Posted on 10/03/2017 8:04:23 AM PDT by LS
Any of you who have been around FR for long know I am NOT a conspiracy theorist. As a historian, I look at evidence first and foremost, then worry about motive.
The shooting in Las Vegas has many as of yet very serious unanswered questions. Few go to motive. I believe in history if you solve the question of actual physical evidence, motives become clear.
I'm not posting links with one exception. These are readily available on Twitter, and on other threads here today, but you have seen them.
1. There now appears to be at least three, and maybe four, videos showing some sort of muzzle flash" from a lower floor on the opposite side from the 32nd floor "sniper's nest." To me, one video is totally convincing. It's about 10 seconds, but that is in my mind no doubt an automatic weapon being fired. In the more newly released video, from a phone in a car that is moving, at first I thought this was not convincing. It easily could have been a stobe light in a room. But a later, better resolution version of this video surfaced. It is NOT a strobe. It goes in "bursts." And it is about the same location as the first one I saw.
These are clearly not "reflections."
2. The immediate response from people seeking to debunk was "yeah but what about broken windows there?"
Glad you asked. This is video from TODAY: https://twitter.com/LarrySchweikart/status/915225436367462401
3. While there IS what appears to be muzzle flash from floors 4-6, so far I have not seen any video showing any muzzle flash from the 32nd floor---despite the fact this guy was using a "machine gun" and shot for over 40 minutes. Not one. Please, please: if you have this video, post it.
I find that extremely odd. There would be some sort of light from the firing position, especially from a machine gun.
4. This is NOT a dis on the Las Vegas cops. It took them an hour to get this guy. Why? They did apparently use a robot to break into his room, wisely fearing a booby-trap. However, why did they not immediately converge on the right floor? I'm only asking: could it be they didn't see any muzzle flash from there? If you saw it, you'd pretty much know immediately where to go in the hotel.
5. People near the room the shooter was in reported it. But they also reported a security guard whom the cops were chasing. (This is from an Australian couple in the very next room).
6. The audio recordings of the police call (posted on other threads here) ALL said the shots were coming from "about half-way up" (Mandalay is 45 stories, right? Is 32 "half-way up?") or "about the 15th floor." This could be simple confusion---but I go back to muzzle flash. You'd only be confused if you were relying on sound alone, which is hard to pin down.
Now, I repeat, I'm not suggesting anything other than to explain the evidence. I'm not saying right-wing, left-wing, ISIS, FBI, or the Marx Brothers. Let me give you an example of how if we just follow evidence we usually arrive at the right conclusion:
In the JFK assassination, there were for years claims of shots fired from the "grassy knoll." Then, in the 1970s, the Dallas Police located a motorcycle microphone recording of an officer who had left his mic on accidentally that day.
What did they find? FOUR distinct "pops." But when they analyzed the sound more closely three came from the Texas Book Depository area and were all the same---Oswald's gun. The fourth came from the area of the officer and was a motorcycle backfire as they started to move.
What did they NOT hear? Any other shots from the grassy knoll. By being willing to entertain the notion of a "fourth shot," historians were able to prove, in fact, there were only three.
We need to approach this very carefully without leaping to the "motivation" conclusions. Just solve three questions: are the images captured now in multiple places muzzle flash? Why are there no (so far) recorded images of muzzle flash at the 32nd floor? And why did the police scanners all place the shooting lower than it was?
Yeah but one officer early on said he saw muzzle flashes form low down and near the center that would fit with the video showing muzzle flashes and accompanying audio. The cab driver’s video is not the best on that. The phone video from inside the venue shows that 4th (ish) floor muzzleflashes with audio better and they are coming from near the center like the police report.
Here’s a guy who was on the 34th floor above Paddock’s room and helped guide police to the shooter.
(Tinfoil Hat On) - In regards to the lower floor muzzle flashes at the hotel, there are some kind of tower structures directly across from the hotel, which have a high vantage point directly across from the concert venue, similar in height. If a trained individual scaled the tower and took a shooting position, the muzzle flash would have reflected in or about the same area of the hotel. I’ve listened to the recordings, and I clearly hear two types of simultaneous gunfire. If the 4th or 10th floor area had a shooter, the window would surely have been broken. This tower structure would also be a great vantage point to “eliminate” the primary shooter as well. I think it would be worth the time to inspect this structure for foot or scaling prints, powder residue, etc. The exiting shooter could have easily blended into the crowd with all the commotion for his escape.
I ask those same questions. But his brother admits he wasn’t close to his brother, so I’m sure there’s a lot of things he doesn’t know. Either that or he’s lying.
I understand, but even police officers in such a situation can incorrectly interpret information their senses are picking up. Flashes from a strobe can be interpreted to be muzzle flashes.
I’m not saying they were not muzzle flashes. Rather, I’m saying that they might not be, even though someone said they were.
I remember when I hit a pedestrian about ten years ago who had run through a row of stopped cars only to be hit by me before I had a chance to hit the brakes.
Here are the two things I immediately thought:
1. How did that guy get out of his car without opening his door?
2. How did he get out of his car at a full run?
Of course, by the time he was rolling off my hood and windshield, my brain was already answering those questions.
That sort of thing may have happened here with the “muzzle flashes” on the lower floor(s).
Sorry but the only thing clearly is they are from from clearly anything. Sorry I do not see anything that convinces me. Also if those are shots coming from that floor, how did they shot people through a window that cannot be opened without breaking the glass.
If those are muzzle flashes on other floors, where are the openings? Did they expertly remove the window glass and replace it?
So far, I have only seen pix of the 2 openings on the upper (32nd) floor. Other reports say police found a hammer inside that suite and they surmise it was used to break out those windows.
According to the brother they rarely communicated, so why would his brother even have much knowledge about what he is currently into.
from from should be far from.
There are many parts of this story that are not known as of this time.
I agree, these are reflections, and the only place a reflection could be at that height are the two structures across the street, with a direct vantage point view of the venue and the primary shooter
Yes. But they wouldn’t flash in synch to gun fire. They would show up everywhere, but not just in one particular window. Watch the videos. Scary.
Not a strobe.
Hearing the car footage is from the wrong side. But there are shots on Mandalay’s website today showing windows out at the same place on the east side. Don’t know what to think.
True, but as of the last communication with his brother, if the shooter did not know about guns, where did the shooter get the sudden interest & training? Not only in guns, but in setting up this whole operation? Strange.
Were you able to see any muzzle flashes?
He said that was 10 years ago.
There ARE photos of other windows out at about the 6th floor.
Some say this is the wrong side of the building, but I don’t think so.
LS,
This one is going to be hard to explain. According to what I can find, the shooter owned the weapons. Not stolen or given to like in most cases. He had no history of anything. And according to Chris Sullivan, the owner of the Guns & Guitars gun shop in Mesquite, he confirmed that Paddock was a customer who cleared all necessary background checks and procedures. The shooter was legal across the board to own the weapons.
This one will be a tough nut to crack and, and even according to family, no one has any idea as to why. He even had fertilizer in the room that could be used to build a bomb similar to the one in Oklahoma City.
Doesn’t make sense.
rwood
There are photos out today of those windows being out in Mandalay on its instagram page.
There is a video, today, of those windows out. NOW, someone is saying that it’s the wrong side of the building regarding the phone video. We’ll see. But the still shots don’t appear to be the west side. They appear to be the east side.
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