Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino staff interacted with Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock more than 10 times in the days leading up to the October 1 massacre that claimed 58 lives.
During Paddock’s stay at the hotel, room service and housekeeping “had contact with Paddock or entered his suite more than 10 times,” according to a statement sent to CNN from MGM Resorts International, which owns the Nevada hotel.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal first reported the extent of the hotel staff’s interactions with the gunman.
Paddock opened fire from his 32nd-floor hotel room onto a crowd attending an outdoor country musical festival. He killed himself before police breached his hotel room door.
Hotel staff performs a welfare check “after two consecutive days where a Do-Not-Disturb sign has been displayed on the door,” the MGM Resorts statement said, “and the guest has not interacted in-person or by phone with housekeeping or other hotel staff over the same period.”
“In addition, our staff reserves the right to enter the room if it is deemed appropriate to conduct a welfare check.”
Mandalay Bay staff had “numerous interactions with Stephen Paddock every day at the resort,” the statement said, “including a room service delivery and a call with housekeeping on October 1, all of which were normal in nature.”
“As a result of these interactions, there was no need to conduct a welfare check,” it said.
In the aftermath of the mass shooting — the deadliest in modern US history — questions arose over how Paddock had not raised the suspicions of hotel staff. Police found 23 guns inside his suite and discovered Paddock brought “in excess of 10” suitcases to the room over several days, according to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Sheriff Joseph Lombardo.
Since the shooting, more than 450 people have filed lawsuits against MGM Resorts; Mandalay Corp.; Live Nation Entertainment, which promoted the music festival; Slide Fire Solutions, maker of the bump stock devices Paddock used in the shooting, and the gunman’s estate. Many of the victims who have filed claims have questioned how the hotel staff didn’t notice anything unusual about Paddock’s behavior.
Housekeepers “saw no signs of anything” suspicious in the suite, US Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nevada, told CNN in October.