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'It just looked like almost a gun store': Police describe storming Vegas shooter's hotel room

Las Vegas police officers have described how they banded together to storm shooter Stephen Paddock's Mandalay Bay hotel room.

Four police officers discuss the moment they raided the 32nd floor hotel room of the Las Vegas shooter.
Four police officers discuss the moment they raided the 32nd floor hotel room of the Las Vegas shooter. Source: CBS

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By Riley Morgan


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Police are still searching for answers as to why Stephen Paddock, 64, shot and killed 58 people in the Las Vegas massacre from his 32nd floor hotel room.

For the one-week anniversary of the attack, CBS interviewed four officers who described the dramatic moments police helped people to safety as they tried to determine where the shooter was.

Officer Casey Clarkson was helping people escape gun fire when he was struck in the neck by shrapnel.

During the chaos Mr Clarkson said bullets were 'raining down' the whole time, but despite being hit he decided to work through the pain and continued to direct people off the streets.

When two agents from the K-9 unit heard there was an active shooter in the area, they raced over to the Mandalay Bay hotel to help and form a make-shift SWAT team ready to raid the hotel.

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One officer described approaching the shooter's room as a "deadly game of hide and seek" before they stormed in and found his body and an arsenal of guns.

"So many magazines. Stacks and stacks of magazines everywhere. Just in suitcases all neatly stacked against pillars, around the room, all stacked up, rifles placed all throughout," Officer Dave Newtown told CBS.

"All kinds of monitors and electrical equipment he had in there. It just looked like almost a gun store."

Another officer, Matthew Donaldson, was also shocked at the array of guns found in the room. He said he was concerned there would be more shooters after finding so many weapons.

"It was still very much in my brain there's 50 other dudes in here somewhere. You know, we were still clearing that room, the curtains, moving the curtains," Mr Donaldson said. "I wanted to make sure somebody wasn't hiding between the windows and the curtains."

The officers said they found a hand written note that appeared to map out the trajectory of his bullets to the crowd below.

Las Vegas Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said it was credit to police a group of officers acting on their own without supervisory direction were able to band together to form a make-shift SWAT team to raid the room.


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