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Vegas massacre gunman accumulated arsenal over decades, police say

Mass murderer Stephen Paddock accumulated his arsenal over decades, police say, and lived a secret life until he shot dead 58 people at a Las Vegas festival.

Stephen Paddock
Stephen Paddock had amassed 47 firearms Source: AAP

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Source: AAP


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The gunman responsible for the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history meticulously planned the event and spent decades acquiring weapons, while he lived a secret life, Las Vegas police say.

Police also told a news conference on Wednesday that 317 of the 489 people injured in the Las Vegas shooting had been discharged from hospitals and the death toll of 59, including gunman Stephen Paddock, remained the same.

Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said Paddock, 64, had 1600 rounds of ammunition and several containers of an explosive commonly used in target shooting that totalled about 22kg in his car.

He said none of the cameras he put up in the hotel room where he unleashed gunfire onto a concert crowd across the Las Vegas Strip on Sunday night were recording.

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The first shots began at 10.05pm on Sunday and ended 10 minutes later, the sherrif said.

Paddock rented a room in downtown Las Vegas about the same time as an alternative music festival on September 22-24, where artists including Lorde, Chance the Rapper and Muse performed, but police do not know why.

Meanwhile, the FBI on Wednesday questioned Paddock's girlfriend, Marilou Danley, who says she had no idea he was "planning violence against anyone".

She returned late on Tuesday from a family visit to the Philippines.

"He never said anything to me or took any action that I was aware of that I understood in any way to be a warning that something horrible like this was going to happen," Danley, 62, said in a statement read to reporters by her lawyer in Los Angeles, where she was being questioned.

The events came after US President Donald Trump visited Las Vegas with first lady Melania Trump, expressing the sorrow and shock felt by the nation.

"America is truly a nation in mourning," Trump said on Wednesday.

Speaking at the Las Vegas police command centre, Trump addressed those grieving over the loss of loved ones.

"We know that your sorrow feels endless. We stand together to help you carry your pain," Trump said.

"You're not alone. We will never leave your side."

Trump's trip was the first time he has had to deal directly with the aftermath of a major shooting.

At the hospital, however, he deflected a question about whether the US had a problem with gun violence.

"We're not going to talk about that today," he said.

Paddock shot from his 32nd-floor Mandalay Bay hotel room and took his own life before police stormed his suite, where they found as many as 23 guns.

Twelve rifles were fitted with so-called bump stocks, allowing them to be fired almost as though they were automatic weapons.


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