My Theory on the Las Vegas shooting.

This is a long read, and a theory based on information that I have pulled from news stories, photographs, and videos I have found on the internet. Everything posted below can be googled, and only came from ‘reputable new sources’.

1: Shooter had 23 firearms in the room.

2: 1000’s of rounds of ammo loaded into a large number of high capacity magazines.

3: Majority of the firearms were fitted with sights used in close quarters fighting.

4: Two of the firearms were fitted with hunting style rifle scopes and a bipod. One of these rifles for sure was a .308 rifle equipped with hunting scope on a bipod.

5: Car filled with Approximately 50lbs of tannerite, and an undisclosed quantity of ammonium nitrate to augment the tannerite blast.

6: Stairwell door to the 32nd floor barricaded.

7: Cameras to film the shooting from the hotel room, but not turned on to record the event.

8: Shooter purchases most of the firearms in October of 2016

9: Shooter Transfers $100,000 to someone in the Philippines days before the shooting.

10: Shooters girlfriend from Philippines and has family there.

11: Shooters girlfriend returns from Philippines a few days after the shooting, interviewed by FBI, has not been seen since.

12: Shooters girlfriend placed on TSA watch list.

13: ISIS claims responsibility for the attack.

14: Investigators deny ISIS connection.

15: ISIS doubles down on connection to attack.

16: Shooter has been scouting multiple music festival venues for just under a year.

17: The shooter has taken multiple trips to the Philippines since at least 2013.

So there has still yet to be a motive publicly released for the attack as of today.

I believe it to be possible this attack was perpetrated by an individual who had ties to ISIS. If this is the case, I think the attack was supposed to have been much larger, and there was supposed to be more shooters involved in the attack.

ISIS has been conducting operations in the Philippines since late 2015, ramped up operations through 2016, engaged in a full scale war by late September / early October 2016, the fighting continues even today.

October 2016 is also when the shooter purchased more than 30 firearms. Prior to this, the shooter was not an avid sportsman, not into firearms by anyone’s account.

For the next eleven months the shooter scouts multiple venues across the United States that would be prime targets of opportunity for a terrorist attack. Music festivals.

Fast forward to Sept 2017.

The shooter settles on a venue on the Las Vegas strip to attack. The shooter secured a hotel room overlooking the venue on the 32nd floor.

About the same time the shooter checks into his hotel room, he also wires $100,000 to his girlfriend who just happens to be in the Philippines, which is the same country engaged in a full on war with ISIS in their borders.

Leading up to the day of the attack, the shooter staged 23 firearms in the hotel room.

Twelve of these firearms were rifles equipped with bump stocks which allow them to function similarly to Automatic weapons.

Two of the firearms in the room were equipped with bipods and hunting scopes. One of these firearms for sure was a .308 without a bump stock per a photo I’ve found online. I would assume the second firearm matched this configuration.

The shooter then loads and stages thousands of rounds of ammunition for the attack.

Prior to the attack:

The shooter barricades the stairwell door leading to one end of the hallway on his floor.

Sets up cameras to record the attack.

Stages a vehicle with 50lbs of tannerite in addition to an undisclosed quantity of ammonium nitrate to augment the blast, and more ammunition in the vehicle.

The shooter then begins setting up surveillance equipment in his room to be able to see who is approaching the room, and who is directly outside his room.

While drilling a hole to setup one of these pieces of surveillance equipment, a security guard happens to hear the drilling and goes to investigate.

As the security guard approaches the hotel room, the shooter opens fire, wounding the security guard.

The shooter panics. Over the course of the next six minutes, the shooter does not open fire on the crowd. Forgets to turn on the recording devices, smashes out two windows of the hotel suite, and eventually opens fire on the crowd below, and shoots at the tanks opposite the venue.

This is where I believe things deviated from the intended plan.

I believe the shooter was caught prior to the plan coming to fruition.

There were 23 firearms in the room, definitely more that one man is capable of operating.

I believe there was supposed to be at least 10-14 additional shooters working with the shooter in the room.

I believe there was supposed to be 12 additional shooters operating the rifles equipped with the bump fire stocks, who were going to head back downstairs to open fire on the crowd.

I believe there was a plan to stage two of the shooters in the hotel room. One staged at each broken window with a .308, equipped with a rifle scope on a bi-pod providing over watch for the shooters on the ground working as snipers, and engage police officers as they approached the venue to buy shooters on the ground more time.

I believe there was supposed to be a team who took the vehicle packed with explosives and position the vehicle next to the fuel tanks opposite the Mandalay Bay, and the concert venue, exit the vehicle and head back the other direction to the crowd and open fire.

I believe the vehicle was then supposed to be detonated next to the fuel tanks to cause a massive explosion/fire to cause casualties, limit escape routes from the venue, and push the crowds back towards the shooters.

I believe when the shooters opened fire on the security guard and the shooters position was given away he made an abort call to the additional personnel, hastily broke out the windows in the hotel, opened fire on the venue, and then took his own life.

This style attack mimics previous ISIS attacks. 10-12 individuals, armed with rifles and explosives, attacking concert venues that we have seen take place in Europe over the past couple of years.

Immediately following the attack ISIS claimed responsibility. While ISIS has been known to exaggerate the damage done during an attack, they don’t typically claim responsibility for attacks they aren’t involved in.

Couple that with the frequent trips taken by the shooter to a nation with a heavy ISIS presence in an active conflict. The $100,000 wire transfer. The frequent trips to the Philippines with the girlfriend who was in the Philippines at the time of the attack. The sheer quantity of firearms in the room. The two broken windows and two high powered rifles on bipods positioned in perfect overwatch positions to support additional shooters on the ground. The fuel tanks, and the car laden with explosives that could have caused enough damage to detonate those tanks if positioned correctly. The previous successful attacks carried out in a similar fashion. The cameras positioned to video the attacks that could have been used for ISIS propaganda that were not switched on. This theory is not out of the realm of possibility.

The security guard who heard the drilling and went to investigate may very well have saved more lives than we could possibly imagine.

There were 20,000 people at the concert.

If this attack had gone as it appears it could have, we could have been looking at death tolls in the thousands.

The security guard is already a hero for his actions, however his actions may have saved countless lives if my theory turns out to be correct.