The 2017 Las Vegas Shooting Timeline Explained

On October 1, 2017, on what was supposed to be a night of fun, festivities, and celebration in Las Vegas, 64-year-old retired postal worker Stephen Paddock committed mass murder. Seconds before the shooting started, the Route 91 Harvest Country Music Festival was happening at the former Las Vegas Village, and concert goers were dancing and having a good time. Suddenly, Paddock started to open fire on the crowd, shattering the atmosphere and immediately creating mass chaos. Paddock ultimately killed almost 60 people during the shooting, not including himself, and his shots injured more than 800 (per History).

To commit the massacre, Paddock had rented a room at the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino in Las Vegas, which directly overlooked the venue. He rained down terror on the defenseless crowd for nearly 20 minutes, inflicting casualty after casualty, showing no sign of remorse or humanity. The shooting shocked and angered the nation, which was still mourning the 2016 PULSE Nightclub shooting in Orlando, Florida. The country collectively mourned the losses of the Las Vegas dead and hoped it would be the last of these mass shootings, a wish that unfortunately went unfulfilled. This is the 2017 Las Vegas shooting timeline, explained.

Stephen Paddock arrived in Las Vegas again on September 17 and stayed at the high-rise Ogden condominium downtown. According to the LVMPD's official report of the investigation, Paddock had rented three separate rooms at the Ogden, all of them overlooking the "Life is Beautiful" event that was happening just outside its front doors. He made reservations at the Mandalay Bay casino and specifically requested a room ending in 235. That was the same number as the room he had rented in early September with his girlfriend, and thus would have similar angles and viewpoints. On September 25, Paddock checked into the Mandalay Bay in room 32-135 and started bringing up multiple bags of luggage.

Interestingly, Paddock rented and paid for rooms at the Ogden and Mandalay Bay for every night between September 17 and October 1, but nearly every night or early morning he would return to his home in Mesquite and not stay in the rented room. The LVMPD's report shows him constantly shuttling back and forth between Mesquite and Las Vegas, at times gambling for hours and hours on end, and at other times purchasing firearms and transporting them into Mandalay Bay.

On October 1, 2017, at 2:06 in the morning, Stephen Paddock left him home in Mesquite for the final time. He arrived at Mandalay Bay a few hours later and immediately proceeded to wander around the casino and gamble (via the LVMPD's official report). He brought more suitcases up to his room and had his final meal from the hotel's room service that afternoon. At some point before 10:00 p.m. that night — the report is not clear when exactly — Paddock screwed an L shaped bracket to the only nearby fire escape exit to prevent security from opening it from outside in the stairway.

At 9:18, while Paddock was in his room preparing to attack, Mandalay Bay security officer Jesus Campos was notified of an unrelated alarm coming from a room just down the hall from Paddock's. While Campos was responding to the alarm he tried to enter the hallway through the blocked door and he encountered Paddock's bracket. After walking to the floor above and then taking the elevator back down and walking over, Campos noticed the L shaped bracket on the doorway and immediately notified the security dispatcher of the unusual problem. 

Outside, the public was still completely unaware of what was going to happen. It was just another Las Vegas night full of excitement and joy.

According to the LVMPD, in 11 terrifying minutes, Paddock killed 58 people (though that number was later adjusted to 60, per Reuters) and left over 800 injured. He fired hundreds of shots per minute into the crowd of thousands, hitting people all over the venue. Paddock targeted LVMPD police officers in the crowd as well as random civilians, and multiple police officers were hit. He also tried to cause explosions when he fired (and hit) fuel tanks located nearby.

The report states the LVMPD found over 1,050 shell casings in Paddock's room during their investigation that were fired from 14 separate rifles. Paddock used a variety of different types of ammunition, including hollow points, frangible incendiary armor piercing bullets, and armor piercing incendiary ammunition. A total of 24 firearms were recovered from the room, including several AR-10s and AR-15s, many of them with bump stocks and magazines capable of holding 100 rounds a piece. Some of the guns had optics or scopes attached, and at least a few had bipods mounted beneath them.

According to the FBI's official report, Paddock never planned to be caught in the room after the shooting was over. The FBI found no specific motive for the attack, but noted that Paddock had wanted to use the attack to gain notoriety and infamy, and that he "displayed minimal empathy throughout his life."

Per the LVMPD, at 10:18 p.m. the heat detection indicator in Paddock's room stopped recording any further readings, indicating the shooting had stopped. Within minutes, the LVMPD was on the 32nd floor, and by the end of the hour, SWAT officers had narrowed down Paddock's location to his specific room and broken through his L barricade. The officers noticed a room service cart with wires leading from it to Paddock's room, and they feared he had booby trapped an explosive device to blow them up if they got close. However, after not hearing any activity from the room for nearly an hour, SWAT decided they needed to enter to determine whether or not the shooter was still in the room and alive.

At 11:20, SWAT breached Paddock's room by blowing up the door. CNN released audio footage from the breach, and you can hear the commander giving instructions followed by the sound of the explosion of Paddock's door. Per the LVMPD report, two teams entered Paddock's room and began to search for him. They quickly found him dead on the ground from what they assumed was a "self-inflicted gunshot wound." When they breached the door to the neighboring room, one of the SWAT officers accidentally fired a three-round burst from his gun which caused some commotion, but luckily no one was hurt.

The day after the shooting, all of the major newspapers in America devoted their front pages and headlines to its coverage. The New York Times published an article that listed each victim in the attack and included a short biography for each of them. The Times and other newspapers initially reported that 58 people had been killed and hundreds had been injured during the shooting.

According to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, in the three years after the massacre, two more victims died from wounds sustained the day of the shooting. Kimberly Gervais died in 2019 from complications due to spinal injuries she suffered as a result of the shooting, and Samanta Arjune experienced daily pain from being shot in the leg at the time of her death. The LVMPD initially refused to include either Gervais or Arjune on the official list of victims, but in 2020 they finally relented and added them, bringing the official death toll to 60 (not including Paddock) (per the Las Vegas Review-Journal).

The day after the massacre, on October 2, President Donald Trump issued an executive order honoring the victims of the shooting. He ordered all flags be flown at half-staff for the next four days both in the United States and at embassies and facilities abroad.

In the days and weeks after the shooting occurred, social media was rife with misinformation and budding conspiracy theories. The New York Times reported that ISIS remarkably claimed responsibility for the shooting after the event, but most were skeptical of their boasts in light of other incidents they had falsely taken credit for. Later, the Times reported that the message board 4chan had been scheming about ways to promote misinformation and blame the shooting on liberals. Google and Facebook were both susceptible to misinformation and both unknowingly helped amplify it for hours until they could correct it. Google ended up issuing a statement claiming the misinformation was relatively contained, but promised to refine their algorithms in the future to make them better at filtering (per the BBC).

Snopes reported on a conspiracy that involved a second gunman firing from a separate floor in Mandalay Bay. They conclusively debunked the theory by pointing out the flawed reasoning and perversion of evidence among the perpetrators of the conspiracy. However, they noted the widespread reach of the conspiracy that had already taken place and how it spread quickly through social media.

While the shooting may have ended 11 minutes after it started, the court battles dragged on for years. The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that just under two months after the shooting, 450 victims had signed on for a class action lawsuit against the owner of the Mandalay Bay, MGM Resorts International. The lawsuit alleged wrongful death and negligence, and it included victims from 19 different states and Canada. Also mentioned in the lawsuit were Paddock's estate and various groups responsible for organizing and putting on the festival.

In one of the worst PR moves in recent history, MGM Resorts International filed a countersuit against the over 1,000 victims who were suing them (via the New York Times). MGM sought to protect themselves from legal liability in the case by citing an obscure law that they argued characterized them as a "defense company." Social media and lawyers for the victims were furious over the move and immediately called into question its legality and morality.

Finally, almost three years to the day of the shooting, CNN reported that a judge had approved an $800 million dollar settlement between MGM and the victims. The settlement was going to be split between over 4,000 defendants, with individual payout amounts to be determined by a neutral team of judges. MGM itself only reportedly paid out $49 million, with the rest being covered by their liability insurance.