Las Vegas Police Release Bodycam Footage From Inside Shooter’s Hotel Rooms

The damaged windows on the 32nd floor room that was used by Stephen Paddock are seen on Oct. 2, 2017. Las Vegas police have released some footage from officers’ body cameras.

Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images

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Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images

The damaged windows on the 32nd floor room that was used by Stephen Paddock are seen on Oct. 2, 2017. Las Vegas police have released some footage from officers’ body cameras.

Mark Ralston/AFP/Getty Images

Newly released body camera footage from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department provides a closer look at the tense moments for police during and following the mass shooting in October 2017 when Stephen Paddock killed 58 people and left hundreds injured.

The footage from two officers was released Wednesday in response to a lawsuit brought by multiple news organizations seeking the release of 911 recordings, bodycam footage and documents related to the shooting.

Video released to The Associated Press includes the moments after police entered Paddock’s hotel room to find the 64-year-old dead of a self-inflicted gunshot.

“That’s our shooter over there,” one officer says.

“OK, we got one suspect down … this is clear,” the officer wearing the camera says a few seconds later.

The camera captures a room with semiautomatic rifles strewn about on the floor and on a tub.

Multiple officers walk around inspecting the room.

At another point, they note the system Paddock used to see when police were approaching his hotel room.

“He has a intricate camera system set up, out to this,” the officer wearing the camera says, pointing out the open door to the hallway. “So he knew when officers were coming down the hallway.”

“There’s a whole suitcase full of loaded AK mag[azine]s,” another says.

Police found more than 20 AR-15 and AR-10-style rifles in the two adjoining rooms Paddock rented on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel.

In another video provided to the AP, an officer drives in a police car with a siren on.

The scene illustrates the confusion early on as police respond to the many reports of shots fired near the hotel.

The radio is busy with police trying to narrow the location of the shooter.

“We have a rifle deployed, we’re in front of Mandalay Bay, we’re trying to see where the shots are coming from,” a voice says. “If anyone can advise, is it coming from Mandalay?”

“Automatic fire. Fully automatic fire from an elevated position, take cover,” someone on the radio says at another point.

Law enforcement officials later said Paddock used bump stocks, which enable semiautomatic rifles to fire in a way similar to automatic weapons. Automatic weapons are tightly regulated and not often used in crimes.

The video of the officer in the car cuts back to a hotel room.

“I’m really thinking this is just a one-guy thing,” one officer says.

“I hope so, but what about all the other calls, was that just people panicking?” another asks.

“People panicking, sounds like,” someone says.

The two videos are part of about two and a half hours of video police released after the Nevada Supreme Court on Friday refused a request by the Las Vegas police to delay the release. Several media outlets had sued to obtain 911 recordings, body camera video and other documentation after police refused a request to release the information.

The police had argued against the release of the recordings, saying the release would “further traumatize a wounded community.” It would also force officers to “relive the incident,” Las Vegas Sheriff Joe Lombardo told reporters Tuesday.

Police also argued that the work to review the footage would be too costly and require a significant amount of funds and manpower.

“It takes a significant amount of effort and resources for detectives to review, approve body camera footage, 911 recordings and documents for release,” Lombardo said at a news conference in preparation for the release, saying the effort is costing taxpayers “several hundred thousand dollars.”

Lombardo said more recordings and documentation would be released on a rolling basis.

In March, video released from hotel and casino security cameras shows Paddock appearing to be “an ordinary hotel guest and casino patron,” as NPR’s Scott Neuman notes, even as he brings suitcase after suitcase of weapons up to his room.

Despite the new release, Paddock’s motive for carrying out the most deadly shooting in modern American history remains a mystery.

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Investigators warn Cambridge Analytica bosses that they can run, but they can’t hide

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Investigators have warned that they will continue to pursue Cambridge Analytica despite the controversial data firm shutting down on Wednesday.

Britain’s Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) said it will keep investigating accusations that Cambridge Analytica scraped data from 87 million Facebook accounts and weaponised it during political campaigns, including the 2016 US election.

The ICO said it would press on even if it means going after the executives individually. In a statement, the organisation said:

“The ICO has been investigating the SCL Group and Cambridge Analytica as part of a wider investigation into the use of personal data and analytics by political campaigns, social media companies and others.

“The ICO will continue its civil and criminal investigations and will seek to pursue individuals and directors as appropriate and necessary even where companies may no longer be operating.”

The ICO added that it will “closely monitor any successor companies,” countering the possibility of Cambridge Analytica could simply continue under a different name to avoid scrutiny. Business Insider has previously reported that executives behind the firm, including former CEO Alexander Nix, have already established a mysterious new data company named Emerdata.

On Wednesday, sources told The New York Times that Emerdata could be used as a “rebranding of Cambridge Analytica and the SCL Group.”

The Electoral Commission has also questioned Cambridge Analytica as part of its investigation into groups that campaigned for Britain to leave the European Union. A spokesman would not comment on Cambridge Analytica directly, but said its “investigation is ongoing, and remains ongoing, into Leave.EU and Vote Leave.”

Critics fear the ICO is ill-equipped for the investigation

The shuttering of Cambridge Analytica, however, has done little to reassure critics who fear that the ICO and Electoral Commission are ill-equipped to handle such an important investigation.

Carole Cadwalladr, the journalist who blew the lid off the Facebook data breach, is calling for a criminal investigation.

Damian Collins, the chair of the British parliamentary committee investigating the data breach, said that the ICO and Electoral Commission must have unfettered access to Cambridge Analytica.

“Cambridge Analytica and SCL group cannot be allowed to delete their data history by closing. The investigations into their work are vital,” he tweeted.

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