Coroner says Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock killed himself

The Clark County, Nevada coroner said Thursday that Stephen Paddock, who killed 58 people in the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history, died from a gunshot wound to the head. All 58 victims died from gunshot wounds, the coroner said. 

The findings reveal that none of the victims killed at an outdoor concert Oct. 1 died of injuries received trying to escape the festival grounds. Clark County Coroner John Fudenberg told The Associated Press that all the deaths were determined to be homicides. 

• “60 Minutes”: Las Vegas officers describe storming shooter Stephen Paddock’s hotel room

Fudenberg said Thursday that the 64-year-old shooter died of a self-inflicted gunshot to the mouth. It was, Stephen Paddock’s only wound, and his death was ruled a suicide.

According to the timeline provided by Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo, Paddock opened fire on the crowd at the music festival at 10:05 p.m. It appeared that he shot a security guard, Jesus Campos, about 40 seconds before he fired into the crowd.

Campos used his radio to call for help, the statement said. A maintenance worker, Stephen Schuck, has said he also called for help on his radio, asking a dispatcher to call the police because someone was shooting a rifle on the 32nd floor. 

Officers arrived on the 32nd floor at 10:17 p.m., two minutes after Paddock stopped firing. The police officers who stormed Paddock’s hotel room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay described the scene to “60 Minutes.”

Paddock had screwed shut the door in the stairwell going out to the hallway right by his door “with a piece of metal and some screws,” said Officer Joshua Bitsko.  

“‘Cause he knew we’d be coming out that door to gain entry into his door. So he tried to barricade it as best he could. But thankfully Levi had– a pry bar and was able to easily pop that door,” said Officer Dave Newton. 

Bitsko described the scene in the hallway as a “deadly game of hide and seek because when you’re the one hiding you always know a person’s looking for you.”

Around 11 p.m. the team began to execute a plan. They had heard no gunfire since reaching the hallway, and had no idea what or who was behind the door.  

When they entered the room, officers said they saw shell casings all over the floor and they were “trippin’ over long guns inside.”

“My initial scan, coming in the room with my rifle is just seein’ I’m seeing one male down, bleeding from the face,” said Officer Matthew Donaldson. “He was not a threat. Kept going, kept going, kept going.” The man down was Paddock. 

Authorities say more than 500 people were injured when Paddock unleashed gunfire from an upper floor of a high-rise hotel onto a country music festival below.

Fudenberg said he waited to release autopsy findings until all the families had the information.

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President Trump’s incredible friendship with Israel is one to applaud

The news on Wednesday afternoon that President TrumpDonald John TrumpHouse Democrat slams Donald Trump Jr. for ‘serious case of amnesia’ after testimony Skier Lindsey Vonn: I don’t want to represent Trump at Olympics Poll: 4 in 10 Republicans think senior Trump advisers had improper dealings with Russia MORE had commuted the unjust 27-year sentence of Shalom Rubashkin followed Trump’s warning to United Nations member states that those who vote against America’s decision to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel would be punished by a diminishment of American foreign aid.

At first glance, these are issues that primarily affect the Jewish community. Rubashkin was the largest provider of kosher meat in America, and Jerusalem is the 3,000-year-old central city of the Jewish people founded by King David. But, in truth, these are universal stories that affect all people, with Jews merely serving as canaries-in-the-coal-mine.

First, Rubashkin: A Hassidic Jewish father of 10, he was a significant philanthropist and communal activist noted for his fair and reasonable prices to make kosher meat more affordable and available throughout the United States. But when he was found guilty of more than 80 counts of financial fraud, this first-time non-violent offender was essentially given a draconian life sentence, much longer than big-name corporate CEOs convicted of major financial crimes. To give you an idea of just unjust Rubashkin’s sentence was, Mark Turkcan, the president of First Bank Mortgage of St. Louis, misapplied $35 million in loans, an amount similar to the Rubashkin charges, and was sentenced to one year and a day in prison. Sholom Rubashkin, however, was sentenced to 27 years, scheduled for release at the age of 74 in 2033.

In the fall of 2012 the U.S. Supreme Court — ignoring six amicus briefs urging the court to review the case, including 86 former federal judges and Department of Justice officials, two FBI directors, four deputy U.S. attorneys general and one solicitor general — formally declined to hear Rubashkin’s appeal.

 

Many alleged anti-Semitism in the unbelievable sentence and, for years, Rubashkin’s treatment was a terrible wound in the orthodox Jewish community. But with the stroke of a pen, and citing vast bipartisan congressional and legal support, Trump commuted the sentence without pardoning Rubashkin, making him a free man after eight years served. There was jubilation in the streets of Monsey, Crown Heights, and Boro Park, where orthodox Jews gave thanks to Trump for correcting a monstrous injustice and allowing justice to be served.

Then there is Jerusalem. Why is it that Israel alone is singled out to have its capital not recognized by the nations of the world? Who are Sweden, South Africa or Thailand to tell Israel where its capital should be? Imagine the inanity of France placing its embassy in St. Petersburg, Russia, rather than Moscow because it decided that it knew better than Russians where the government center should be.

Congress already voted in 1995 to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital but, strangely, provided a security waiver to presidents to delay the move. Every president since has campaigned on the promise to move the embassy, then broken their promises. That is, until Donald Trump.

And why should any of this matter to non-Jews? Because, as Martin Luther King, the greatest American of the 20th century, famously said: “An injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” If a Hassidic Jew with a long beard and large brood can be treated differently by the justice system than polished Wall Street executives, then all of us are at risk. And if a Middle Eastern country, which is daily threatened with annihilation by Hamas, Hezbollah and Iran, can lose the support of the international community — which daily assails its reputation even though it remains the only democracy in the Middle East — then who knows which country is next.

I’m well aware of how many people hate Donald Trump. Many are friends of mine; they speak to me of his crassness which, they say, is an affront to the presidency. Many of them are Jewish.

I wonder, however, if they likewise acknowledge one of the great friends the Jewish people have had in the Oval Office. Do they acknowledge that, since taking office, Trump and U.N. Ambassador Nikki HaleyNimrata (Nikki) HaleyHaley: ‘Open question’ if US athletes will attend Olympics amid North Korea tensions Haley: Trump isn’t deciding who controls east Jerusalem Emergency UN Security Council meeting called after Trump’s Jerusalem announcement: report MORE have almost completely changed the tone of the U.N. toward Israel? That this international body, long distinguished as a place that practiced anti-Israel bias and blatant anti-Semitism, now has as its champion the most powerful nation on earth?

Who would have believed that just one year after President Obama and his U.N. ambassador, Samantha PowerSamantha PowerBharara, Yates top Twitter list of most followed new political accounts US to vote against UN resolution condemning Cuba embargo Former AG Lynch to meet with House, Senate Russia investigators MORE, allowed Israel to be condemned by Resolution 2334 for building condominiums in Shiloh, a new president would warn U.S. allies that if they turned on Israel and condemned America’s proclamation on Jerusalem, they would be punished by diminished U.S. support. Obama and Power brought shame to America by choosing to condemn Israeli settlements while the city of Aleppo, Syria, was bombed to smithereens and Arab children were murdered before the eyes of a world that could not see their suffering because they were blinded by irrational hatred of Israel.

President Trump is not perfect, and I have offered my share of criticism. But to overlook the incredible friendship he continues to show Israel and Jewish people is to violate the core Jewish principle of gratitude. I, for one, am grateful that in this era of Trumpian foreign policy, Israel is no longer standing alone.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach (@RabbiShmuley), whom the Washington Post and Newsweek call “the most famous Rabbi in America,” is the author of 30 books, including his most recent, “The Israel Warrior.”

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