Facebook Stephen Paddock.
New reports say that Las Vegas mass killer Stephen Paddock may have targeted other locations, including Boston’s Fenway Park, before settling on the Mandalay Bay and Route 91 concert.
“Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock reportedly researched hotels near Fenway Park in the run up to the deadliest shooting in recent American history,” MassLive reported.
However, the news site reported, “No hotel nearby the park commands a clear view of the Fenway stands.” According to NBC Sports, “Law enforcement officials are not yet sure what the purpose of the research was.” They have no evidence that Paddock actually traveled to Boston.
Even though the shooter is dead, and there is no indication of any further threat, “Federal, state and local law enforcement were predicting increased security for Red Sox playoff baseball at Fenway Park,” reported the Union Leader.
Fenway Park on April 15, 2017.
“Massachusetts Gov. Charles Baker, the Boston office of the FBI and the Red Sox all acknowledged the media reports and that they would likely impact fans attending Game 3 of the American League Division Series with the Houston Astros Sunday afternoon at Fenway,” the newspaper reported.
The Boston news comes on the heels of other reports that Paddock, 64, scouted other locations and venues before he murdered at least 58 people and wounded more than 480 in Las Vegas from a 32nd floor hotel room perch at the Mandalay Bay. It all points to what the Las Vegas sheriff has described as a premeditated attack by a man hiding a “secret life” for years, including a cache of weaponry. Authorities have not yet figured out what motivated Paddock, a nondescript retired accountant from Mesquite, to kill.
On October 5, TMZ reported that Paddock had reserved two hotel rooms at a Chicago hotel that overlooks the Lollapalooza music festival, which was attended by 100,000 people, including Malia Obama.
The Las Vegas area sheriff also said that authorities had confirmed that Paddock had rented a room at a hotel overlooking the “Life is Beautiful” music event in Las Vegas that included performances from Chance the Rapper, Lorde, and Blink-182.
On October 4, the sheriff that Paddock “had rented a room at the Ogden Hotel in downtown Las Vegas” overlooking Life is Beautiful. “He had obtained a room at the Ogden at the same time Life is Beautiful was conducted. Was he doing pre-surveillance? We don’t know yet.”
It’s not clear what led Paddock to settle on the Mandalay Bay hotel for the attack, which was the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
