Why did the Las Vegas shooter choose the 32nd floor?

The mass shooting at a music festival in Las Vegas that caused so many casualties on the night of October 1 was due to the suspect choosing to attack from the 32nd floor of the resort; from there he could cover a large space.

The suspect chose a room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel, right across from the music festival stage, to open fire on the evening of October 1.

According to law enforcement analyst Jim Cavanaugh, choosing the 32nd floor as the shooting location gave the suspect a difficult-to-detect hiding place while still ensuring an unobstructed view, allowing him to easily observe the crowd of spectators gathered on the stage across the street.

“By firing from such a high position into the crowd below, the suspect must have been planning a massacre,” said Mr. Jim.

Victims' bodies at the scene of the Las Vegas shooting. Photo: Reuters

According to expert Jim Cavanaugh, the type of gun the suspect used could be a machine gun and firing from such a height would allow him to rain bullets down on thousands of victims below.

Some analysts say that when the suspect opened fire from above, victims below had little way to protect themselves in a public space. Jake Owen, one of the musicians at the Las Vegas music festival, said the suspect was “catching fish in a barrel” by choosing that attack location.

Meanwhile, Bill Bratton, a former New York police officer, said the suspect must have planned in advance when choosing the 32nd floor as the shooting location.

“Standing in a room directly across from the stage, and if this stage was the suspect's target, the weapon he used could clearly fire a bullet more than 200 meters and this is a military-style attack,” Mr. Bratton said.

The "fortress" room

Two broken glass windows were seen at the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas. Photo: NBC

Former Assistant Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) Chris Swecker said the suspect tried to “secretly” buy many types of weapons and bring them to the 32nd floor of the hotel, turning his room into a “fortress”.

“He turned that room into a fortress with multiple firing positions and multiple assault weapons. The design of the attack position would allow him to not have to reload while shooting, but just put down one weapon and use another,” said Chris Swecker.

According to Mr. Chris, when attacking from such a high position, the suspect did not need to calculate the accuracy. “All the victims were crowded in a crowd and they would not have known where the gunshots were coming from. All the suspect needed to do was aim in a general direction,” Mr. Chris said.

Suspect Stephen Paddock. Photo: Boston

At least 59 people were killed and more than 500 others were injured when the gunman, identified as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, carried out the attack. US officials believe Paddock committed suicide before police stormed his room.

It is still unclear what type of weapon Paddock used, but police said more than 17 weapons were found inside the suspect's hotel room.

According to Dan Tri