More than one gunman fired in the 2017 Las Vegas shooting
| More than one gunman fired in the 2017 Las Vegas shooting | |
|---|---|
| FALSE | |
| "The October 1, 2017, mass shooting in Las Vegas involved a second shooter or was a coordinated operation, not the act of a single gunman." | |
| Domain | Crime & Public Safety |
| Tactic | Conspiracy Theory |
| Era | Current |
| First seen | 2017 |
| Origin | Social media videos and conspiracy websites in the days after the shooting |
| Last reviewed | 2026-10-30 |
| Further reading: books on Crime & Public Safety | |
On October 1, 2017, Stephen Paddock opened fire from his suite on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel on a country music festival crowd, killing 58 people at the scene and wounding hundreds. Two more victims died later. It was the deadliest mass shooting by a single gunman in US history.
Videos claiming to show a second shooter, from a lower floor or the ground, spread online.
What the evidence shows
- Police findings. The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department's final report in August 2018 concluded Paddock acted alone and found no evidence of a second shooter.
- The audio. Audio analyses claiming two weapons were explained by echoes off buildings and by Paddock switching between rifles. He had 23 firearms in the suite.
- Motive. The FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit reported in January 2019 that it found no single clear motive and no ideological link.
Why it matters
The absence of a motive makes mass shootings harder to accept, which can push people toward elaborate explanations. The physical and video evidence pointed to one gunman.
Sources
- Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, LVMPD Criminal Investigative Report of the 1 October Mass Casualty Shooting, August 3, 2018.
- Federal Bureau of Investigation, Behavioral Analysis Unit, Key Findings of the Behavioral Analysis Unit's Las Vegas Review Panel, January 2019.
- Snopes, "Was There a Second Shooter in Las Vegas?" October 2017.