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Las Vegas Gunman's Emails Leaked: And He May Have Had Help

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A new trove of documents has been released in the case of Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock, and a strange exchange between two similar email accounts raises serious questions about whether there was outside involvement in the massacre.

According to the Los Angeles Times, the biggest revelation in the documents released Friday was that the fingerprints of Paddock’s girlfriend, Marilou Danley, were found on some of the rounds that were fired from Paddock’s room at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino at concertgoers in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, killing 58 and wounding over 500 others.

According to court documents, Danley says her fingerprints were there because she occasionally helped Paddock load the his magazines.

“The facts about Danley were among the details revealed when a U.S. District Court judge in Las Vegas unsealed more than 300 pages of search warrants and affidavits at the request of several media outlets, including the Los Angeles Times. The request was unopposed by prosecutors,” The Times reported.

“Danley has fully cooperated with authorities and has released statements saying she had no idea what Paddock was planning and that she was devastated by the massacre,” the article continued. “She was never arrested, though was deemed ‘a person of interest’ by police after the shooting. Her attorney could not be reached for comment.”

Other revelations are pretty pedestrian, at least as far as documents regarding mass murder tend to go. There are emails involving the purchase of equipment that was apparently used in the massacre, details about his arsenal, that sort of thing.

Buried in the article, however, is a curious exchange between two email accounts that could either hint toward the extent of Paddock’s estrangement from reality or hint at a co-conspirator.

“The warrants released Friday also produced a puzzling email exchange that Paddock appeared to have with himself,” the Times reported.

“One instance where investigators identified two email account attached to him — CentralPark4804@gmail.com and CenterPark1@live.com — an exchange began with ‘Try an ar before u buy. We have a huge selection. Located in the Las Vegas area.’

Do you think Stephen Paddock carried out the Vegas massacre alone?

“Later that day, an email was received back from CentralPark4804@gmail.com that read ‘we have a wide variety of optics and ammunition to try.’

“Then Paddock sent an email to CentralPark4804@gmail.com that read: ‘for a thrill try out bumpfire ar’s with 100 round magazine.’”

Was this just Paddock’s bizarre way of sending reminders to himself? It seems the most likely answer by far, although most people would likely find a less-circuitous way to do it. Some of these also don’t sound like reminders, but instead messages or (and this is mere speculation on this writer’s part, so take it for what it’s worth) possibly coded messages.

Or it could be the ramblings of someone so detached from reality that this is how he entertained himself before he committed one of the most grisly acts in modern American history.

The truth is that we simply don’t have a concrete motive for why Paddock did what he did. Eyewitness accounts and the amount of planning involved seem to indicate that while Paddock may have had some form of mental illness, he was not so far gone that he couldn’t plan the shooting with some amount of competence.

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There’s no motive, no overarching political goal, no grudge that seems to have motivated Paddock. Indeed, it might be one of the great mysteries of all time — and one which will no doubt spur plenty of conspiracy theories for years to come.

H/T Zero Hedge

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C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014.
C. Douglas Golden is a writer who splits his time between the United States and Southeast Asia. Specializing in political commentary and world affairs, he's written for Conservative Tribune and The Western Journal since 2014. Aside from politics, he enjoys spending time with his wife, literature (especially British comic novels and modern Japanese lit), indie rock, coffee, Formula One and football (of both American and world varieties).
Birthplace
Morristown, New Jersey
Education
Catholic University of America
Languages Spoken
English, Spanish
Topics of Expertise
American Politics, World Politics, Culture




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