, if she had nothing to do with it, I don’t want to say that, it’s possible, you know what I mean, like, but also, like, why would he like try to frame her? Yeah, and why would he be, or, I don’t know, but she said she had no knowledge of any plans. Oh, maybe she has, maybe she has like another aloof brother or something, he’s like, you on, like, I’ll take the cash for you, but like, but like the simp, the simple theory of it, like with no conspiracy behind it, is that he knew what he was going to do, and so he was offloading his cash to her, he cared about her.

Yeah, and was just like, hey, I want her to have this money. Yeah, he knew that the US government would have seized all of his assets, for sure, 100%. Yeah, but not in the Philippines. Yeah, exactly. So Paddock meticulously researched potential targets. Now keep in mind, we have, we still to this day have no idea why he did this. No, yeah, it’s crazy, just [bleep] psycho, that’s why, dude, no. Bas, I’m thinking this dude was probably like on like meth or some [bleep]. Yeah, just [bleep] psycho on some. I feel like he’s, that’s why you start getting paranoid, he’s not [bleep] sleeping, he starts forming some weird [bleep].

Yeah, keep, I’m telling you, I’m pretty sure meth was involved at some point. So he looked at different places, in Chicago, uh, there’s a Life is Beautiful Festival in Vegas, he looked at, uh, Lallapla, Festival, oh, he was specifically targeting festivals for large, know that, like based on his laptop or something, based on like, he’s like booking, he’s like looking at hotels, looking at venues, looking at concerts, he’s definitely doing the research, looking around. Yeah, pretty detailed. Ultimately he settled on the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Vegas. His research extended to even logistical details, meaning he studied the vantage points, entries, exits, uh, and like how people would escape, not how he would escape, but how, like, okay, just imagine 10,000, like, where they would go in case of emergency.

Yes, exactly, right. Jesus, how the [bleep] do you have so much time. Like, surveillance footage from his previous hotel stays showed him observing the similar layout, suggesting that he was basically fine-tuning his plans. His ability to move undetected through the casinos is really the terrifying part, because he was a high roller. Oh, and they probably just, he’s probably so used to this, like, free rein, and he probably was able to easily go in there, like, oh, welcome back sir, and can just like check out. You mean the night of, or like in general? Just months ahead of time. Oh, okay, he, all the hotels, the night of, like, I’m sure we’re going to get into it, but like, [bleep] what he was carrying in, ridiculous, it’s insane.

Like, so Stephen Paddock’s final days were marked by actions that in hindsight revealed how meticulously he planned it. Obviously at the time nobody knew, but looking at it, you could really see how calculated it was, and he was calm, collected, moving around, you know what I mean, like really. He arrived at Mandalay Bay Resort in Casino September 25th, he initially booked a standard room. Over the next 3 days he requested and secured an upgrade into a corner suite on the 32nd floor, which provided a clear view of the harvest, uh, music festival. Wait, but they, like, I was always on the assumption that the windows don’t open in hotels.

I, you can shoot through it, don’t worry. Yeah, we’ll, that, yeah, sorry, I didn’t think about that, don’t worry, God damn it, [bleep] logical as [bleep]. So he upgraded to the corner suite, and it provided a clear view of the festival grounds. This suite had full, like, windows, they were, the, oh, like the bay windows, the big Florida ceiling, they’re like these windows. Okay, yeah, like Florida ceiling, they’re called bay windows. Yeah, you’re welcome. Bay window, I mean, I don’t know what the [bleep] bay window is, what the [bleep], it’s this [bleep], this is a bay window, tell me, tell me in Spanish then, I’ll get it.

Guantanamo Bay, Guantanamo Bay. So hotel surveillance footage captured Paddock making multiple trips to and from his vehicle in the garage, and you can actually see this video, and it’s eerie as [bleep]. Doesn’t the one’s got like all the luggage, he’s like, I have 17, and he did it many times, isn’t just one time. So, uh, over the course of several days, he transported 20 suitcases. Jesus, how was that not to pull up, not even one red flag, to the room, right on the cart, exactly, what you’re saying, 20 suitcases. Yeah, these suitcases contain firearms, ammunition, and accessories that he would later use. Paddock utilized service elevators on several of those occasions in order to avoid drawing attention to the volume and the weight of.

Damn, they give you access to [bleep] service elevators, what the [bleep], how much money was he spending at these casinos. Yeah, despite these suspicious activities, Paddock’s demeanor remained calm and unremarkable, and no real flags or whatever. Wow, it’s interesting though, like how much you can get away with as long as you appear that you’re supposed to be doing it. Yeah, people just like allow it. I know, like there’s all those, like funny, like there’s just so many people, around, you’ve seen like the YouTube videos too, like the dudes will come in with like, they go into like movie theaters with like a ladder, and like they just like walk right back, they like, oh yeah, yeah, I saw that.

So as long as, like, you, it’s interesting, you act as if you’re so much confidence, and you’re like, I’m supposed to be doing something, people will just assume that you are, because they’re not supposed to be doing it, so, like, who are they to say that you’re not. I have a very strange story, but I think it’s appropriate or relevant. Is, uh, so, do you remember when Lord of the Rings was coming out, [bleep], you in theaters, never seen that. Oh my God, what the [bleep], Jesus Christ, God, I know, damn it, how are we even like homies. I know, you know what, another one I’ve never seen, what, Harry Potter, okay, what, that’s, upset you.

You know what, you know what, meme, I would say the one, the send, is the one I sent you today in that chat, I’m not going to say it, but the one I sent you today, did I, did I, I didn’t see it, did I see it, the one I sent you today, well, I look at it, I don’t know, I have to look now, forget it, forget it, seriously, like when my shows, how, like, I only check them like in waves, you know what I mean. Wait, it’s like Saturday at like 4, like, no, but seriously, when my daughter turns like six or something, you just want, you to come over and you’ll just watch Harry Potter with us, it’s not my deal.

Any Lord of, let me tell you the story. Yeah, I remember, Eric, I remember, probably going to get some comments, it was coming out on Christmas almost every year for the three that came out, right, and it was just hot. Yeah, especially the second and the third, dude, [bleep] yeah, there were lines, we were waiting in line to go see it, the movies are amazing, phenomenal, unbelievable. So I was there with one of my brothers, and the line was too long, and we were worried, we were going to miss the thing, and it was our whole family, and to do, yeah, we didn’t know what to do, and it was like super kind of stressful, because we really wanted to see this.

Anyway, so he did what you’re talking about, and he’s like, you know what, [bleep] this, I’m going to go, and he goes into the place, and he walks in backwards, backwards, backwards, but confidently, backwards, like it was almost like it was weirdly out of place, like, and he just started walking backwards, and he walked in, and then he saved all our seats. No [bleep], why didn’t no one say, like, why is that guy walking back, cuz it’s so weird, everyone’s like, I’m not crazy, I’m not going to say [bleep], so weirdly, like, I guess it’s normal, you know. Anyways, what, even, who would even thought of that, if I walk in backwards, but I guess, the reason I bring that story up is because it’s what you’re talking about, purpose, yeah, and it’s confident of just doing normal things, I guess, I don’t know, so people are just like, okay.

Yeah, yeah, exactly, so he, 20 suitcases. Um, despite these suspicious activities, Paddock’s demeanor remained calm. Hotel staff who interacted with him reported that he was polite yet quiet, he tipped generously. That’s why they didn’t say [bleep]. Yeah, like they’re like, I mean, he got helped from bellhops, from housekeeping, like, you know, surveillance footage showed him casually gambling in the middle of the day, bringing stuff in, Jesus, gambling, etc. He was eating alone at the hotel restaurants, just casually, he worked on his laptop in his room, did that all the time, like, yeah, standard operating. So there was no like passionate aggression or like weird things that stood out.

Dude, seems like, this seems like some [bleep] like Manchurian Candidate [bleep]. Yeah, but also, we don’t know if the hotel is also protecting themselves, true, does that make sense, definitely, I mean, nothing’s wrong, we didn’t, like if there was something wrong, oh, they didn’t do anything, no, of course, 100%. But in all honesty, okay, if you’re like one of those security, even, or bellhops or something, you just see a guy walking in, especially a high roller, you’re not going to say, why would you think that is [bleep] rifles, you’re not going to think that, no way, you would never think that, like, probably like weird sex toys, like, [bleep], going to do some weird [bleep], leave this [bleep] high roller alone, he’s probably going to have a sex party later on.

Yeah, so like, I can see from their vantage points, like, well, what are they, he’s bringing in bags, I don’t, is it really that much of a flag? Yeah, like it’d be different if he was like walking in like the guns, like brandish, and they’re like, oh, also, if you were bringing in luggage, and then somebody came to you and said, hey, let me see what’s inside of that, you’d be like, [bleep] you. Yeah, be like, where’s your warrant, [bleep], take this, 100, get this [bleep], [bleep] out of my face. So, um, [bleep] off. So it’s pretty obvious that he carefully staged his suite. He arranged the weapons for easy access, and he even set up cameras inside the room and outside of his room, why, because he had cameras in the hallway so he knew when the police were coming.

Oh wow, so he could see everything that was happening. Okay, damn, this dude, this is like a [bleep], this is like a Jason Statham movie, what the [bleep], I didn’t realize it was this complex. Investigators later described the scene in the suite as an organized chaos, with firearms laid out systematically in rows, and the ammunition readily available for each weapon. So like, as he ran, organized, so like as he’s running out of ammo, he just picks up the next one, like he’s got mags there for that gun, like ready to roll, and he’s there for days or weeks even, and he’s just preparing. Wow, in addition to his activities within the hotel, Paddock made several large cash transactions at the casino, again, to gamble, we assume.

He appeared calm and composed, he blended in seamlessly with the other guests. I can’t imagine like just being totally like, cos, it’s like not like, no mo, like, I’d be sweating, like, sir, are you like, why, like, I’d be like, literally nuclear sweats. Uh, September 30th, the day before the attack, Paddock purchased additional items, uh, receipts recovered from his room showed he had ordered room service many times, drinks many times, he remained in his suite for much of the day. Um, investigators believe that his decision to stay in the room rather than leave the hotel, after bringing in all the equipment, underscored his focus of, preparing the room.

Yeah, setting it up, and almost like drilling. Wow, yeah, you could imagine that there was some sort of like, okay, I’m going to do this, I’m going to do this one, I’m going to do this one. On October 1st, I mean, cuz keep in mind too, this is a casino, there’s camera everywhere. Yeah, every inch, I mean literally, I guarantee, like, their security room looks like the [bleep] architect room from The Matrix. Yes, it’s just like the [bleep] whole room is cameras. So on October 1st, the day of, again, he did a routine, appeared unremarkable. It showed him walking through the hotel dressed casually, carrying a small bag, he gambled again the day of, returned to his room multiple times, gambled again.

His final documented actions on footage were consistent with a man going about simple activities, not leading to the horrific thing that would happen. It seems the very well thought out, in terms of like maintaining normalcy, because it’d be different if a dude, like goes in there, he’s in his room for 5 days without leaving, right, that would be kind of sketch, right, but he’s gambling, he’s doing normal, you know, it seems like a real pattern of normalcy. So a couple points before we kind of go to exactly what happened, essentially in the sequence. Uh, he checked in under his own name, okay, so he knew he wasn’t getting out, that’s what I thought.

Yeah, he, like this is, but also he’s a high roller, like he’s got to check under his own name so that he can get, that not, and he can get past everybody without being questioned. Yeah, but it’s also, it’s like, and also they know him, like, what is he supposed to check in with a different name, but it’s also like he didn’t even try, like, you’re resigning yourself to like, this is the last stand, this is the [bleep], all cameras in the hallway pointed both ways, you’re not going to get out of this. It didn’t seem like there’s an exit plan, like he’s got a van ready down by the thing, there’s none of that.

Yeah, so it seems like he’s on the 32nd floor, there’s [bleep] no way out, true, unless he’s like parachuting off the [bleep]. Yeah, inside his room he broke out two of the windows. Okay, there you go, answers that question, those [bleep] got to be thick, like those are like double pane, like hurricane. I don’t know if he shot them out or how he broke them. Because if you shoot them, you’re obviously going to make noise, and you’re going to, but if you break them, you’re obviously going to make noise less. True, that’s a really good point, and there were, it was a concert, right, so like there’s a loud, there’s a bunch of noise, so like you might not notice a couple shots, and that was actually one of the problems, was, true, if you watch some of the videos, and they’re real hard to watch, but yeah, for the first like hundred shots, no one really knew it was happening, nobody knew they were shots.

It’s [bleep] up, you know, and it started to get real, never going to music, when people were hit, right. Oh God, you know what I mean, dude, buddy, your girlfriend, your whoever, right next to you, get shot, my God, [bleep], dude, everyone starts screaming, and how do you like recover from something? Jesus. There’s, I mean, I wouldn’t recommend it, but there are some videos where, like, one girl is just, it’s, she’s just filming the whole time, and she’s just trying to escape, and she’s like jumping over people who are bleeding, and like, it’s like a [bleep] war zone, terrifying. It was, it was crazy. Um, so he broke out the windows in order to create the firing lines, right, and they gave him pretty much an unobstructed view of 22,000 people that were at the concert.

Approximately 10:05 p.m., Paddock began firing into the crowd from his 32nd floor. The rapid burst of gunfire initially caused confusion, with many attendees thinking it was fireworks. The realization of the threat soon led to panic, and then people started scrambling over each other and scrambling for cover, and you got to imagine like there probably were deaths or serious injuries just from like the stampede. You also don’t even know where the hell it’s coming from, so like, idea, should I run left, right, should I duck, should I act dead, should I, like, you guys have both been to Vegas, right, so like there’s high-rises everywhere, it could be coming from everywhere.

Yeah, you have no idea. Um, the first calls to 911 were made within a few seconds of the initial gunfire. Oh good. Uh, police officers who were already on duty at the concert responded immediately, attempting to find the gunfire, but due to the elevated position of the shooter and the echoing, the acoustics, kind of like, I’d be looking for muzzle flash, honestly, that’s, but he might have been just hidden inside, super hard. Good point, like from inside to through, yeah, that’s a good point. It was super hard to track down where it was coming from, the point, especially, he was so calculated, it’s so far away too, it’s chaos, and it’s chaos.

I’m not saying like they did a bad job, yeah. Officers on the ground reported that gunfire appeared to be coming from Mandalay Bay, but it took several minutes to confirm where in Mandalay Bay. So meanwhile, Paddock just kept firing, several minutes, I mean, that’s an eternity, alternating, he was alternating between the weapons, when he would run out, he would move over, run out, move over. By the time he stopped shooting, it was 10:15 p.m., he shot more than a thousand rounds into the crowd. Wow, and my thing is, like, just on that note, anyone who ever shot like weapons, that’s not easy to do. No, yeah, like after a while your [bleep] hand hurts, your shoulder, you’re like, oh really, dude, yeah, I’ve never fired those kind of weapons, especially those kind of weapons, the higher caliber you go, like dude, it’s, the more you’re just like, oh my God, okay, it just takes it out of you, it’s just like a lot, and you’re like, okay, I’m, we’re done, I’m like going to go home now.

It’s like a thousand rounds, a lot, rounds, a bunch of drugs and just adrenaline. Really good point, the adrenaline probably like maxed. Yeah, but to your point, I mean, yeah, I would have pointed out that that’s like a [bleep] shitload. It’s not, and it’s also, he doesn’t have full auto, he doesn’t, so it’s not like he just holds his finger down and it burns through a mag, he has to literally do this every time. Yeah, and that’s a [bleep] lot of action, do this a thousand, is it a thousand times? Yeah, you have to do it every time. Yes, yeah, because unless he was a [bleep] like an actual specialist and could [bleep] and manipulate, which he most likely didn’t do, because they would have noted that they were modded out to be fully auto.

No, they weren’t, they weren’t, so, like, he just had the bump, literally do this a thousand times. Yeah, that sounds, each trigger has roughly, you know, even if it’s like really light trigger, you know, three to five pounds of force to pull, that’s how, [bleep] with the bump stock though, it does help him, but because it’s moving, his hand could, did it, but still a thousand [bleep] times, bro. I just wanted to point, I’m not saying he didn’t, I’m just saying it’s difficult. Yeah, it’s a lot, that’s all, like, that’s how much determination, he had, in crazy man persistence. So inside Mandalay Bay, hotel security staff worked with the police, and they found where the shooting was coming from.

Uh, security guard Jesus Campos was the first to approach the 32nd floor, at approximately 10:18 p.m., so this is 13 minutes after he started firing. Wow, that’s a long time. That’s a [bleep] long time. So he approached the door, and Campos was shot in the leg through the, he had the cameras, guns pointing the other way. Oh [bleep], so he had set up to like, oh my God, that’s why he had the cameras, cuz he was like, these [bleep] are going to come up, he thought of all the things. Yeah, despite his injury, Campos radioed hotel security and provided the critical information that there was a shooter on the 32nd floor, he was shot.

Get up here now, essentially, yeah. Las Vegas PD officers arrived on the 32nd floor after the report, the officers moved cautiously, aware of the risk of further gunfire, they systematically cleared the rooms, evacuated the guests on the floor. Yeah, using Campos’s info and noise from the firing, they identified what his suite, so approximately 10:55. Oh my gosh. SWAT officers began preparing to breach the suite, a battering ram was used to force entry into the room. The breach occurred at approximately 11:20. Oh my God, this is more than an hour after shooting. Officers entered cautiously, expecting resistance, but he had already killed himself. Oh okay. His body was discovered lying near a rifle, surrounded by spent shell casings, etc.

The suite was described as chaotic, with weapons everywhere essentially. Investigators later theorized that Paddock may have intended to engage further with the police, but his reasons, he ended his own life, and we don’t know why he didn’t further kind of like stand his ground, I guess, you know. Or, I mean, but like, there’s despite anything, there’s always a reason for everything. Yeah, no one does, like, it’s, it may not make sense to us, but there’s always a reason. Yeah, so he wouldn’t just do this, and no one meticulously planned some [bleep] out for no reason, that was his plan, you know, the whole time, he’s like, I’m not, well, he’s, I mean, definitely killing himself, I think was part of the plan.

Exactly, for sure, or being killed by the police. Or, right, mhm, so Paddock left no note, no manifesto, no, even like his electronic devices didn’t even, like, there was no word docs with, like, random [bleep]. Yeah, he didn’t write anything, no suicide note, no nothing. Um, the FBI conducted a year-long investigation into his background, financial records, personal history, etc. Their report concluded he acted alone, no ties to terrorist organizations, no ties to extremist groups. The agency described him as a quiet professional who was meticulous, planning, but offered no explanation as to why he did what he did. Some speculated that he was just driven mad, mental health, etc, uh, but none of the theories prove out, because there’s nothing.

Yeah, there’s no data, there’s no thing that said, oh, he wanted to be famous, there was no, there’s no thing, there’s no record of him going to like a psychiatrist or some [bleep], [bleep], never even went to the doctor, there’s no prescriptions for him of anything, like this. So we have no idea, you know, he just was described as a normal guy who gave no indication of anything. So, um, of course, uh, this led to renewed debates over gun control, specifically about bump stocks. Actually, I remember, yep. The US Department of Justice in 2018 issued a regulation effectively banning the devices, but there are still some ways, but yeah, which is fine, like, I’m like, look, you know me, I’m all for like [bleep] gun rights, but I don’t need to have a bump stock, like, I don’t, I agree, like, it’s not like something I need to have, I don’t need that at all.

Yeah, so, uh, you know, again, I mean, for the survivors and victims, I mean, God only knows what they went through that night, and they’re still going, the trauma, like, how do you get over that and still, yeah, what they’re going through now. I mean, this was only, uh, seven years ago, so this is not like something that happened 40 years ago. This is pretty, even that seems like a long time ago. Yeah, seriously, yeah, exactly. So, so there you go, I mean, that’s essentially the story. I mean, I know obviously there are so many stories that are within this story, uh, about, we’re focusing on one avenue.

Yes, exactly, about the victims, about the police officers, a lot of documentaries, I don’t want to use that all, but like, interesting documentaries about, you know, the rookie cop, who, that was his first day, and like he, you know what I mean, and quit the force. So there’s all these different things, and obviously, like we said at the beginning, we were just focusing on the shooter and trying to figure out essentially why and how, etc, he did all this. Um, so there you go, that’s Stephen Paddock, and, and obviously part two is when we get into the conspiracies. Yeah, so, and I’ll give you a little teaser for part two, which is essentially that there’s different theories, of, Urian candidate, there, like, he was like activated, [bleep], yes, the hotel casino covering things up, not providing all the videos, um, because they kind of, you know, again, we talked about, there’s an angle, there’s a video angle of [bleep] everywhere in a casino, one of, so you would see everything.

One of the things that I didn’t like is, how was he able to set up like video cameras in the [bleep] hallway without them like being like, what the [bleep] he doing. Mhm, yeah, what’s that thing he just put on the wall, yeah, exactly, you know, like, what, I know, yeah, so there might be cameras there, but like, did they catch, who’s monitoring it, did they catch that one specifically, cuz their eyes are mostly on the floor. Good point, the hallways protect the cash. Yes, for sure, 100%, but still, they, yeah, there’s definitely negligence, always, oh my God. So, uh, in the next episode, we’re going to go over a couple theories, one of which is, um, like we had talked about, which is the Manchurian candidate one, uh, another one is that there’s another shooter, uh, possibility, second shooter, the other one is a government cover up, because the FBI, you know, when you hear from the FBI, the word “lone gunman,” exactly, that’s kind of what we hear about all the time, that’s the official report of almost every major assassination, the lone gunman theory, this is back to the [bleep] JFK.

Exactly, so again, you know, as conspiracy theorists or whatever, you instantly red flag. So there’s that one, there’s also one about, at that time, ISIS, you know, there was a connect, like, these are farfetched, we’ll go over them in the next episode. Yeah, you know, aliens, can’t ever rule that one out. I know, right, there’s always a chance. The other one is about an arms deal that may have gone wrong, interesting one. Uh, another one is, uh, false flag. Why don’t you save these for the, I, no, no, I, we’re going to go over them later, but you know, I’m just saying, there’s like a CIA one, there’s, uh, you know, mysterious wealth and where his money was going, there’s a, there’s a lot, there’s a lot to.

There also, there’s also a lot when you think of like a, the loner affluent male. Yeah, like there is a lot of things, like you know, maybe he was in deep with the wrong people, and like this was, you know, there’s, they could be like, I don’t know, like I’m always thinking like government is like somewhat involved in everything. Yes, so they’re like, hey, you know, if you want your Filipino girl to, like, you know, be happy and healthy, we need you to do something for us. Filipino government’s involved, for sure. There’s one, those [bleep], there’s one that I am kind of interested in, which is that, and we brought it up a little bit, but it’s about casino manipulating the footage, and it may not be a conspiracy in the sense of like, obviously, Paddock causing it, yes, like Paddock did it, and like he was the guy, but were they trying to basically protect themselves.

It’s a billion dollar business, they’re 100% protecting themselves. Anyways, there you go, that’s, uh, that’s the Las Vegas shooting, part one, part one. Yeah, I can’t wait for part two. Definitely tune in next time for part two. Shout out Gamer Dave, Gamer Dave, he’s the man. Um, and as always, we love your feedback, your comments, uh, we do get things wrong, all the, and, uh, you know, you let us know all the time. Yeah, that’s right. Yeah, let us know if Eric got it wrong, or if you hate Eric, and yeah, and if you hate our joking, you don’t have to listen, but we appreciate you listening.

For sure, that’s right, that’s right. So, uh, we’ll catch you guys next time. All right, night. And night. Hey guys, are you obsessed with us? That’s, I am. Can you just not get enough? That’s all right, we don’t blame you. We just launched a Patreon, Patreon and Spotify exclusive content. There are two ways you can sign up for exclusive content. The first is through Spotify, there’s a link in our profile description that links you to the Spotify premium page, and that’s only $2.99 a month, and gets you an ad-free experience, and it gets you extra episodes that come out every month. The other way is through our Patreon, all you got to do is go to Patreon and search The Conspiracy Podcast, and you’ll find us.

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