and what prompted this unfathomable crime? and call for unity, a very somber president trump urges americans to come together in the wake of the massacre leading a moment of silence and ordering flags across the country lowered in tribute. we want to welcome our viewers in the united states and around the world. i'm wolf blitzer. you're in "the situation room." this is cnn breaking news. we're following breaking news. officials in las vegas are about to hold a news conference on the shooting massacre that's left at least 58 people dead, more than 500 injured. and we want to warn our viewers that the video of the attack is graphic and disturbing. tonight, we're also learning new details of the horrifying scene, the victims and the gunman who fired hundreds of rounds from the 32nd floor of a resort at an audience of thousands attending an outdoor music festival.

the news conference with police authorities now beginning. let's go to las vegas. >> carlos, you ready? all right. all right. good afternoon, everyone. i'm obviously sheriff lombardo clarke county. this will be our fourth media briefing since the incident took place yesterday evening. i'm going to give you just a short synopsis of our updates and then we have other individuals here standing behind me that are going to make some comments, reference, other issues associated with today's events. so there's two things we're

attempting to achieve. one is we have to finish processing the scenes. we have three separate scenes we are working -- now, actually it will be four at this point. so we have the 32nd floor, the room at the mandalay bay, we have the efvent location, the house in mesquite and now we have s.w.a.t. standing by getting ready to hit the house in northern nevada. at this point we did -- in the last briefing i was unable to tell you what we retrieved from the house in mesquite. we retrieved an excess -- how firearms was it? >> 18. >> an excess of 18 additional firearms, some explosives and several thousands rounds of ammo, along with some electronic devices we're evaluating at this point. i mention that s.w.a.t. is about to breach the house up in northern nevada, and then i'm going to give you an update on the casualty numbers. we are currently standing at 527

for individuals injured and individuals that have died or passed away 59. so what we are doing at this point we have several people calling about personal items located at the stadium. we are not done processing that scene yet. and once we are done processing the scene, we will make arrangements for people that attended the stadium that believe they have personal items there to respond to the area and we will help you retrieve your items. at this point i want to bring greg cassel forward from the fire department and he will give an update on the family resource center. prior to that i think it's important for and i appreciate for you to put this out for the people, families that are responding to the las vegas area some local proprietaries ahead of offered up rooms for the family members at no charge. and that is the boyd group,

stations casinos, south point and also seagal sweets. one more time, the boy group, station casinos, the south point with mr. gone and the sea gull sweets. so individuals responding to the las vegas area in need of accommodations, those individual properties will accommodate you. so, greg. >> thank you, sheriff. my name is greg cassel, fire chief of the clarke county fire department. couple things chief mentioned but i want to start with the family assistance center, it's a combination of police department, fire department, the coroner's office and other local entities working together to provide the services for the families and for the -- that are coming into town or are still here trying to handle what has happened with their loved ones. they're providing all kinds of services as the sheriff said many places have stepped up to provide flights, housing, food,

transportation and many other things. so that's a wonderful thing for our community to have come forward and done. this facility's located in the south hall of the convention center, s2. and it's pretty much taken up the entire south hall. there's also a donation dropoff area that's been set up to facilitate people wanting to drop off nonperishable goods over there at that site, water and so forth. the entrance to that is off of sierra vista right just west of this convention center area command metro building at joe w. brown and sierra vista. so i'd like to take an opportunity right now to thank the men and women of the fire departments, clarke county fire department obviously very near and dear to my heart, las vegas, henderson fire department and north las vegas fire department as we were all teamed up there last night doing what we've trained for so many years we wish would never happen but we definitely had a plan in place and we were able to execute that plan as well as we possibly could. we had 108 firefighters on scene.

we have 155 unit hours just for the clark county fire department alone. spent last night handling that scene teaming up with our partners from the law enforcement to reach as many people as fast as we could and to try to do as much as we could for the community. i also want to take a moment to recognize community ambulance, they were there as a standby medical at that scene last night. they had five or six ambulances there. they immediately threw critically wounded patients into their ambulances and transported from that scene. and also america medical response, amr, and medic west ambulance, they brought all hands on deck. they brought in all of their employees. they rallied everything they could from pickup trucks to vans to all their available ambulances to bring extra medical supplies down to a staging area for us. and to make those resources available to our community during that time of need. so i want to give a big shoutout to those private ambulance companies that have done a wonderful thing for us last night as responders. and from the fire department side i will take a few questions. >> were you able to say how many ambulances? >> i could not quantify that, but i have worked here for 30

years and i have never seen that many ambulances that i saw last night. >> tens, dozens, hundred sns. >> dozens. dozens and dozens. >> you said 108 firefighters, is that 108 clark county firefighters? >> that's 108 firefighters combined from those four resources i mentioned, those fire departments. >> what types of injuries were there to people transported to the hospital? was it mostly gunshot wounds? >> there's a wide range of injuries, you know, from gunshots to shrapnel wounds to people getting hurt trying to egress, getting hurt, one way or another, it was those types of injuries. >> chief, explain or comment or tell us what the staging process is for you said it took a long time for people to finally get into -- or -- >> we had multiple branches and divisions set up last night to cover that large area. and i can't speak to how long it took them to get into that venue, but we had some issues

right out of the chute or right out of the start because things were going on because we didn't know where the gunfire was, we didn't know where it was safe to commit our people at that time. some of our policies and procedures are try to make our people as safe as possible, we know they're going into a dangerous situation. that's why we do it in a format called rescue task force with police departments, four of our personnel, three to four police officers going into harm's way something even ten years ago on this venue never would have taken place because we never trained on it. [ inaudible question ] we had no on duty injuries of emergency response personnel last night. [ inaudible question ] from my fire department, no. >> greg, can we give john -- >> sure. john. okay. >> thank you, greg. thank you, sheriff. again, my name's john feudenberg, i'm the coroner of clark county and i'd like to

first of all just ask that everybody keeps those involved in this incident in their thoughts and prayers. and as well as the first responders, all government agencies, all of us that have come together and working on this incident, please keep us in your thoughts and prayers. and know that we're working very hard to make sure that we take care of the families who have loved ones involved in this incident. i'd like to take a moment and talk a little bit more about the family assistance center. as chief cassell mentioned we have that set up at the convention center. we're fully operational right there. right now. excuse me. and we've met with multiple families. we're continuing to interview the families. and the goal of that center is to provide families information about the identification of their loved ones and as importantly to collect information from them so we can make the identifications as fast as possible. so we're working very hard at making those identifications out of respect for the family i'd

rather not go into any details about the decedents or their injuries at this point. i'm available to answer any questions that anybody may have. yes, sir? >> the clark county coroner's office -- handle this many bodies? has there been an issue with that? >> well, i'd like to say we're about as equipped as anybody in the country. i don't know that anybody could be fully equipped to handle this but we've gotten support through grant money and our county commission through the years, we've trained and we've exercised and we're putting that training and exercising in place right now. and i think our staff along with the police departments and fire departments are doing a heck of a good job in handling this all things considered. yes, sir, ken, go ahead. >> we have to ask, do you have enough space at the coroner's office? >> we do have enough space right now, yes. sir? go ahead. [ inaudible question ] as of right now all of the confirmed fatalities have been recovered and they have been transported to our office, yes.

>> of the 59 deceased, does that include the shooter or not? >> i believe that includes the shooter, but again, that number could be fluid. that number unfortunately may go up. and i don't want to give an exact number and confirmation at this point. >> that does not include the shooter? >> thank you, sheriff. >> how's your staff? how are you doing? >> you know, i think we're handling it about as good as could be expected. i think we're all everybody in this room, everybody in our county right now is suffering as a result of this tragic incident. i appreciate you asking, but i think we're handling it very well. and our staff's doing a darn good job at managing it. thank you. >> mr. coroner, are you able to assess the type of -- that led to these deaths? >> again, as chief cassell mentioned, he spoke a little about the injuries, i'd rather not speak to the injuries. the families want answers and i'd prefer out of respect for them to give them the answers

before we make those public. so i'm not going to answer that at this time, ken, thank you. any other questions? okay. thank you very much for your time. sheriff. >> thank you once again for being here and spreading this information to our community. i want to reiterate what i said earlier and i want to give a special shoutout to the sheriff and chief cassell and the men and women, our first responders that are there. and as i said previously, when you see one of these men and women in their uniforms, please tell them thank you. they went in when everybody was running out but for the fact that their selfless actions we would have hundreds more casualties than we are currently facing. there's no doubt in my mind. i was down to the crime scene, it's horrific. and these folks did an absolutely incredible job. went above and beyond. i want to assure everyone that, you know, it's under control right now. las vegas is a safe place to be. it's a safe place to visit.

we encourage people to continue to come here. we have been deluged with donations, people bringing sandwiches, bringing water, bringing blankets, those sort of things. it's almost to the point we can't handle anymore donations at the convention center. the sheriff and i spoke to you earlier regarding blood donations. after we brought that out earlier this morning the sheriff and i talked and we put out a call for blood and we have a six to eight hour weight at all blood centers right now. donations are being given -- appointments are being made for thursday and friday. that's how far in advance we are. we set up a go fund me account because the sheriff and i thought we could maybe help some of these victims with funeral expenses, with travel expenses as it relates to the families going to be coming in out of town we still have over 500 emergency rooms. we started that go fund me account it now has almost 15,000 contributions in excess of $1.2 million. has been donated by generous people around the country that, you know, care about what we're doing. the hate that this one

individual, this lone wolf rained down on our community and on the mgm village park was met with an outpouring of love by our entire community. and we will get through this together. we will get through this as one community. we thank you very much for being here. and our thoughts and prayers are with all of the families. >> well, thank you very much. i'm dina titus, i represent nevada's first district which includes the fabulous las vegas strip and the scene of this horrendous act. so many times i have welcomed people to las vegas, conventions or special events, never imagined that i would be standing here trying to offer solace and service to those who would be harmed or killed by such an act. my office is serving as a clearinghouse. we don't want to get in the way of this wonderful law enforcement and first responders who have done such a good job. but we want to be there in any way we can. we've gotten many, many phone

calls into the office from people around the country looking to find out where their folks are, were they hurt or in the hospital, were they killed. we're trying to pass that information on to the appropriate place. couple of immigration calls that we're trying to help with as well. i would point out in addition to the services that have already been mentioned, thomas & mack opened up as a temporary refuge for people who were put out of their hotel rooms. the clark county school district has offered its counselors to the public if they are needed. we were contacted by airbnb, they are also offering facilities to anybody who needs to come into town to see about family members. the community is stepping up. we heard acts of heroism, offduty police officers helping people shelter, pointing out where they thought the shots were coming from. a friend of one of my staff members was being trampled, they

were running out. somebody grabbed and pulled them into a van just to be safe. a total stranger. we were standing on the corner outside of umc and a car slowed down and said where can we go to give blood. that's the kind of community that we have here. las vegas is resilient. and with everybody pulling together we will get through this. so thank you very much to law enforcement, first responders, our fire department, those medical personnel who were taking care of people in the parking lots of hospitals, everybody stepped up and we can't say thank you enough. >> thank you. i'm jackie rosen and i represent nevada's third district just right outside the las vegas strip. and i reiterate what everyone said here. our first responders, our hospital staff, our hotel staff, firefighters, ambulance, police, and i stand before you not just as a congresswoman but as a mother, a daughter, a sister, a

friend and a member of this community. and like congresswoman titus said, we are a strong community. we know how to fight and be resilient and we know how to pull together. and that's exactly what we're going to do. today we're going to come together with our community partners, hotels, airbnb, lyft, uber, taxi drivers, going to do everything we can to support the victims, their families and we're going to move forward and we're going to do it together in strength. so appreciate everybody's support that's helped us. again, thank you. >> sheriff, thank you. not a lot to add to what's already been here. i'm united states senator dean heller, but i do want to add is we'll never forget october 1st, 2017. think about that october 1st, 2017 will be a day to remember here in las vegas and a day we'll remember for years to come as we remember and think about

how dangerous this world can be. i am very grateful to the sheriff's department and all the first responders and everything that they've done. the help and the support from people around the country, the number of phone calls that we've received, the condolences that are flowing into this community is second to none. and i want to thank our whole congressional delegation for working together, linking arms to try to move this community forward. nevada is strong. nevada will remain strong. we'll get through this. and we'll all do it working together. thank you. >> caroline goodman, mayor of the great city of las vegas. and the outpouring of attention, love, sympathy and offers of help not only have come from around this country from mayors and governors but also from abroad. and we want to thank for sure all of the law enforcement and first responders that have come in from other parts of the state

as well as from los angeles to help us out here. the number of people that have come and gotten in line to give blood has really become an issue that we're going to learn from. we haven't been able to keep up with it. people are frustrated. they love this community. they love what it represents. and they want to do something about it. it's been simply incredible. and to learn that this wonderful fun that the sheriff had set up is over a million dollars, you can just feel the heartbeat of the people that call las vegas and nevada home. most especially in talking and i spent last night in the hospital at umc and over at valley to talk to some of those who were less seriously injured, how confused they were about the issue there because as you know when you go to one of these outdoor entertainment and even the inside, the arena ones, you're usually given a bracelet, identification. and because they were up front

and because they were in a confined environment, the places to get out were less open to them. but the sounds and talking to the patients, hearing different sounds because they're thinking it's fireworks or it's part of the technology of the music that's being played, they could tell me that they were thinking it was coming from different areas. and the fact that our first responders and law enforcement acted so quickly, so professionally and attended to the need right then and there and were able to get up into the mandalay bay in four minutes is simply an incredible feat. it is something that saved thousands of lives. we had over 22,000 people there in a small area. and it's simply amazing how efficiently law enforcement and first responders work. you heard those words from our president. he called me on my cell phone and spoke with the sheriff and our attorney general with whom i

was speaking and just whatever he could provide. and he is coming out here. the question is what can with done. people are asking, e-mails are coming, phone calls are coming in and i'm sure everyone that's standing here is received them. this is a remarkable community of people who are involved who do care. and this heinous crime, this maniac could do such destruction to so many people, we even lost one of our members at our city hall. and so it's a very difficult time. while the sun is shining in las vegas, it is a very dark and black day. and as i'm sure that was said october 1st, 2017 will be one of the darkest days ever. and hopefully never again. thank you. thank you, sheriff. and thank you law enforcement and first responders. simply unbelievable.

tonight at 5:00 at city hall will be the first of i'm sure several vigils. 5:00 city hall. pastor troy will be leading that. and i'm sure they'll be many others. this is a loving and caring community. and i'm proud to be its mayor. >> thank you. i'm mark hutchison. the governor was here earlier and said this has been our finest hour as a state. it's been our finest hour as a city. it's been our finest hour, i think -- among our finest hour as americans. if you were taken into umc medical center, the trauma center there and you were alive, you're still alive today. you're still alive at this hour. the amount of skill and professionalism that was shown by those doctors and those nurses and those medical professionals is extraordinary. something we can be very, very proud of. same is true if you went to spring valley hospital. if you were alive, you're still

alive. could not be prouder of those men and women who saved so many lives in las vegas today. and who saved so many lives in las vegas last night. as i went into these hospital rooms throughout the day, as many of my friends and colleagues behind me, and they are my friends and colleagues, and they are true nevadans and true americans, they heard the same stories as i did. the heroic efforts of ordinary people from all over this country. i'll tell you how personal it is. i just came from spring valley hospital and there karen was injured seriously and was carried away from the scene and she said, if i ever had a chance to thank this individual, would i please thank him, his name is sean topper, who carried her from the scene. she said if you get a chance to ever get ahold of him or reach him, let him know i made it. she said that he was her guardian angel that day. and we saw and heard story after

story like this. ordinary americans helping other ordinary americans. it's a great day for america, it's a very sad day for las vegas, my hometown. tragedy beyond words. but this is the day when americans helped americans make it through the night. i say god bless them all. thank you. >> mr. hutchison, can you clarify? did you tell us everyone who went to those hospitals, none of them died at the hospital? >> when i was at umc today i was told by the trauma surgeons that everyone who made it into umc alive was still alive. there were those who were not alive when they arrived. that was the late e information i got as well. there may be more information, but that was the information i got. and wanted to make the point that there was extraordinary skill shown by the medical professionals at umc. >> did anybody go to any hospitals out of this state? >> i don't know the answer to that. >> yeah, we had one individual best of my recollection in

california. >> thank you. >> well, i want to thank everybody for coming. so just one more clarification. besides the vigil at city hall, there's an additional vigil at 5:00 p.m. at the guardian angel cathedral. and that is adjacent to the encore hotel. guardian angel cathedral at 5:00 p.m. so i'm happy to answer some questions at this time. >> did you find a manifesto or anything like that? >> we haven't located anything of that description yet. >> sheriff, can you tell us how many guns were found in the room? >> 16 in the room. >> 16 in the room. >> can you tell us what kind -- >> we have calibers ranging from .308 to .223. >> is there any evidence videotape, cell phone, laptop, any of those devices? >> i'm not aware of that at this point. one at a time, please. >> any sort of surveillance set up -- >> i'm not aware of that. i've been hearing that but i'm

completely unaware of it to testify to it. >> the woman you were looking at as a person of interest that you had determined you didn't think had anything to do with this, now that you have found 18 more guns in their home and they apparently shared a home, do you revisit that? and how could someone not know that all of that was inside their home? >> i didn't say we were discontinuing the investigation into the female. we are continuing the investigation into that female. there are several questions that need to be answered similar to what you propose. but she is currently out of the country. we are making arrangements to contact her upon her return. >> is she in the philippine sns. >> no, i believe she's in tokyo. >> sheriff, 16 guns in the hotel room, 18 in mesquite, were there any other weapons? >> we had a handgun also in the hotel room, and i'm not aware of any other weapons.

huh? [ inaudible ] yes, ma'am. >> did you find anything in the suspect's car? >> yes, we found some, i believe it was fertilizer, is that correct? ammonia sulfate. i can't recall the chemical -- what is it? ammonia nitrate within the car. we didn't have any compounds additional to that. >> sheriff, you mentioned finding explosives at the home itself. >> correct. [ inaudible ] >> no, i believe it was tannerite. >> have you been investigating any kind of a gambling debt? >> no, i also saw that on the internet and presented on the internet i believe some journalism research produced that, but we haven't had the opportunity to evaluate it. [ inaudible ] no, we don't, ma'am. as part of the s.w.a.t. team is attachment of our armor personnel or our bomb squad. and we want to ensure that there's no boobytraps available.

>> did you use that in the -- >> yes, we did. [ inaudible ] we believe so. we haven't broken them down, the atf hasn't evaluated them yet. but i don't know if the pins have been filed or converted to fully automatic. slow down, please. >> any places you've searched, computer hard drives, stuff like that? >> yes, we have. we haven't evaluated them yet. the fbi is giving us their resources to evaluate those. >> were the weapons described as assault weapons? >> yes. >> were any of them modified or purchased automatic? >> i am not aware of that. we are aware of one gun dealer that has come forward to say that he had sold the weapons to the suspect, but we are aware of some other individuals that are engaged in those transactions. >> gun dealer in las vegas? >> not aware of las vegas. we're aware of arizona so far,

but we're working on further. >> -- had a huge suitcase -- >> no. there were several suitcases. i can't give you the exact number, but it was in excess of ten. from the 28th. >> so he methodically just kept bringing suitcases back and forth? it's a big place, i get it, but -- >> i wish that would have happened, ma'am. absolutely wish that would have happened. [ inaudible question ] >> we don't have any evidence of that. >> do you have a working motive at this point? >> no, we don't. >> did he say one room, two? >> it was one large suite with two rooms. >> can you say what he did on the 29th? >> in the interaction with security they believed it was between the 29th and the 32nd floor. and we had to evaluate each floor moving up. >> did you find -- >> maybe there was some thought.

[ inaudible ] >> we are researching that. we had information that he may have attended life is beautiful, but we haven't confirmed it yet. >> did you find a -- broken window. >> no, we had complaints from customers and to security. >> and s.w.a.t. team broke down the door? >> yes, they did. no, he engaged security. he fought through the doorway and struck a security guard. [ inaudible ] >> was the security guard killed? >> okay, please, slow down. okay. i don't think as fast as you. >> was the security guard killed? >> no, he was shot in the leg. >> sheriff. [ inaudible ] >> i can't confirm that nor deny it. we are still e vavaluating that >> sheriff, are you. [ inaudible ] the property owners starting to think about plans for

reevaluation security? >> target hardening, absolutely that's a continual conversation. recently everyone is very aware of the bollard project and that was intent to prevent any harm, so target hardening, evaluating customers will be continual basis. >> can you expand on the relationship between the man and the roommate? >> we believe -- my understanding they're boyfriend-girlfriend. >> sheriff, what's the distance from the room to where the shots landed? >> i would measure by sight just through my hunting background an excess of 500 yards. >> did he use scope? >> he had scope on some of the rifles. >> and did he use multiple rifles during the assault? >> yes, he did. i don't know whether he used all of them or not, ken. i don't know that yet. we have to break them down and evaluate them. >> sheriff, report from the airport a witness says an officer shielded them. i just want you to expand on the

role of your officers during this emergency. you know, let us know how they're doing too. >> yeah, that's a very difficult question. well, it's not difficult. it's a very hard question for me to answer because of what they did, the heroic acts. quite often we're the ones that go in when everybody's running the other way. case and point this event that's exactly what occurred. and we asked officers who are well trained to address these type of events, active shooter events. but this is different than anything they've trained for because the active shooter is unreachable. so our intent is life safety, that's our first priority in law enforcement. and i'm very proud of what our au officers did. >> was it four minute sns. >> i couldn't give you -- i couldn't even give you a guess. >> when they expect to be done and when do you believe -- >> i'm hoping in short order.

erin, do you have any timeline on that? i would anticipate in the next day or two. >> sheriff -- claiming responsibility for this -- >> good for them -- no, we have no evidence of that. >> sheriff, when he was engaging with your officers, was there anything said? did he yell anything? >> i'm not aware of anything. we do our standard announcements before entry. >> you mentioned tanerite was found in the vehicle -- >> no, the home. >> in the home. can you explain what it's used for? the explosive used in exploding target sns. >> yes, exactly. you can buy it at any gun store. i don't know what the regulations is on amount. i don't want to give you a bad amount. but it is -- it's commercially available. >> did you say how much this gunman had? >> no, i can't recall. i was told, but i can't recall. several pounds. >> sheriff, do you have any information he frequented las

vegas often or scouting out locations -- >> no, ma'am. other than what's presumed with life is beautiful and he does live within close vicinity of las vegas, an excess of year with that being in mesquite. >> sheriff is there any indication he was familiar with the specific hotel? >> no, because the player club card did not belong to him. [ inaudible ] no, i don't. i'm not aware of it. >> think know who he is may not have held his primary residence there, do you know where he actually currently lives? >> i believe it was mesquite. i think i saw a posting, depending on the accuracy of the internet, that the neighbors were familiar with the individual but he was reclusive. >> can you walk us through from the minute the shots rang out how you guys got -- >> no, all the officers -- this will be the last question. all the officers were assigned

to the event. we do have officers that were inside for other events inside the mandalay bay as a matter of weekly practice, specifically the nightclubs. so but i'm sure they were not aware of what was taking place similar to the officers at the event. officers took it upon themselves to help the customers exit the grounds and some officers took it upon themselves to immediately go to the mandalay bay. there was a team of six officers that approached security, they went up the elevators after discussing the situation with the security and obtaining intelligence. and they checked each floor by floor until they located where they believe to be the room. subsequently they approached the room, received gunfire, they backed off and s.w.a.t. responded. [ inaudible ] i don't recall a smoke alarm. thank you very much. i appreciate everybody's time and your patience. and we will update you later

this evening. todd, you have a time you want to update them? we'll shoot for 7:00 p.m. tonight for updates of any new information. yes, sir. thank you. >> there he is, the sheriff clark county sheriff joseph lombardo with lots of very, very disturbing new information just released including what he says was amomonia nitrate found in te vehicle belonging to stephen paddock, the 64-year-old mass murderer. other information that his home in mesquite, nevada, about 90 miles or so outside of las vegas they found 18 additional weapons, explosives, several thousand rounds of ammunition, very sophisticated electronic devices. he says that there were also 16 guns found in his room at the mandalay bay hotel in las vegas. they were very, very worried of

booby-traps at his northern nevada residence, that's why a s.w.a.t. team is there right now. let's bring in phil mudd, our cnn analyst. phil, ammonium nitrate reminds me of the ammonium used in the bombs at the federal office building in oklahoma city. why would he have it in significant quantities in his vehicle in las vegas? >> we've got a lot of clues here, wolf. there's one bottom line, and that is this is an open criminal investigation. we're not just looking at what happened. we've got to have questions about whether somebody else knew. ammonium nitrate, that's fertilizer readily available. it's not explosive by itself, but if you combine with fuel oil, something common in basic improvised or homemade terrorist devices, we've seen around the world in terrorism one of the basic questions, did they find a laptop in the house and was this man researching how to build an improvised explosive device with

ammonium nitrate, we've got at least by my count 34 weapons, that's weapons both mesquite home and at the hotel. we know despite the fact neighbors were talking about this man as reclusive that he communicated with his brother recently. his brother said that. and he had a girlfriend. put these two together, wolf. somebody was acquiring a large number of weapons and explosives over time, was considering possibly building an improvised explosive device and had steady communications with friends and family members. and you want to tell me that nobody knew anything? i think looking at all this data we just learned in the last half hour or so there's got to be intensifying questions about who knew what when. >> yeah, lots of disturbing information. by the way marylou danley, the girlfriend, the sheriff says is now in tokyo, not in the philippines or australia as earlier reported. they clearly want to speak with her. marylou danley. evan perez, you've been looking at all this new information

we're getting very disturbing information, explosives, ammonium nitrate, 18 additional weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition at the home in mesquite. 16 guns in his room in his suite at the mandalay bay. >> right. and the sheriff there also said it's clear that he used multiple of the firearms, which is what we'd heard from sources, wolf, is that apparently what he was doing is after firing off and emptying out the rounds in one firearm he simply switched to another firearm. we know he was using he appeared to be using two different locations, two different windows to be able to shoot out at the crowd. what's interesting about the tannerite which the sheriff said was found at the home in mesquite and the ammonium nitrate which is something if you're a gun aficionado and you like doing target practice, a lot of people use it for that purpose. so it may not be because he was trying to build a bomb or anything like that, the sheriff

was clear also that nothing in addition no other compounds were found in the car which is where they found the ammonium nitrate but a lot of people put this together to use in target practice in their leisure. again, this man had an arsenal, 35 firearms at least recovered today both in the hotel and home. this is somebody who's a fan of firearms and not terribly unusual in this part of the country. >> several thousands rounds of ammunition found in the home in mesquite, nevada, as well. phil banks, former chief of department at the nypd, the new york police department, what's your reaction when you heard of this arsenal this individual had? >> this is very disturbing. like folks also said there's a lot of questions that has to be answered. i listened to his brother earlier on tv, and his brother i believe made a statement that he wasn't an avid gun fan. yet he had an arsenal of weapons and he certainly had this

material that if combined could have been used as a bomb. interesting. i would like to know when the girl left to tokyo or asia or wherever else she's at. these are a lot of questions that have to be answered here and it seems strange to me that someone in his inner circle did not know anything about a possibility of something happening. can't say that's the case, but certainly something that needs to be looked at. >> the ammonium nitrate is very disturbing given the history of ammonium nitrate and fertilizer bombs, even though as evan points out there may have been a relatively innocent purpose, right? >> absolutely. i mean, he did not have in fact anything to trigger it, but it doesn't mean that he was not going to trigger it. it doesn't mean that he had made the decision that he was going to commit suicide. maybe at some point when he planned this he was looking to flee and pick up those particular chemicals. i heard that is this is something that avid hunters

utilize, but i think it's stated he wasn't a big, big hunter. so a lot of questions and something we need to get into quickly. hopefully this is not the new norm because this seems to be a very strange and peculiar active shooting situation. and law enforcement certainly has a lot of things on their table to have to look at. >> they certainly do. i want to quickly go to our senior international correspondent kyung lah in mesquite, nevada, about 90 miles from las vegas, where stephen paddock lived. what else are you hearing? because the disturbing information we got from sheriff lombardo of clark county in las vegas raises all sorts of questions. >> reporter: and frightening ones because if you put yourself here, this is a retirement community. a lot of people come here because it's secluded, it's in the middle of nowhere, it's in the desert, it's very safe. that's what you kept hearing from everyone. that you can get up at dawn, walk your dog, get in your golf cart, that you're surrounded by

people who are older, who are like minded. so to have this happening underneath the suburban veneer, this idea of a peaceful golfing retirement community is absolutely frightening. when you put in those numbers, thousands of rounds, 18 firearms inside this home, ammonium nitrate in a car at this home, tannerite in this home, what is happening here? i could go around and talk to people here and they would be absolutely stunned. now, there are a few people here who say, okay, this is a guy who may have been a little off color. but, you know, the great majority of people i spoke with said that they were reclusive people. and there's certainly now going to be many more questions, wolf, about the live-in girlfriend. how much does she know? she lived here. many people knew her much more than the gunman. so there are going to be a lot of questions about how much she knew. and, you know, just the absolute

astonishment and concern that this could be happening in a place like this. >> yeah, that retirement community have to be 55 or older to live there in that retirement community in mesquite. he was 64 years old. sheriff lombardo also says now that 527 people have been injured in this attack. 59 people confirmed dead. that does not include the shooter. i want to bring in the spokeswoman for the university medical center in las vegas. denita, tell us more first of all about the condition of the patients at your hospital. >> good afternoon. the good news is we've had about 40 patients released so far this afternoon. that's out of the more than 104 patients that we received since last night. four of those unfortunately passed away. another 12 are still in critical condition. >> the casualty count currently as i said according to the sheriff is at 59 dead. based on the condition of individuals who are in your

hospital, a level one trauma center, do you expect that number to go up? >> we sure hope not. here at the umc trauma center we have a 97% survival rate, that's with patients who arrive to us oftentimes with less than a 1% chance to survive. so we're very hopeful that even those patients who are critically injured will have a good outcome. >> does the hospital have all the resources it needs right now, particularly blood? >> absolutely. our blood shelves are fully stocked, so that's good news. we did have a blood drive earlier today, so just to make sure that we are of course fully stocked because trauma doesn't stop, we have operated as a normal level one trauma center throughout the day receiving the normal range of patients that we would get in any given day here despite the fact that we received so many patients overnight. and as far as staffing goes, you know, all we had to do is put out one call to say we are getting a mass casualty coming in to umc and staff came in,

everybody from trauma surgeons to our ceo to environmental services, those are our fine housekeepers who make sure we can turn over those rooms and keep areas clean to keep patients moving. it was just an outpouring of support and help. >> the university medical center is the only level one trauma center in the entire state of nevada, as i pointed out. how are you coordinating your efforts with other hospitals in the region to make sure patients end up in the right place? >> so patients are actually triaged out in the field with trauma field triage criteria. and that happens out in the field. so we would get as a level one trauma center the most critically injured patients as we did last night. and we had many more patients going to our emergency department. and some patients even driving themselves here, not waiting for help to arrive to them but simply going towards help, coming to us. so we were getting patients from all over in many different ways. >> people who are watching us right now, danita, if they want

to help, what can they do? >> we have had a very generous outpouring of support not only from blood donations from earlier today, but food and pizza and donuts and little kids walking up to the metro officers behind us, you know, handing them bags of candy. it's been absolutely wonderful. every time you see something going wrong, you don't have to look very far to see something going absolutely right, which is very heartwarming. so for now we just ask that our nation keep us in their thoughts and prayers and keep our trauma team of course in their thoughts because they worked so hard last night. and they haven't stopped throughout the day. >> i know they haven't. and please thank all of themes, the doctors, nurses, entire staff at the university medical center of southern nevada for their excellent, excellent work. life saving work. danito cohen, thank you very much. cnn's don lemon is with us tonight, he's joining us live from las vegas right now. don, you've covered these shootings in the past. how is this one different? >> reporter: it's different,

wolf, just in the number of casualties, the number of people who died. we have just a few of the stories together here at cnn recently, aurora, newtown and now this and there are many sadly many others that we've covered, but obviously this one is the biggest with so many people dying. and, you know, the people there were just like sitting ducks. and that is all everyone obviously here is talking about. wolf, i have to tell you it doesn't take long to feel the sadness here as soon as you arrive. when we arrived at the airport a couple hours ago, the mandalay bay right over my shoulders it may not be the tallest building here but it's one of the most prominent, its footprint, it's so big. and when you fly in, we flew in, we could see those windows in that suite that were shot out. and i flew in with a law enforcement expert and he said it's obvious to him, and this is him speaking, that the gunman used both scenes, probably

setting up the gun on the tripod and then going back and forth between scenes -- between windows to shoot at those people who were basically sitting ducks. and if you read some of the accounts, people said that they felt like it was a death maze. that they were sort of being herded like cattle through a maze of death because they kept trying to go in and out trying to get out and they couldn't because of some of the fencing and the scaffolding. and they didn't know which way the gunfire was coming. if you look, i mean, when you get here, obviously you know las vegas, you fly in right next to the city. so you fly in, you see that mandalay bay, and, i mean, it is just horrific. one interesting note i thought when you were speaking to the woman from the university hospital as i was reading up they obviously the number -- the only level one trauma center here, they get -- receive training however, you know, every so often, every few months for mass casualties. the last seminar they had reportedly was given by a first

responder from the pulse nightclub shooting in orlando. so imagine that. so sadly they do have their training here. and they were able to jump into gear. but i've heard so many stories, just a number of people coming here in the airport saying they were trying to get out. many people can't get flights because they just want to get out of and people trying to rent cars and really just get out of ton and the folks who live here and work in these casinos, they have to deal with it. this place is where people come to relax, they let their guard down, even if you're on business. you go and enjoy the casinos or shopping or what have you, and that's why people's guards are down. that's why people mistook it for fireworks. who would think at a concert, having a cocktail or two, that someone would open fire and kill

so many people. it's unbelievable. >> it certainly is. don, thank you very much. he'll be back with a special edition of this program that will begin 10:00 p.m. eastern and will continue for three hours. mary ellen, let's talk about the profile. she's a former senior fbi profiler, former fbi special agent. this guy, stephen paddock. doe fit the profile of a mass killer? >> no he's an outliar. based on his age and limited amount of information that's available about him, he really is an outliar. there are some things that he's done that put him in some of the same categories as other ones, but i'm particularly struck by the lack of information that's

coming out about him, as though he has a secret life. and if that's true, that's going to be particularly interesting about him. >> he had explosives at his house in mesquite, that doesn't include the 16 he had in his hotel suite and in his vehicle he had ammonium nitrate because it potentially could be you'd to build a fertilizer bomb. what does that say you to as an fbi profiler. >> this was a mission to him for him to bring as much fire power as he could, and you only do that for one reason, to kill as many people as you possibly k. he wasn't intend to go injury people, he wanted to kill people. part of his plan was to kill

himself. >> renting it on thursday. this is something we've talked to sources who say they believe he cased this location. he knew what angles he was going to be using to carry this out. >> once the investigation wraps up, we're going to find he went to several hotels, looked at several rooms to find the perfect place and to put this in context, what he was doing was in that room, he was like a hunter up on one of those platforms that hunters sit on because he was basically hunting the victims below, which is a totally new shift in these cases. we have not seen this since the chars when itman case in 1966 on on top of the texas tower. >> you heard the clark county slave say he had ten suitcases in that hotel room, it was a suite, two rooms, that's why windows are on both sides were broken, and he went from window to window with his automatic

weapons killing people. >> that's really what whitman did on the texas tower. he placed the weapons around the tower so he could move efficiently back and forth. there was made service in the room during the period of time he was there, and he was able to make his way through there, coming into the room without creating any suspicion. even though ed those ten suitcases filled with weapons and bullets, it still didn't draw that kind of suspicion. >> this is a convention town, so my understanding is there are firearms conventions and so on that come to las vegas. it's not unusual if you come there and see someone with this kind of fire power. you might think someone's showing up early for a convention. lots of things that people in vegas don't ask questions about because that's what vegas supposed to be. >> he had a game plan. >> the fact he had ten

suitcases, they were probably locked. when housekeeping comes to clean the room, they don't open suitcases, they clean the room. joining us is amber ris kin, one of the thousands of people that fled. amber, how are you doing? >> i'm okay. i've only had a few hours' sleep. still in shock. >> tell us about that moment that the shooting started and when you realized after a few seconds it wasn't fireworks, it was bullets aimed towards the 22,000 people who were at that outdoor concert. >> luckily we weren't up close to the stage. we were in the grass area. i looked at my friend and said that sounds like gunshots. i looked towards mandalay bay,

and i said i don't see fireworks. and the crowd just seemed to panic, and then once the concert just completely shut down, that's when everybody just dropped and kind of fled. it was like he started shooting slowly and then it just increased. >> how did you escape the scene, amber? >> we ran. people were pushing and falling. i ended up knocking on somebody's truck saying can i go with you guys? and thankfully he let me jump into the car and two other girls. and we were able to get down to tropicana. >> how are your friends? >> two went to thompson mac and the other two were in lockdown at hooters in a hotel room. they were on lockdown until

4:00, 5:00 a.m. >> you lived in las vegas for years. do you know of anyone else affected by the shooting? >> i do. my son's -- i was told one of the football coaches was the off-duty that was killed. i know another guy was shot, but he's okay. i have some other realtor friends that witnessed people passing and people getting shot. >> it's an awful, awful situation, amber. you were there, an eyewitness, good luck to everyone in las vegas right now. people were at the concert from all over the country. phil mudd, let's get back to this investigation. so much disturbing information released by the schaffer. i don't know where to pick it up. >> i think there's one conclusion you can draw moving

forward, including during the conversations we listened to among the law enforcement professionals, that is if you look on the preventative side, how drew prevent someone from binging ten suitcases into a hotel, the answers are going to be frustrating. the way forward is not about prevention, it's about deterrents. regardless of whether they are -- prevention know . >> a lot of these lone killers end up killing themselves, obviously their crimes are still being vefinvestigated. how do we prevent future attacks? >> i don't think so. when you look at this case and

the pulse nightclub case, i'm not certain what happened. if you look at san bernardino, we had people who were ral rallyized. especially if someone operated in some isolation, i think a year from now we'll still with "b" questioning what happened here, wolf. >> evan perez, the investigation right now, it's only been a day, not even a day, but it's at a critical point? >> right. one of the things they're trying to do is retrace his steps of the last few days. there's a lot of information to be gotten, the fact that he rented this hotel on thursday, so he's been there for a few days. they want to see if there's anything else from his family that might have indicated that something was amiss. and certainly deteriorating with this man. >> they clearly will want to speak with his girlfriend who apparently according to the

schaff sheriff right now is in tokyo. they clear want to get francis her as well. thanks very much. that's it for me. thanks very much for watching. i'm wolf blitzer in the situation room. our breaking news coverage continues right now with erin burnett "outfront." erin is in las vegas right now. good evening, i'm erin burnett live in las vegas tonight. welcome to your viewers across the united states and around the world. the horrific breaking news, at least 59 people are dead tonight, 527 are injured. this is the deadliest mass shooting in modern american history. it is an unspeakable tragic, and it began late last night here where we are along the las vegas strip. ♪ [ gunfire ]