Murder In America - EP. 46 NEVADA - The Las Vegas Shooting: The Deadliest Mass Shooting In American History

Episode Date: December 9, 2021

In October of 2017, a massacre was carried out in Las Vegas, Nevada, perpetrated by a quiet, unassuming man named Stephen Paddock that absolutely shocked the world. Over 60 people died in the incident, and over 860 people were wounded. Join us as we dive deep into the story of the deadliest, and one of the most mysterious mass shootings in modern history. You're listening, to MURDER IN AMERICA. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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and 365-day returns. Quince.com slash America. This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp. Life is a journey. I know this. I think we all know this. Some days feel good and other days feel absolutely overwhelming.

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Warning, the following podcast is not suitable for all audiences. We go into great detail with every case that we cover and do our best to bring viewers even deeper into the stories by utilizing disturbing audio and sound effects. Trigger warnings from the stories we cover may include violence, rape, murder, and offenses against children. This podcast is not for everyone.

You have been warned. Imagine this. Your favorite country artist finally releases their tour schedule for the upcoming year. You read down the list, and there it is, your city. You immediately buy your tickets because you've been waiting for this moment for months. And before you know it, it's the night of the show. You and your loved ones all pile in an Uber and make your way to the concert.

Once you're there, you along with thousands, fill the crowd, and there's an undeniable excitement in the air. Everyone's drinking, having a good time, and eagerly waiting for their favorite artists to take the stage. As the performer sings, everyone in the crowd is singing along and having the time of their lives. But suddenly, the familiar song is interrupted by a distant pop. And you think to yourself that maybe it's just fireworks. But the loud pops continue over and over and over again.

Before your brain can even process what is happening, people are dropping dead all around you. There's blood everywhere and people start to scream. and you suddenly realize that the loud pops are not fireworks. It's gunfire, and someone is shooting into the crowd. You, along with thousands of others, suddenly enter a state of panic, trampling people trying to get away from the bullets. But you can't tell where the gunfire is coming from. And it doesn't matter which direction you run,

people are dropping dead all around you. Then you look to your left, and your best friend is on the ground with a bullet wound to their leg. You want to stay and protect them, but the cops that are standing nearby are screaming at you to run and take cover. And in that moment, you decide to run. You're running as fast as you ever have, and while you're doing so, you can hear the sounds of people screaming in every direction. Once you've finally made it to the fence, you huddle next to the strangers. They're people you have never met before, but you embrace them. You all sit together for a moment.

Everyone's crying, and you take a second to look at the scene around you. There are people hiding, people screaming in pain from their gunshot wounds, and there are bodies everywhere. There are even people sitting among the gunfire holding their dying loved one. And as you're trying to process what just happened, a woman in the group points out that you're bleeding. When you look down, there's a dark red stream flowing from a hole in your arm. You didn't even know that you were shot until that very moment. But there's nothing you can do. All you can do is wait.

You wait for what feels like in eternity, but finally the gunfire comes to a stop. Eventually, first responders arrive and they load you into an ambulance, and the last thing you see before they shut the ambulance doors are dozens and dozens of bodies covering the ground in front of you. In Las Vegas, on October 1, 2017, over 22,000 people experienced something like the story we just described at an outdoor Jason Aldeen concert.

In the distance, next to where the concert was being held was Mandalay Bay, a popular resort in casino. And on its 32nd floor, there was a large hole in the window of room 135. Inside, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock lay dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound after shooting at the crowd for 10 whole minutes. At the end of it all, 58 people were dead, making it the deadliest mass shooting in American history. This is the story of the Las Vegas shooting.

I'm Courtney Shannon. And I'm Colin Brown. And you're listening to Murder in America. The United States of America is notorious for its mass shootings, especially within the recent years. In fact, it's so common that we become desensitized to it. 10 years ago when you would hear of a shooting, it was all anyone could talk about for weeks.

The news would cover the story over and over again, highlighting every detail. But as the years have gone by, it's just become a part of our lives, something to expect. And as tragic as each shooting is, it's not surprising to wake up to news that eight students were shot in their high school, or that a gunman walked into a grocery store and killed four innocent people. At the college that Courtney and I attended, there was a sign by the door of every single classroom that read, run, hide, and fight. A warning to students that if an active shooter comes, you first run.

If you can't run, you hide. Block the door, avoid windows, and silence your cell phone. And if you can't hide from the shooter, the last option you have is to fight them with whatever object you can find around you. Isn't it sad that we live in a world where we have to have these reminders posted around us? The shootings have become such a big part of our lives that we genuinely have to consider how to react if a gunman walked into a school, a concert venue, or a movie theater. But what if the gunman was shooting from above, with dozens of guns and thousands of rounds of ammunition? What if he had a bird's eye view of the crowd, and no one knew where he was shooting from? There's no amount of active shooter training that can prepare you for that.

I remember waking up to the news of this specific mass shooting and being absolutely shocked. The tragedy of the casualties, it was incomprehensible, that 58 people were dead at the hands of one evil man named Stephen Paddock. And the main question that I had, just like everyone else in America, was why? What brings a man to shoot at a crowd of innocent people? Unfortunately, we still don't know why Stephen Paddock shot and killed 58 people that night. One would assume that authorities would know much more now, four years after the shooting. More about why Stephen Paddock pulled the trigger. More about why he chose that location.

But strangely enough, there are no real answers. Many theories have been proposed, and many experts have tried to explain why this horrific event occurred, but still, to this day, we don't know. He didn't leave a note or tell anyone about his plans, and he killed himself before he could answer any of those questions. And without those answers, it leaves us wondering, what turns an average 64-year-old man into America's deadliest mass shooter? Stephen Craig Paddock was born in Clinton, Iowa on April 9, 1953. He was the oldest of four brothers who were named Bruce, Patrick, and Eric. His mother, Dolores, always worked hard to give Stephen a normal life, but that wasn't always so easy.

You see, Stephen's father, Benjamin, was a career criminal, who at one point was on the FBI's most wanted list. So before we get into Stephen Paddock and his life, let's discuss his father's crimes. According to an article written by Catherine Rosenberg-Douglas for the Chicago Tribune, Stephen's father started his criminal career in 1946 when he was 25 years old. He was arrested for stealing 12 cars in Chicago and selling them for around $1,200 each. After his trial, he was convicted of 10 counts of auto larceny and five counts of confidence game and was sentenced to five years in the Illinois State Penitentiary.

He served his time and Benjamin was released from prison, but he wanted to get his life together, start a family, so he married Stephen Paddock's mother, Dolores. And before they knew it, they were pregnant with their firstborn child. Stephen Paddock. But Stephen would never really get to see his father during his first years of life, because Benjamin would get arrested the same year that he was born. Again, this time for passing bad checks, Benjamin would end up serving three years for this crime, leaving Stephen without a father. After he was released the second time, Benjamin wanted a fresh start in life, so he moved his family to Tucson, Arizona, to open up a gas station. And it seemed like he really wanted

to get his life together. He even started volunteering at a juvenile. probation department where he would help rehabilitate troubled kids who had gotten themselves on the wrong side of the law. Neighbors described him as a friendly man, a caring father and a doting husband. From the outside looking in, he seemed like an upstanding citizen. But he wasn't. Because what a lot of people didn't know is that shortly after their family got to Arizona, while Stephen was just a young boy, Benjamin committed three bank robberies within just one year. almost $25,000 in cash.

Investigators eventually caught up with Benjamin, early enough, at a gas station in Las Vegas, but when confronted by the FBI agents, he didn't surrender. Instead, he tried to run one of them over with his car. Afterwards, he was quickly arrested, and he was eventually found guilty of the bank robberies and sentenced to 20 years in prison. Because of this, Stephen Paddock never really grew up with his dad. He spent the better part of his childhood with his dad in prison, prison, so this last conviction didn't really surprise him.

Benjamin Paddock was then sent to the Federal Correction Institution Latuna in Anthony, Texas. But it was here in Texas when Benjamin would increase his notoriety even further. On New Year's Eve, 1968, Benjamin somehow escaped from prison and went on the run. Following his brazen escape from federal prison, Benjamin Paddock was placed on the FBI's most wanted list. Usually when a criminal is placed on the most wanted list, they're apprehended in less than six months, but not Benjamin.

He actually held the distinction of being someone who was on the most wanted list. Most Wanted list for one of the longest times. In fact, he was on the Most Wanted list for almost 10 years, and he was never apprehended during this time. I thought that the text printed on Benjamin's Most Wanted poster was pretty interesting, so I'm going to read to you a couple of portions of the poster. Escape Federal Prisoner, Wounded by FBI, Benjamin Hoskins Paddock, 31869, Ailiuses, Perry Archer, Benjamin J. Butler, Leo Jenstein, Benjamin Hoskins Jr., Ben H. Paddock, Benjamin Hodgens Paddock Benton Hoskins Paddock

Patrick Benjamin Paddock Big Daddy Chrome Dome Old Baldi Description 6 4245 pounds Large build blonde hair balding Occupations

Automobile Mechanic Electrician Promoters Salesman Service Station Operator Scars and Marks Scar over right eyebrow Vaccination Scar upper left arm Scar on right knee Birth Mark right ankle

Avid bridge player Caution Paddock Diagnosed as Psychopathic Has carried firearms in commission of bank robberies He reportedly has suicidal tendencies and should be considered armed and very dangerous, signed J. Edgar Hoover. After his escape from prison, Benjamin, while a wanted man, moved up to Oregon where he began to go by the name Bruce Warner Erickson.

He would assume this identity for nearly a decade. In Oregon, he opened up a bingo hall, and over the years he became a local fixture in the town. It should be noted that to open up the bingo hall, Benjamin Paddock actually had to file for a license from the government, and they approved him. That means that using his fake identity, he actually schemed the government. It's crazy that they never caught him. In Oregon, people loved Benjamin, and his bingo hall became popular amongst locals. The town loved it so much, actually, that they even put a picture of him in the local newspaper and named him Bingo Bruce.

But in 1978, authorities found this newspaper and Benjamin was arrested again. But surprisingly, he only served a year in prison before he was paroled. But after his release, Stephen Paddock never heard from his father again. Benjamin never made any attempt to contact him or his brothers, and they kind of just went on with life without each other. Later on, Benjamin would become a self-ordained minister, and he almost started a church in Las Vegas, but he never ended up following through with it. Las Vegas was Benjamin's favorite place on Earth, and it was also one of Stephen's favorite places on Earth. The father and son had a lot of similarities, despite barely ever knowing each other. And it makes you wonder, are you born the way that you are?

Or are you taught? Could Stephen's father's criminal history provide some sort of clue as to why Stephen himself would go on to carry out the deadliest mass shooting in American history? It's definitely compelling. There's a lot that can be taken and analyzed from Benjamin's past, but at the end of the day, everyone makes their own choices. From what we could tell, Benjamin was barely even in Stephen's life. and he never killed anyone, unlike his son.

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Does violence run in his blood? Or was he influenced become America's deadliest mass shooter throughout his upbringing? That's a good question, because Stephen Paddock and his father aren't the only ones who have a criminal past in their family tree. Bruce Paddock, Stephen's younger brother, has had plenty of run-ins with the law. Most recently, following the Las Vegas shooting perpetrated by his brother, Bruce Paddock was arrested for 20 counts of sexual exploitation of a child or possessing child pornography. After he was found with more than 600 pornographic images of children on his computer,

according to Paul Eakins, a spokesman for the Los Angeles County District Attorney's Office. In 2018, these charges against Bruce were dropped because a witness was unavailable, but the prosecutor still plan on refiling the charges. Court records also show that in the past, Bruce has been convicted of vandalism, driving with a revoked license, making criminal threats, theft, tampering with a vehicle, and assorted probation violations. So he's definitely not an angel either.

So looking at Stephen Paddock's father, a known career criminal and bank robber who was once on the FBI's most wanted list, and his brother, who had faced many charges throughout his life, one would assume that Stephen Paddock would have a criminal record too, right? Well, that couldn't be farther from the truth. Stephen was in the eyes of the law an upstanding citizen before the mass shooting. He was born on April 9, 1953, in Clinton, Iowa.

After his bank robbing father led them to Arizona and then went on to go to prison, Stephen and his brothers were left without a father. The family eventually moved out in Nevada and settled in California. But even the Golden State Life wasn't easy. Even though I couldn't find much about exactly how the Paddock brothers were raised while living with their mother, Dolores, I came across an interesting interview that Bruce Paddock gave to podcast host Jim Breslo on his podcast Hidden Truth Show. During the interview, while describing his childhood and his family, Bruce described his brother

Stephen as, quote, the controlling brother, and stated that his brother's dream was to, quote, have everything. Then here's a quote from Bruce. I mean, objects, he always wanted to have everything, looking up at the crystal on the countertops going, yeah, all that's mine when mother passes away. Everything's mine. In his mind, the whole world was his. He went out and earned it.

What he earned, he earned himself. He was all he ever talked about. it was always Steve, didn't care about anybody else." After high school, Stephen attended California State University Northridge for college, and he graduated in 1977 with a degree in business administration. After college, Stephen worked as an agent with the IRS until 1984, and then went on to work as a private auditor for a company that would eventually become Lockheed Martin, a massive aerospace arms and defense company.

Interestingly enough, Lockheed Martin is a leading provider for offensive and defensive weapons systems and provides missiles, fighter jets, and other deadly machines to governments around the world. Stephen would eventually move on to real estate, where he made the most of his money. For a period of time, Stephen lived in the Los Angeles area and owned property in homes in the communities of Cerritos, North Hollywood, and Panorama City. He had various homes in Hawthorne, California, and an apartment building in Mesquite, Texas, where he lived from 2004 to 2012. Stephen owned houses and property all over the southwest in Texas, Nevada, and California.

And eventually, when Stephen sold his real estate business, his net worth had blossomed to over $2 million. In 2015, Stephen sold an apartment complex that he had purchased in 2004, and according to the IRS, he made somewhere from $5 to $6 million from the sale. And it was then, in 2015, when Stephen purchased a mom. modest home in Mesquite Nevada in a newly constructed subdivision, which would go on to be the last piece of property he would ever acquire. Stephen had always loved Las Vegas, and he was an avid gambler, just like his father. He was known to almost exclusively play video poker in casinos, where he would play $100

hands one after another. But even though he spent a significant amount of money in casinos and could possibly have collected substantial winnings throughout his life, he wasn't known in Las Vegas as a high roller, and his name wasn't known amongst other notable high-stays. gamblers who at the time frequented the casinos in Vegas. But in 2011, while he was gambling at the Cosmopolitan in Vegas, he was walking through the casino and he slipped and fell and allegedly hurt himself. After the incident, which was caught on the casino's security cameras,

Stephen got a lawyer and sued the Cosmopolitan. Eventually, Stephen lost the lawsuit, but that's not really what's interesting about this whole ordeal. What is interesting is the 97-page of the movie. transcript of Stephen's court deposition that he gave in 2013 as a part of the lawsuit. In the deposition, Stephen made some pretty bold and outlandish statements about himself and his practices, statements which give some perspective on who he was and the life that he chose to live. Here are a few highlights from the deposition. In his deposition, Stephen claimed that he was prescribed the drug diazepam, or Valium,

for his anxiousness. When asked if Stephen had a good relationship, he was. He said, with a doctor who prescribed him the drug, he responded, quote, he's like on retainer, I call it, I guess. It means I pay a fee yearly. I have good access to him, end quote. When asked about his personal life, Stephen described himself as sort of a rich drifter who floated from state to state, never spending too much time in one location. However, he did state that a large chunk of his time was spent in casinos, in rooms that he was provided for free, 95% of the time. You see, casinos will oftentimes provide amenities and rooms to frequent customers free of charge,

in an attempt to entice gamblers back to their casino to spend more of their money. And Stephen really took advantage of this practice. He seemed to love the concept of free, the idea of being provided with special perks and benefits. While he was spending time at the Cosmopolitan Hotel and Casino, for example, he stated that he had opened a full bottle of sake in his room, but he didn't drink much of it. When asked why he opened the bottle and didn't drink it,

Stephen stated that everything in his room was comped and said, quote, so, yes, I would open all sorts of things. and if you aren't comp to casinos, you wouldn't understand, end quote. During this deposition, Stephen also bragged about his gambling habits and described himself at one point as the, quote, biggest video poker player in the world. He went on to say, quote, how do I know that? Because I know some of the video poker players that play big.

Nobody played as much and as long as I did, end quote. He stated that in 2006 when he was gambling the most frequently in his life, that, quote, I averaged 14 hours a day, 365 days a year. I'll gamble all night, I sleep during the day, end quote. A lawyer at one point asked Stephen if he ever frequented the pool at the hotel, and he responded, I do not do son. He allegedly never drank heavily either when he gambled, and stated, quote, at the stakes I play, you want to have all your wits about you, or as much wit as I have. Each time I push the button, it will range from $100 to $1,350, end quote. The lawyer also asked Stephen what his maximum spending limit was for a night of gambling,

and he replied, a million dollars. The lawyer then stated, that's a lot of money, and Stephen replied, no, it's not. Stephen's responses to the questions came across as somewhat sarcastic and at times arrogant, but they would go on to provide future investigators with a window into the killer's mind in the wake of the horrific mass shooting he would go on to commit just a few years later. It's holiday season and you don't know what to get as a gift or a stocking stuffer? Well, today's sponsor is Manscaped and they have the tools to guarantee you win this year's stocking stuffer or white elephant competition.

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Now, let's get back to today's episode, everybody. Buckle in. Another odd fact about Stephen that I uncovered in my research dealt with his allegedly severe allergies to all sorts of substances. According to an article published by Reuters on October 4th, 2017, Stephen often wore a pair of brown cloth gardening gloves

to prevent himself from getting rashes, rashes which would be brought on from contact with cleaning chemical residues. Stephen was also allergic to all sorts of different pills and medications. At one point, he was deemed unable to renew his pilot's license, even though he had been flying planes since he was a teenager, because he was unable to take the medication he was prescribed to help manage his blood pressure due to an allergy.

In addition, at the casinos that Stephen frequented, he was allegedly such a well-respected and valued customer that staff members would even wash the carpet in his room with plain water instead of the typical cleaning liquid, per his request, to help alleviate his allergies. Stephen's brother Eric even stated that his brother's girlfriend chose not to wear perfumes, hairsprays, or anything with a scent in it because it would affect Stephen's allergies. Stephen was married twice in his life, once from 1977 to 1979, and again from

1985 to 1990. He reportedly stayed on good terms with both of his ex-wives, and he didn't have any children from either marriage. From 2013 to 2015, Stephen lived in Florida, at a retirement community. But he moved back to Nevada in the year 2016, just a year before the shooting. It was there, in Nevada, where Stephen lived with his girlfriend of many years, Mary Lou Danley.

Stephen had met her years earlier at the Atlantis Casino Resort and Spa in Reno, Nevada. He was gambling at the time, and Mary Lou was working as a high-limit gambling hostess. The two connected immediately and before long Stephen was taking Mary Lou on cruises around the world, bringing her with him to casinos to gamble together, and spoiling her with expensive trips and gifts. While many close to the couple have described Stephen and Mary Lou's relationship as pleasant

and loving, others who witnessed the two out in public had other things to say. After the shooting, neighbors of the couple stated that while Mary Lou always offered her neighbors a hug and a bright smile, Stephen was more unfriendly and standoffish. Also, employees at a Starbucks in the community of Mesquite where Mary Lou and Stephen lived, recalled witnessing Stephen verbally abusing Mary Lou time and time again in the coffee shop. While talking to the Florida Times Union, the manager of the Starbucks was quoted as saying, it happened a lot. He would glare down at her and say with a mean attitude, you don't need my casino, card for this. I'm paying for your drink, just like I'm paying for you. Then she would say softly,

okay, and step behind him. He was so rude to her in front of us, end quote. A man that was dating Mary Lou's sister at the time that Mary Lou was dating Stephen, also provided some insight into Stephen's strange behavior after the shooting. The Australian man who chose to remain anonymous in the press stated that he had had multiple encounters with Stephen from 2013 to 2015. The anonymous man stated that he had perceived Stephen as being extremely intelligent, methodical, guarded, conservative, and strategic, and that he was a planning, thinking type of guy. This anonymous man even recounted conversations that he had had with Stephen about the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution, aka the right to bear arms, and how Stephen was very well versed in it.

The man even described how at one point, while being given a tour of Stephen and Mary Lou's home, Stephen had made a gesture towards a room and mentioned that it was his gun room, but that he was never actually shown the room, and he didn't pursue the conversation in further. This anonymous man described Stephen as very generous and stated that his time spent with Stephen had been lovely and that he hadn't picked up on any red flags. This account serves to only deepen the mystery of why Stephen, a quiet man known for microaggression, money, and not much else, would go on only a few years later to commit such a heinous act of violence. Mary Lou Danley, Stephen's girlfriend at the time of the shooting, was born in the Philippines,

but in the past had moved to Australia where she eventually got married and became an Australian citizen. She had moved from Australia to Nevada with her husband when the couple retired, and it was there where she met Stephen and eventually got a divorce. Just two weeks before the shooting, Stephen encouraged Mary Lou to go visit the Philippines, and he surprised her with an airline ticket. A few days later, he even wired her $100,000 to buy herself a home there in the country. She was taken aback by this, but obliged, and so she actually ended up outside of the U.S. when Stephen committed the shooting. Some have questioned the timeline of these events.

A busser at a restaurant at the Mandalay Bay Casino actually claimed to have seen Stephen and Mary Lou eating at the hotel just two days before the shooting on September 29th. But the truth of this is somewhat unclear. But Stephen's girlfriend isn't really a big part of the story. An even more important part is Steven's fascination with guns. After the shooting, authorities were able to locate a total of 47 different guns of varying powers and sizes that belonged to Stephen. There were 23 guns in his hotel room at Mandalay Bay and an additional 24 guns at various homes that he owned.

Authorities would go on to state that they believed Stephen had bought 33 of his 47 guns in the year before the shooting. And he purchased the weapons in gun stores in Utah, Texas, California, and he purchased the weapons, California, and Nevada. Most of the people who sold Stephen these weapons would go on to tell the media that he seemed like an average guy. His background check cleared. His disposition seemed normal. And because there's no federal limit on how many firearms or how much ammunition that a person can buy or a national database that tracks gun purchases, Stephen was allowed to buy as many guns as he wanted, as quickly as possible. While some states like California have passed laws that

limit gun buyers to purchasing only one handgun every 30 days, the state of Nevada has no such gun limit law. In fact, in 2017 in Nevada, gun buyers weren't even required to have a gun permit to purchase a weapon, and there was no state law regulating assault weapons. An interesting detail that emerged after the shooting came from a man who, roughly a month before the massacre, met up with Stephen and offered to sell him schematics, or designs, for $40 that showed in detail how one could convert an AR-15 assault rifle from semi-automatic to fully automatic. The man stated to authorities when he was later interviewed that Stephen had ranted to him about anti-government stuff, a rant that touched on everything from the incidents at

Ruby Ridge in Waco to FEMA camps and the government's response to Hurricane Katrina. The man stated to authorities that when he had questioned Stephen about his thoughts on the government's response to Hurricane Katrina, Stephen had told him, quote, that was just a dry run for law enforcement and military to start kicking down doors and confiscating guns." End quote. He was kind of fanatical about this stuff. I just figured he's another internet nut, you know, watching too much of it and believing

too much of it, the man said. Allegedly, Stephen had offered the man $500 to convert his AR-15s from semi-automatics to fully-autematics for him. The man told him that he couldn't actually complete the conversion for him, fearing being sent to federal prison. And when he offered to sell Stephen the designs that he could use to convert the weapons himself, Stephen declined. The man also stated that Stephen had told him, quote, somebody has to wake up the American people and get them to arm themselves. Sometimes sacrifices have to be made. of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, who were interviewed by the police in the wake of the shooting, recalled that even though they had encountered Stephen in the past, he seemed different in the days before the shooting.

They said that he raked of alcohol. He was despondent, detached. But they also continued to state that Stephen was the, quote, perfect customer. They said that Stephen was always calm, he never lost his temper, he never even complained when he was losing, and he always paid off his debts. But one housekeeper chillingly recalled an encounter that she had with Stephen just days before the shooting. According to the employee, when she was cleaning Stephen's room on the 32nd floor, he made her very uncomfortable. He stayed in the room while she cleaned, and he just sat there and stared at her as she cleaned the floors and surfaces. But no matter how much context we give, No matter how many people offer their varying accounts of who Stephen was,

no matter how much detail we give on Stephen's family and past, there are still no answers to the question why? A report released by the FBI in 2019 after years of comprehensive research and analysis states that they were unable to locate any clear motive. ISIS notoriously claimed involvement in the shooting in the days after it occurred, but it was determined quickly. there was no link between the terrorist group and Stephen Paddock. So why did this happen?

In an interview, Stephen's brother, Eric, stated that Stephen was not religious in any way. Mary Lou, Stephen's girlfriend, even recalled that Stephen was an avid atheist and would make fun of her for being a Roman Catholic. Stephen didn't belong to any political organizations, didn't identify as a Democrat or a Republican, and he never discussed politics with anyone that knew him. Stephen didn't have any social media. He didn't use Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. And so there were no rants to analyze, no pages that he followed to scour,

no hidden messages or secret pledged affiliations. When he committed suicide, Stephen left no manifesto. He didn't even leave a note of explanation, a short message. He left nothing. The only things Stephen Paddock left in the wake of the shooting were thousands of questions and a massive trail of death and sadness. All right, y'all, now I want to tell you guys about a podcast that Courtney and I have been enjoying lately called What Was That Like?

Now, you know that on murder in America, we love history and we explore true crime stories in depth, but we use materials from news articles and all these different sources, but we don't ever actually talk to people that experience these events. And that's what's cool about what was that like. They actually have the people that survived these crazy events on the show. The host Scott actually just lets the guest tell the story. He doesn't really interrupt or interject. It's basically like a podcast in the first person perspective.

For example, the latest episode that they just released a couple days ago is called Amy's Office was bombed. And it's about a survivor of the Oklahoma City bombing telling her story, a story that we actually covered on our show. Some of the episodes that they have are titled, just crazy things like Brooke lost a leg to a shark. Andrew head on crashed his snowmobile. Alex was trapped under an ATV.

Tim lost friends on September 11th. All of these stories are so personal. And it's so crazy. interesting to be able to hear these stories from the perspectives of the survivors that survive them. And it's a very entertaining show. It's very well produced and I cannot recommend it enough. What Was That Like can be found on any podcast app, including Spotify or at their website, what was that like.com? Seriously, guys, go run up the numbers on that show. It is, it is incredible if you love history and bizarre experiences. Anyways, let's get back to today's episode. Which brings us to Monday,

September 25th, 2017. The Mandalay Bay surveillance footage shows 64-year-old Stephen Paddock walking up to the front desk and checking in at around 3 p.m. He looks like an average guy that's ready to enjoy a week of gambling. He doesn't stand out to the resort employees either because he's a regular at Mandalay Bay. Because of this, Stephen got VIP treatment where employees would handle all of his luggage and even bring it up to his room through a service elevator. He was known to joke around with the bellhops,

give good tips to the resort's employees, and be an overall normal guy. Senior VP of Global Security at MGM, a man named Stephen Martinez told ABC that Stephen was considered a low-risk individual in their eyes because he always stayed with them and he often booked lavish sweets. On this day, Stephen booked one of the nicest rooms,

rooms at the resort. Room 135 on the 32nd floor. It was a 1700 square foot suite containing a master bedroom, a sitting area, a bar and kitchenette, a living room, and a bathroom. There was a ton of space and the room was very pricey, but Stephen Paddock picked that specific hotel in that specific room not for its luxury, but because it would give him a straight shot to the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival that was to take place that upcoming Sunday. Stephen Paddock would spend the next few days walking around the casino gambling and buying things at the gift shop as if he was a random patron. He spent hours at the casino every day and he had a particular interest in video poker like we said earlier. In the surveillance footage,

he can be seen spending tens of thousands of dollars a day for hours on end. But to him, it didn't matter how much money he spent because he knew it would be the very last week, of his life. Video footage shows him sitting next to random people at the casino and even shaking people's hands. People were literally gambling with Stephen, completely unaware, that in just a few short days he would murder close to 60 people and wound hundreds. Does that make you wonder how many people you have come into contact with that will later commit horrible crimes? But no one could have known what Stephen Paddock had planned. After all, he looked like a normal, lonely, middle-aged man, which is not hard to come across in the Las Vegas casinos. But one thing that was

concerning when looking back at the video footage is that over the course of his stay, Stephen is seen leaving the resort multiple times, and each time he returns, he's carrying multiple bags of luggage. During these leaves, he was returning to his home in Mesquite, Nevada, which was about an hour and a half drive for Mandalay Bay. While he was home, he would pack several bags. of more guns and ammunition, drive back to the resort, drop off the luggage to the bellhops, and then repeat the whole process again a few days later. Over the course of the week, Stephen had brought in 21 bags full of weapons, and it's clear that he only brought a few in at a time because he didn't want to raise any suspicion.

Carrying 21 heavy bags up to his room all at once, where he was only staying for six days, would definitely raise some red flags. So he did it carefully, only grabbing a few at a time, and innocently rolling it past the security guards as if he was a normal guest. On September 29th, 2017, four days into his stay at the resort, Stephen uses his girlfriend's name to check into the room directly next to his. You know how hotel rooms have that creepy door that leads into the room next to you? Well, Stephen wanted to make sure that no one would have access to that room during his attack, because it would interfere with his plan.

For the next few days, Stephen would lay low at the resort. He already had all of the guns and ammunition he needed, so for now, all he had to do was wait for Sunday, October 1, 2017. On the morning of the attack, Stephen ordered room service, which isn't out of the ordinary, but the room service tables that were delivered to his room would go on to play an important part in his plan. You see, earlier that week,

Stephen bought some surveillance cameras so that when he was shooting at the festival, he could still keep an eye on the door to his room and make sure no one was coming in to stop him. He seemed to want to kill as many people as possible, and he also wanted to kill himself before he was caught. So these cameras could kind of give him an idea as to what was happening out in the hallway while he was shooting at the crowd.

On that morning, October 1st, he would eat his room service, tape a surveillance camera up to the peephole of his room, and then later that day, place another camera out in the hallway, underneath some plates on the room service table. At around 9.46 p.m., a Mandalay-based security guard named Jesus Campos, was about to clock out after a long day's work. But right before he was about to leave, he was called to the 32nd floor

because a security alarm was set off. So, Jesus takes the elevator up to the 30th floor and then takes the stairs to get up to the 32nd. But the exit door that leads to the 32nd floor is jammed. And he notices that there's a metal bar that has been screwed to the door, blocking him from getting through. He didn't know it at the time,

but Stephen Paddock himself had placed it there to delay law enforcement's interference. Upon seeing the metal bar on the door, Jesus immediately knew that something wasn't right, so he took the elevator back downstairs so that he could notify the higher-ups. This happens 15 minutes before any shot is fired. Now, when I first heard this, I assume that the initial alarm was triggered because of Stephen Paddock. But it turns out that the only reason Jesus was even called up to the 32nd floor was because a nanny that was staying in a room close to Stevens had accidentally left her door ajar, which triggered the alarm.

Hold up, hold up. Do not pause this. This is not an ad, everybody. please listen here. If you're a fan of Murder in America, this is me, Colin, talking to you. Courtney is out of the room. I want a very special Christmas present for Courtney this year. We've been working our asses off and we're about to hit 2 million plays on Murder in America. Thanks to all of you guys that are listening online. We are so thankful. Thanksgiving was just last week and we were talking about how grateful both of us are for all of you guys online. But as a Christmas gift, I would love to hit 2 million plays in our first year of doing the podcast. It's been Courtney's goal for the last six months. So if you guys know someone that would love our show, if you could just send our show to them,

if you could listen to old episodes, I don't know what you can do, but we need to boost those numbers to hit two million. As always, guys, post a screenshot of you listening to our episodes on your Instagram story, tweet it, put it on Facebook, it doesn't matter, and tag us so we can see that you guys are listening and you can show your friends and family the best true crime podcast out there. Yeah, I said it. But also, guys, we're about to hit 10,000 Instagram followers. So if y'all could all rally with me, I know that 40,000 people listen to every episode

of this point. So if that last 3,000 of you guys could go to Instagram right now at Murder in America and sign up or follow us. Don't sign up. Follow us on Instagram. So we can hit 10,000 followers on Instagram and 2 million plays by the end of the year. I would be eternally grateful. And yeah, Courtney doesn't know this is in the episode.

So help me surprise everybody. and happy early holidays. Let's get back to the show. The Route 91 Harvest Music Festival, thousands of people were gathered together sharing their love for country music. It was the last night of the three-day event and Jason Aldeen was the closing act.

When he finally took the stage at around 9.40 p.m., the crowd went wild. A lot of people were there specifically to see him, their favorite country artist, shortly before 10.05 p.m. Right as Jason Aldeen starts to sing the song when she says baby, you can hear loud pops that continue for about 10 seconds. Jason Aldine sings for a few more seconds and then quickly runs off the stage. At this point, the popping sounds stop and the majority of the crowd is confused, thinking that maybe the sounds came from fireworks.

But a few moments later, the shooting continues. At this point, it's clear that the sounds are not fireworks. It's gunfire, and the entire crowd erupts into a state of panic. Some people start to run from the scene and others are crouching down on the ground to avoid the flying bullets. But no one has any idea where the shooter is located. And they definitely don't suspect that he's on the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay. Here is a witness account of his experience at this moment. Where were you and what did you hear and see?

Well, I was about 60 feet from the stage off to the west between the stage and Vandal Bay is where they say the shots were fired from. And it sounded to us like it was firecrackers going off. There was a number of them. I'm going to say, and I'm an active gun owner and shooter myself, so I'm familiar. It sounded like approximately 100 to 150 rounds fired in the first burst. of shots. I mean, it sounded like firecrackers going off. It was one right after the other,

and people started screaming, and then the performer left the stage, and then people started taking it serious. And then there were some people that had fallen out into the middle of where lots of people were standing, and now it's mayhem. People are running and screaming,

looking for places to hide, because we're out in the middle of a big open area. Luckily, my wife and I were near bleachers. We crawled underneath some bleachers and they hit for about, oh, I'm going to say five minutes. Somebody crawled underneath there who had been shot and was bleeding right beside me. So they said, time to get out of here. You got to go. So we, I got my wife out and then I got out and I said, started to run with her.

Somebody there's just two or three people laying in front of me on the ground. and one of them was this lady, I started giving her CPR, and trying to help her, and somebody comes up to me, and the dude, she's gone, get out of here. And so I had to just leave her there, and it was hard. Back in room 135, Stephen Paddock is unloading his AR-15s into the crowd of the music festival. Shortly after Jesus Campos went to notify security about the strange metal bar on the exit door, Stephen shot through his hotel window, opening a huge hole that pointed directly at the concert.

Afterwards, he stood in front of the hole in the window and shot at the crowd until he ran out of bullets. Then he would grab another magazine, load it into the gun, and continue the shooting. Or sometimes he would grab another gun that he felt like using. In the videos from the festival, you can hear shots ring out for about 20 seconds, then they would stop. Many of the concert goers would use these moments to try and run to safety, but some would lose their lives in doing so, because before you knew it, the shots would start again. It was around this time, which, by the way, was only 60 seconds into the shooting when security. security guard, Jesus Campos, made his way back up to the 32nd floor to see what was going on. He wasn't yet aware of the shooting across the street, so he was unarmed as he walked through

the hallway of the 32nd floor, and as he's walking in the direction of Stephen's room, he hears what he thinks is the sound of a drill. And then suddenly, right as he passes room 135, shots fire through the door in his direction. Stephen must have seen him through the surveillance camera and ended up shooting him in the leg. Jesus quickly takes cover by the door of a nearby room and calls for backup at 10.06 p.m. Inside of room 135, Stephen Paddock continues to fire into the crowd. People on the ground still have no idea where the shots are coming from, so many just hunker down and pray for the best.

Among the crowd is 54-year-old Jack Beaton, who was at the festival with his wife, Lori. The two were celebrating their 23rd wedding anniversary. When the bullets started hitting people in the crowd, Jack told his wife to get on the ground. He then hovered over her, shielding her from any flying bullets. One of the bullets ended up hitting Jack, and he started to lose a lot of blood. Before he passed away, he was able to tell Lori that he loved her,

and the two told each other that they would reunite in heaven. Jack would pass away shortly after. Another man in the crowd was Steve Berger, father of three. Steve was there celebrating his 44th birthday when he was shot in the torso. His friends tried to resuscitate him and bring him to safety, but they were forced to run away from the bullets and leave Steve there by himself. His friends and family would receive a call two days later that he was among the dead. Another person celebrating their birthday at the festival was 28-year-old Andrea Castilla.

When the gunfire started, she and her sister grabbed hands and started. running to safety. But as they did, one of the bullets would hit Andrea in the head. Her loved ones carried her out of the crowd, but it was too late. At this point, there are hundreds of people injured and dozens dead. People are screaming, running, hiding. Some are even crying as they hold their deceased loved one in their arms. 91? Okay, all right, all right. All right. Every, send everybody, everybody. What is your name? Send everybody.

Are you injured? People are on the ground pleading out. Right now. Send everybody. Okay, okay, sir, what is your phone number? What the fuck is that matter? We're getting officers out there, okay? We're getting officers out there.

Send the SWAT team. There's people running for their lives right now. Okay, did you see any of the shooter? I saw my best friend bleed out their stomach from the gunshot. Sir, do you see any shooters? Look at them! Please, there's another person shot on the right. Please hurry up.

Do you see any of the shooters? Yeah, it's out by mistake. Do you have a description of them? Are they black? Why are you standing? No, I did not. I did not cheat in the people. Please, please tell the, sir.

You got to, like, put it correct. There were hundreds of 911 calls exactly like the one you just heard flooding in, and the police officers from all over the city made their way to the scene. But as they arrive, they too are being shot at, and they could tell that the shots are coming down on them. So they assume that the shooter is in a nearby resort, but it's unclear which one. Here is a clip of the first time the Las Vegas PD gets word

that the shots are coming from Mandalay Bay. Let's seven and I see me coming from up there in the Mandalay Bay. Upstairs, Mandalay Bay halfway up. I see the shots coming from Mandalay Bay, halfway up. CP, I need eyes. Somebody in the CP, can you tell me where it's coming from? We're heading from Mandalay Bay. Somewhere at Mandalay Bay.

It's at the intersection. It almost sounds like. It's that close. Arriving you is it coming across from the hall of my phone. I'm sorry. Now you might have sounded like an elevated position of the snatch. That's a 90, right. I'm going to form a strike the Mandalay Bay and the Bolivar.

And he's five off and on me. Now, you might be thinking, why didn't it take law enforcement so long to figure out that the shots were coming from Mandalay Bay when Hazouz Campos had already been shot upstairs on the 32nd floor? Well, keep in mind, at this point, we're only two minutes into the shooting. Jesus had just called for backup, but the Mandalay Bay security hear about the shooting across the street. and they assume that the shooter is outside of the resort, not on the 32nd floor. So everyone there heads outside guns drawn searching for their assailant. At the same time, an employee named Stephen Shuck is heading up the elevator with his maintenance

cart to take a look at the metal bar on the door that Hesuz reported earlier. Because of the miscommunication with insecurity, he has no idea that there's a threat on the 32nd floor. And as he exits the elevator, Jesus yells at him to take cover, but it's too late. Stephen feels a thud in his back. He too had been shot. At this point, guests that are. are staying on the 32nd floor hear the gunshots out in the hallway, and they are the ones who

inform the Mandalay Bay security that the rifle shots are coming from upstairs on the 32nd floor, not from outside. So the security team runs back inside at around 10.10 p.m. and they alert the authorities of the shooter's position. At this point, it's been five minutes since the shooting started. A 21-year-old security guard at the venue named Eric Silva was towards the front of the stage when the shooting started. Instead of running away, he stood among the the gunfire helping concert goers over a barricade so that they could get to safety. While doing so, he was struck with a bullet and died. But he was the sole reason that dozens of people made it out. There are countless stories of victims who died while saving someone's life. Some people among the

victims were shielding complete strangers that they didn't even know. Some people were shot while trying to give CPR to another injured victim. There were countless stories of victims who put their lives on the line to help those around them. It was around this time when veteran police officer Richard Cole was on duty that night with Officer Brandon Ingstrom. And it was his second day on the job. The two had just started their graveyard shift when they got word that people were getting shot at the festival.

Upon arriving, they see hundreds of people running from the scene and many on the ground injured. When they get out of their vehicle, a man named Frank Kalsadilla approaches them. He tells them that he's a cop and that his wife, Giovanna, had been shot in the head. Here is a clip of this moment from the documentary,

a killer on floor 32. She appeared lifeless. At that point, we obviously knew that this was very critical. 32, I'm in Rack to UST with a female with a gun trap, one to the head. How far is not? Right there, man, hang on.

Just driving as fast as we can. And Frank's in the backseat, and he's yelling at Giovanna to hang on. One minute, man, one minute. Keep talking to her, put pressure on the line. Make sure you're doing chest compressions, man. When they arrive at the hospital, they all grabbed Jovanna and run her inside. Hi, hi. Brin and I carried Jovana into the hospital.

At this point, she had blood. She was bleeding everywhere. where like her entire body was covered in blood. And we carried her into the emergency room. And I just remember yelling, hey, I have a gunshot wound to the head. Where do you want her? Set her down. And that was like the first moment that you had to a chance to take a breath.

And I looked down, I'm covered in blood. I looked at Brana. He said, what are we doing? He said, let's go. We gotta go back. Surprisingly, Jovana would end up surviving from her injury. her injuries. All thanks to Officer Richard and Brandon. After bringing her to the hospital, the officers would make their way back to the festival to help others in need. But at this point, the streets are in

complete chaos. There are victims lining the sidewalks with gunshot wounds, people crying, searching for their family members, and first responders everywhere trying to help people in need. Here is another officer that is helping amongst the chaos. Is it bad if I take water? We got multiple people with gunshot wounds. We're gonna use this channel for medical right now. Okay, she's shot. Bring her right here in between the patrol car. You been shot?

You been shot? Okay, okay. Now, so many shot in the building? In the building. We got multiple GSWs right here, and we're gonna need lots of medicals. So 786, I'm up to about 30 victims with gunshots. Where is medical? You've been hit.

Okay, sit down. Okay, they've all been hit. We know. You know how to apply a tourniquette? That won't work on her check, but it has to be an armor leg. You all I got is very minimal. I don't have any sharp feet right now. Are you a doctor or a nurse or what are you?

I'm a paramedic. Okay, perfect. This is all I have left. That's on you. I'm gonna get you a marker if I can find one. Here, right on the heads right here. Stay right over here and keep an eye up. Make you know we sneaks up on it.

Can you do that for me? We don't have any weapons. Okay, that's fine. Just if anybody sneaks up on, you can tackle them, I don't care. Keep your head up. If anybody sneaks up on it, start yelling. Keep in for any bad guys.

Make you know what you can't go. Nobody comes over the gun and sheaps to get to get a gun. BRI. BRI right here and just hang out, watch right here. If anybody comes, you scream and tackle it. Hey, butt, I can't give you the shotgun right now. I know you've been drinking a little bit. Hang out right here. If shit goes down, we got your back, okay?

Just yell out, gun, done, done. 0-7-8-6. We've got ambulances about 100 yards away from our critical victims. If we can have them come closer to Reno and Haven, there's four patrol cars with about 40 victims' DSWs down here. Back at Mandalay Bay, authorities finally start to make their way inside now that they know the shooter's position. Body cam footage shows a team of officers sweeping through the casino, guns drawn, yelling at random guests to show their hands as they make their way to the stairway.

Watch for weapons of the people coming out. But before they can get to the 32nd floor, officers have to sweep the rooms on every single floor of the resort. Many guests are awoken from the sounds of police bursting through their doors where they slept. It's now 10.15 p.m., 10 minutes since Stephen Paddock fired his first shot into the crows. And finally, the shots have stopped. Authorities have no idea if he's still alive or if he plans to continue shooting, so they still have to treat the situation with caution. When they get to the 32nd floor, Jesus Campos and Steven Schuck are finally able to leave

the area and receive medical attention, and luckily they both made it out alive. The officers then go room to room and quickly evacuate the guests on the 32nd floor. When they reach the stairwell, they break through the metal bar that Steven screwed on the door, and everyone goes quiet. It's now time to enter Room 135. They ripped the overhead lights down, wanting to conceal their position, and they place an explosive on the door that leads to the room,

and everyone closes their ears, waiting for it to ignite. Breach, breach, breach. Everyone in the hallway needs to move back. All units move back. Breach, breach, breach. Once it's open, the officers stormed the room, securing every corner,

but their presence in room 135 doesn't surprise the shooter, or elicited a giant shootout, because Stephen Paddock was already dead. Officers found Stephen Paddock dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the mouth. Around his body lay over a thousand rounds of spent ammunition. Around the suite, there were 24 different guns scattered about and over 5,000 rounds of unused ammunition. He had come to that hotel room to kill as many people as possible.

The shooting lasted 10 minutes, from 10.05, to 1015. But within that small window of time, he killed 58 people and injured over 850. Luckily, because of the officer's response to the situation, the shooting ended quickly, and Stephen Paddock wasn't able to use any more of the ammunition that he had planned to use. In the days after the shooting, authorities walked the festival grounds, passing hundreds of lawn chairs and shoes and various items that people left as they ran for their lives. And up in the distance, on the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay, was a giant hole in room 1.35, a grim reminder of the horrors that occurred that October night.

There was a sadness all throughout America in the days following this tragedy. This was different from the other shootings that we are so used to hearing about. Stephen Paddock sat up high in his hotel room, shooting down on innocent people who expected to have a fun night at a concert. He made it to where there was nowhere to run and nowhere to hide. And because of his actions, 58 people would never live to see another day. This tragedy was a wake-up call to Americans that, no matter where you are, you are never really safe, regardless of whether you're at school, work, a concert, a grocery store, or even at an elementary school, someone could walk into that place at any time and end your life and a blink of an eye.

Stephen Paddock was just one of many people within this country that have a desire to do just that, people that want nothing more than to reign terror on innocent lives. He wasn't the first to do this, and he surely wasn't the last. Hug your loved ones and tell them you love them because you never know when you'll come face to face with that evil. And to end the episode, we want to leave on a good note and share some survival stories from this horrible tragedy. This story I'm about to read is directly from a Fox News article, and it's about two identical twins that survived the shooting together. Their names were Natalia and Gianna Baca. In the article states,

At first, the twins heard what they initially believed were fireworks that were a part of the show. However, the concert quickly transformed into a sea of chaos, with flying bullets and bodies everywhere they turned. When the woman froze, it was their pals who urged them to get up and run to safety. Quote, it was all a blur, said Gianna. It felt like we were in a dream. We heard the sounds, but we couldn't tell if it was real or not, or if it was a part of the show.

You don't usually expect something like this to happen. But when it does, everything is happening so fast and you're just trying to get your thoughts together. Soon after another nightmare unfolded, the twins became separated by the horrifying commotion and were unable to find each other. Quote, it was tough because we're always by each other, said Gianna. If one of us went somewhere, the other isn't too far away.

But there was just so much chaos and turmoil. There were people everywhere. Even when I tried to look, there was just no way you could have found her. Just knowing that we were separated was terrifying. I kept thinking to myself, where is my sister? Is she okay? It was hard. The sisters suffered devastating injuries.

Gianna's boyfriend Parker Marks got on top of her in an attempt to shield her. However, a bullet went through the 20-year-olds left in her thigh, and then through the back her left thigh near Gianna's femur. Half of the bullet came out, but the rest ruptured all throughout Gianna's thigh. About 30 pieces are still in there. As for Natalia, a bullet hit her right shoulder blade and went through her left shoulder, causing both to break. Her right lung collapsed.

She had to be cut open so that a tube could be shoved in between her ribs to drain the air and blood from her lung. The Las Vegas Review Journal reported, according to the outlet, there was no time for medication. Both women survived and were reunited in the hospital. Natalia said, quote, I was super out of it. I didn't know what was going to happen next. I couldn't find my phone. The hospital was chaotic and everyone was all over the place.

But something was telling me to look up. And when I did, it's like time froze. That's when I saw my sister, she continued. And at that same moment she saw me, we truly have this twin connection and it was such a relief. The nurses couldn't believe that we were twins and that we had somehow found each other within the chaos. They put us in a room together, which was weightlifting after everything we experienced. And we were able to get through this together, not alone. Gianna would go on to say that we live in a day and age where things like this happen all the time.

Quote, so I think it's important to have conversations about it. It's really scary, but we have to become more alert and aware of our surroundings. It's a wake-up call of how the world is, but you have to keep going forward and live each day as if it were your last. We have to keep going because it just wasn't our time. This is the text from an article from WBUR.org titled, hashtag Vegas Strong, how shooting survivor Nick Robone healed with the help of hockey by Susan Vallette, It was published on September 27th, 2019, and I'm just going to read you ad verbatim the text from this article that is the account of two survivors of the incident, Nick and Anthony Rabone, two brothers.

I was just lucky that we actually got to meet up because there's no real good cell service there, and we were just kind of trying to figure out where everyone was at. By the time we all got together, it was the end of Jake Owens' set. It was kind of like towards the end of the concert, obviously, Nick said. Jake Owen was the second to last to perform, and Jason Aldean was the last and final one. And you just hear like too loud like bangs. It was like one, two, and then it kind of stopped. And then you kind of hear like a constant barrage of what essentially is gunfire. But at the time, you're never thinking, okay, I'm getting shot at a concert.

We've definitely shot guns in our lives plenty of times. But I think it's different when you're hearing it from how far that is. So you're still not really sure what it is. Maybe it's a blown speaker or something. And you crouch down and everybody's crouching down. And then the music stops and you're like, okay, something's up. And then it stopped for a second and all of a sudden it goes again. And probably the second time around when it goes again, you know, I feel like somebody just

smashes me in the chest with a sledgehammer. I crouched down and I'm still not thinking I was shot with a bullet. But then blood started coming out of my nose and my mouth and then I looked down and, you know, I got a hole in my chest. And my brother's there, thank God. And our buddy Billy, who's also a paramedic. I heard somebody say I got hit, Anthony says. And I look over my right shoulder and I see my brother spitting up blood.

And that's kind of, you know, turned it into like, okay, we're getting shot at and my brother's been shot. We got to get the hell out of here. They both grab me and we just start running, just like everybody else starts running, Nick says. And it's just chaos, you know. I got one hand around my brother, one hand around Billy, and we're running as fast as I can go, which isn't too fast. And so we started heading east out of the concert venue, Anthony says.

And at that point, I was like, oh crap, Danielle. Danielle, Anthony's girlfriend, was with him at the concert. And I looked up and luckily she was, they were running right in front of us, Anthony says. And so I told our friend Emmanuel, who's, he's in the army, and I trusted him with her life. And I was just like, hey man, you've got to take her, go that way, go to the exit and get her out. And so, yeah, we ran outside the east gate of the concert venue. We saw where Nick was shot at that point. He didn't have an exit wound.

He just kind of had an entrance right here above his left peck, right in the spot where your lung would be at. So that kind of got me nervous with his breathing and the blood coming out. So immediately I was like, all right, well, he needs to go to the hospital. It's the only thing that's going to save him. You know, and then we get to a cop car, Nick says. And we kind of place Nick down behind the cop car, Anthony says. And I remember asking the cops. Hey man, we gotta get my brother to the hospital right now. He's been shot. And he's like, I can't do that.

I mean, he's hunkered down behind his car with his AR out. Cops are, they're, you know, just as kind of shell-shocked as everyone, Nick says. They're just telling people to run and get out, go this way or that way. I kind of realized like, hey, we're on our own for this one, Anthony says. I looked at Billy and I said, hey dude, we're going to steal this cop car. So we started wrenching on the door handle. And of course, it's locked. And then a few yards down the way, another cop was like right down there. He's looking at us trying to steal a cop. car. So I asked him if he had a first aid kit. He had kind of like that Walmart first aid kit with bandades and neosporin in it, and we took the plastic off of it and made what's called an occlusive dressing. And then we ran further backwards onto a side street, Nick says. And then that's when I was sitting down and we were waiting for an ambulance to come. Loads and loads of people

who had been shot started to kind of flood to where we were at, Anthony says. And he was shot in the first minute and it went on for about 10 to 12 minutes. So, I mean, a lot of people continued to get shot. And at that point, when Nick was kind of stable, Billy was able to sit there and stay with Nick, keep an eye on Nick, and I just kind of started to see what other people I could help. Originally, my plan is, you know, that's my brother. He's getting on the first ambulance that shows up. Right as that first ambulance is coming down the street felt like a lifetime, and right as that's happening, a guy who had been shot in the neck, he's bleeding out pretty bad. I was like, that guy needs to get on this ambulance. And luckily, I saw a couple ambulances coming behind that.

Nick got into the second ambulance. I didn't even get to say bye to him, Anthony says. I mean, he was in the back of that ambulance, and I was able to peek through that window, and I saw him back there sitting on the bench seat. And I just saw the medic, and I just said, hey, where are you going? He said, sunrise. I said, perfect. And I mean, that was it.

Like, that was all I could do. And I would just pray that that wasn't the last time I saw him. Now, both Anthony and Billy made it out all right, but sadly, so many others didn't. This next survival story, we are going to read directly from The Time Magazine. It's about a girl named Gina Marano and how her sister saved her life. The article reads, quote, that's what big sisters are supposed to do. That's what my older sister, Marissa, always says when I ask her about that day three years ago in Las Vegas, when she lay her body down on top of me and my friends to protect us from bullets raining down on the concert we were attending.

It's a moment I'll never forget, lying underneath her as silently as possible for seconds that felt like ours, hoping not to give away our position to a shooter we had heard but not yet seen. The moment finally broke when she screamed at me to run, and I did, leaving my purse behind because, as I realized with horror, it was trapped beneath the lifeless body of a concert goer right next to me. Eventually, she and I made it to safety, along with the rest of my best friend. friends, but many others didn't make it out. The article would go on to say, quote, I'll always be so grateful to my sister for saving my life that day. But one thing we've both realized in recent years is that her explanation, that's what big sisters are supposed to do, is actually not true.

Sisters are supposed to be there for you when you need them, playfully bother you when you don't, and look after you as you grow up, not to protect you from gun violence. That's the job of our elected leaders. And for the past four years, they have been failing. So even after hearing all of those survivor stories, hearing all the details of the case, learning about who Stephen Paddock was, his family history, all of the details surrounding this shooting, there still is no answer. Just like the FBI concluded, there's no real motive. No one could ever, to this day, identify why Stephen Schenberghue. chose to do what he did that day. And I think that's the scariest part of this whole thing,

is that there are no answers. It's the most tragic, the most heartbreaking fact. And we here at the show would love to be able to provide you guys, everyone online listening, with an answer, but sadly we can't. And I don't know if we ever will be able to. There have been so many research studies, so many investigations opened into this matter, and still there are no answers. And honestly, in my opinion, I highly doubt that we'll ever find one. Nobody knows why Stephen did what he did, but the sad fact is he did it. And as we stated at the beginning of this episode, in America, murder in America like our show name. It's just a waiting game until the next shooting, the next tragic incident occurs. Hopefully one day that will change. But for now, it doesn't

look like it's going to. Hey, everybody. I know this was a tough episode to get through, but thank you for exploring the story with us. Weirdly enough, I'm actually going to be in Las Vegas in just a couple of days for a paranormal convention that my dad and I are special guests at. Courtney is at home right now writing next week's episode. We co-wrote this episode, and yeah, it's a lot to process.

But thank you guys for sticking along and hearing the story from beginning to end. I want to shout out our new patrons for the week. Ashley Preble, Sydney Quam, XCI Flores, I don't know how to say that I'm sorry, Z Flores, Marybeth Kroll, Sabrina, Jessica Kot, Marisa Moncao, Christina, Meeker, Lydia Leverett, Nick Foley, and Miguel. Thank you guys so much for supporting our work on Patreon. Our bonus episode is going to be up there for the month today or tomorrow, so if you want to hear that, just sign up to be a Patreon on patreon.com. Now, usually Courtney does these outros with me, but like I said, she's at home. And, yeah, I know a number of you guys commented on our social media that you either had friends that survived this shooting or you yourself survived the shooting. And so our condolences go out to all of y'all. I hope we did the story justice.

And, yeah, it's just there are no answers in this case. I mean, oftentimes there are never any answers. But in this specific incident, there really is, there's nothing. Even the FBI concluded that they could find no motive, which is just crazy to me. But anyways, everybody, we're trying to get our numbers up to $2 million by the end of the year, so be sure to share our podcast, tell everybody you know about us. And as always, everybody, enjoy listening, and we'll see you next week. Oh, yeah, and keep asking that same old question.

The dead don't talk. Or do they? Catch you next week, everybody.