LAS VEGAS (AP) - Federal investigators returned to search the home of the Las Vegas gunman for “re-documenting and rechecking.”
The search of Stephen Paddock’s three-bedroom house on a cul-de-sac in a retirement community in Mesquite, Nevada, came exactly a week after Paddock opened fire on a country music crowd, killing 58 and injuring nearly 500.
In addition, the officers who raided his hotel room door the night of the shooting gave a harrowing account of a barricaded door they had to bust through and the booby-traps they feared they’d find.
Officials said Paddock had screwed shut the door with a piece of metal and some screws, but an officer had a pry bar and was able to easily pop it open.
More about the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history:
THE INVESTIGATION
Investigators are still searching for the motive behind the attack by 64-year-old Paddock.
Federal investigators returned to search the home of Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock on Sunday to recheck items. Local police Chief Troy Tanner, who accompanied FBI agents as they served the search warrant.
Also Sunday, authorities began returning the baby strollers, shoes, phones, backpacks and purses that have been strewn for days across the huge crime scene that a week ago was home to 22,000 country music fans at the Route 91 Harvest festival.
Federal agents have spent the week collecting evidence amid the thousands of items that were abandoned in panic, some of them stained with blood.
AIRPORT BREACH
As bullets began flying into a crowd of country music fans, a pack of 300-plus people ran about a mile to the Las Vegas airport, where they kicked down chain-link fences, hobbled over razor wire and were briefly mistaken by security officials for being attackers instead of shooting victims.
Once they pushed past the fence at McCarran International Airport, some of them ran onto the tarmac as helicopters beamed searchlights toward people they assumed were intruders.
The large-scale airport breach raised questions about the security of the McCarran International’s perimeter as people were able to barge their way through the fences of one of the nation’s busiest airports.
CANDLELIGHT VIGIL
At least 200 people gathered at a Southern California school to remember a vibrant woman killed in the Las Vegas concert massacre.
Friends and family held a candlelight vigil in Placentia for 38-year-old Nicol Kimura on Sunday evening - a week after the mass shooting.
Pictures on display behind a row of candles showed Kimura’s glowing smile. Friends shared memories of Kimura’s passion for art and fashion and dedication to their children as an affectionate “auntie.”
Kimura had gone to the country music festival with a group of friends. They are now trying to mourn the loss of their friend and cope with the horror of the night after a gunman shot at the crowd, killing 58 people.
DARKENED STRIP
At 10:05 p.m., the Las Vegas Strip’s bright lights dimmed for about 10 minutes to mark the passing of exactly a week since a gunman opened fire, killing 58 people and wounding almost 500 at a country music festival.
Most casinos along Las Vegas Boulevard darkened their marquees briefly Sunday.
Officials say more than 50 properties around town also took part in the memorial.
___
Associated Press writer Michael Balsamo contributed to this report from Las Vegas.
___
For complete coverage of the Las Vegas shooting, click here: https://apnews.com/tag/LasVegasmassshooting.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.