As the law enforcement investigation continues, we too continue to investigate just who Stephen Paddock was and how he carried out his devastating attack. Contact 13 dug into Paddock's past and the planning that may have involved another Las Vegas music festival.
We got a tip early Tuesday morning that's now been reported by multiple national news outlets.
Stephen Paddock reportedly rented a high rise unit at The Ogden overlooking the Life is Beautiful music festival one week before his deadly shooting rampage. Would it have been a dry run? A scouting mission? Or a planned attack not carried out?
A spokesperson for the Ogden said this is an active, ongoing investigation. She referred us to Las Vegas police, but in a press conference this afternoon, Sheriff Lombardo said he could not confirm the information.
Former FBI agent Brig Barker, with Red Rock Global Security Group, who we spoke to via Skype, says that's exactly what investigators will be looking for.
"Was he checking out other hotels? Was he looking at different floor levels?" says Barker. "Was he staying in any of the other rooms at different levels to look at the vantage points?"
Barker, who profiled the Pulse Nightclub shooter in Orlando, said the attack at the Route 91 music festival looks to have been meticulously planned.
"He's using different weaponry to carry this out but he's got two different vantage points, which is somewhat military in nature and theme," says Barker.
While law enforcement will soon interview person of interest Marilou Danley, we're learning more about Paddock, including that he worked for the federal government. According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, between 1975 and 1985, Paddock worked as a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal service, an IRS agent and a defense contract auditor.
"He appears to be professionally transient," Barker explains. "Moving around amongst jobs and so my question is always what's the root cause of something, so why is he moving amongst jobs so regularly? Is it that he had this anti-social behavior? That he didn't get along with people and kind of ran into a wall and either left because of challenges there or was asked to leave?"
Many pieces of a complex puzzle, including one more tied to Nevada. We learned late Tuesday that Paddock bought several guns at a Cabela's in Verdi, which is just outside Reno.
