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The Situation Room
At Least 59 Killed in Las Vegas Massacre; 59 Dead, 527 Injured in Las Vegas Massacre; Latest Information on Las Vegas Shooting. Aired 6-7p ET
Aired October 02, 2017 - 18:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
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[18:00:02]
WOLF BLITZER, CNN ANCHOR: We want to welcome our viewers in the United States and around the world. I'm Wolf Blitzer. You're in the situation room.
ANNOUNCER: This is CNN breaking news.
BLITZER: 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.
(CROSSTALK)
JOSEPH LOMBARDO, CLARK COUNTY, NEVADA, SHERIFF: Where's Carlos?
Carlos, you ready?
All right. All right.
Good afternoon, everyone. I'm obviously Sheriff Lombardo, Clark 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 event location, the house in Mesquite, and then now we have SWAT 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 many firearms was it?
In excess of 18 additional firearms, some explosives and several thousands rounds of ammo, along with some electronic devices that we're evaluating at this point.
I mentioned that SWAT 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 Cassell forward from the county 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 have offered up rooms for the family members at no charge. And that is the Boyd Group, Stations Casinos, South Point with Mr. Dawn (ph) and also Siegel Suites.
So, one more time, the Boyd Group, Stations Casinos, the South Point With Mr. Dawn (ph) and the Siegel Suites.
So, individuals responding to the Las Vegas area in need of accommodations, those individual properties will accommodate you.
So, Greg.
GREG CASSELL, CLARK COUNTY, NEVADA, FIRE CHIEF: Thank you, Sheriff.
My name is Greg Cassell, fire chief of the Clark County Fire Department.
As the sheriff said, there's a couple things I want to mention.
First off is the family assistance center. The family assistance center set up right now, 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 that are coming into town or that are still here trying to handle what has happened with their loved ones.
They're providing all kinds of services. As the sheriffs 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 drop-off area that's been set up to facilitate people wanting to drop off nonperishable goods over there at that site, water and so forth.
[18:05:11]
The entrance to that is off of Sierra Vista right just west of this convention center area command metro building that's at Joe W. Brown and Sierra Vista.
Also, I would like to take an opportunity right now to thank the men and women of the fire departments, the Clark County Fire Department, obviously very near and dear to my heart, Las Vegas Fire and Rescue, Henderson Fire Department, and North Las Vegas Fire Department, as we were all teamed up there last night doing what we have 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 MedicWest 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 shout-out 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.
QUESTION: Were you able to say how many ambulances?
CASSELL: 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. QUESTION: Tens, dozens, hundreds?
CASSELL: Dozens. Dozens and dozens.
QUESTION: You said 108 firefighters. Is that 108 Clark County firefighters?
CASSELL: That's 108 firefighters combined from those four resources I mentioned, those four fire departments.
QUESTION: What types of injuries were there to people transported to the hospital? Was it mostly gunshot wounds?
CASSELL: There's a wide range of injuries, you know, from gunshots to shrapnel wounds to trample injuries, to people jumping fences trying to egress and getting hurt one way or another.
So, it was a wide range of those types of incidents, injuries.
QUESTION: Chief, will you explain or comment or tell us what the staging process is for (OFF-MIKE) you said it took a long time for people to finally get into (OFF-MIKE)
CASSELL: Well, 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.
We didn't know where the gunfire was. We were not sure it was safe to commit our people at that time. And that's some of our policies and procedures are try to make our people as safe as possible. We know they're going to go into a dangerous situation. That's why we do it in a format we call the Rescue Task Force with police departments.
Four of our personnel, three to four police officers going into harm's way, which is something that even 10 years ago in this valley would have never taken place, because we had never trained on it. We had never planned on it.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
CASSELL: We had no on-duty injuries of any of our emergency response personnel last night.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
CASSELL: From my fire department, no.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Greg, can we give John...
CASSELL: Sure. John. OK.
Hey, John.
JOHN FUDENBERG, CLARK COUNTY, NEVADA, CORONER: Thank you, Greg. And thank you, Sheriff. Again, my name's John Fudenberg. 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 have 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?
QUESTION: Is the Clark County Coroner's Office equipped to handle this many bodies? Has there been an issue with that?
[18:10:03]
FUDENBERG: Well, I would like to say we're about as equipped as anybody in the country.
I don't know that anybody can be fully equipped to handle this, but we have gotten support through grant money and our county commission through the years. We have trained and we have 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.
QUESTION: We have to ask, do you have enough space at the coroner's office?
FUDENBERG: We do have enough space right now, yes.
Sir? Go ahead.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
FUDENBERG: As of right now, all of the confirmed fatalities have been recovered and they have been transported to our office, yes.
QUESTION: Of the 59 deceased, does that include the shooter or not?
FUDENBERG: I believe that includes the shooter, but, again, that number could be fluid. So, that number unfortunately may go up. And I don't want to give an exact number and confirmation at this point.
LOMBARDO: That does not include the shooter.
FUDENBERG: OK. Thank you, Sheriff.
QUESTION: How's your staff? How are you doing?
FUDENBERG: 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.
QUESTION: Mr. Coroner, are you able to assess the type of injuries that led to these deaths? Were they all by gunshot?
FUDENBERG: Again, as Chief Cassell mentioned, he spoke a little about the injuries, I would rather not speak to the injuries.
The families want answers and I would like to -- I would 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? OK. Thank you very much for your time.
Sheriff.
STEVE SISOLAK, CHAIRMAN, CLARK COUNTY, NEVADA, COMMISSION: 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 shout-out 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. And we encourage people to continue to come here. We have been deluged with donations, people bringing sandwiches, bringing water, bringing blankets, bringing those sort of things. It's almost to the point we can't handle any more donations at the Convention Center. The sheriff and I spoke to you earlier regarding the 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 of our 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 GoFundMe account because the sheriff and I thought that we could maybe help some of these victims with funeral expenses, with travel expenses as it relates to the families going to have be coming in out of town. We still have over 500 emergency rooms. We started that GoFundMe 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.
DINA TITUS (D), NEVADA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: 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 have 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.
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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, off-duty 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.
JACKY ROSEN (D), NEVADA STATE REPRESENTATIVE: Thank you. I'm Jacky Rosen. And I represent Nevada's 3rd 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, we know how to be resilient and we know how to pull together. And that's just exactly what we're going to do.
So, today, we're going to come together with all of our community partners, our hotels, Airbnb, our Lyft and Uber, our 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.
SEN. DEAN HELLER (R), NEVADA: Sheriff, thank you.
Not a lot to add to what's already been here. I'm United States Senator Dean Heller.
But what I do want to add is, we will never forget October 1, 2017. Think about that. October 1, 2017, will be a day to remember here in Las Vegas and it's a day that we will 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 have done. The help and the support from people around the country, the number of phone calls that we have 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 will get through this. And we will all do it working together. Thank you. CAROLYN GOODMAN, MAYOR OF LAS VEGAS: Carolyn 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 fund 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.
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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 worked. 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 be done? People are asking, e-mails are coming, phone calls are coming in, and I'm sure everyone that's standing here has 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 1, 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 (ph) will be leading that. And I'm sure they will be many others. This is a loving and caring community. And I'm proud to be its mayor.
LT. GOV. MARK HUTCHISON (R), NEVADA: Thank you.
I'm Mark Hutchison, lieutenant governor of the great state of Nevada.
The governor was here earlier and said that 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. It's something we can be very, very proud of.
The 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, these heroic efforts of ordinary people from all over this country.
I will tell you how personal it is. I just came from Spring Valley Hospital, and there Karen (ph) 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 (ph), who carried her from the scene. And she said, if you get a chance to ever get ahold of him or reach him, let him know that 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.
QUESTION: Mr. Hutchison, can you clarify? Did you tell us that everyone who went to those hospitals, none of them died at the hospital?
HUTCHISON: 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 latest 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.
QUESTION: Did anybody go to any hospitals out of this state?
HUTCHISON: I don't know the answer to that.
LOMBARDO: Yes, we had one individual, best of my recollection, in California.
HUTCHISON: Thank you.
LOMBARDO: 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.
[18:25:01]
So I'm happy to answer some questions at this time.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) a manifesto or anything like that found (OFF- MIKE)
LOMBARDO: We haven't located anything of that description yet.
QUESTION: Sheriff, can you tell us how many guns were found in the room?
LOMBARDO: Sixteen in the room.
QUESTION: Sixteen in the room.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
LOMBARDO: We have calibers ranging from .308 to .223.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
LOMBARDO: I'm not aware of that at this point.
One at a time, please.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
LOMBARDO: I'm not aware of that. I have been hearing that, but I'm not completely aware of it to testify to it.
QUESTION: 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 what -- that all of that was inside their home?
LOMBARDO: I didn't say we were discontinuing the investigation into that 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.
QUESTION: Sir, is she in the Philippines?
LOMBARDO: No, I believe she's in Tokyo.
QUESTION: Sheriff, the 16 guns in the hotel room, 18 at the home in Mesquite. Were there any other weapons recovered?
LOMBARDO: We had a handgun also in the hotel room, and I'm not aware of any other weapons.
(CROSSTALK)
LOMBARDO: Huh?
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
LOMBARDO: Yes, ma'am.
QUESTION: Did you find anything in the suspect's car?
LOMBARDO: Yes, we found some -- I believe it was fertilizer. Is that correct, Todd? 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.
QUESTION: Sheriff, you mentioned finding explosives at the home itself.
LOMBARDO: Correct.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
LOMBARDO: No, I believe it was Tannerite. I believe it was Tannerite.
QUESTION: Have you been investigating any kind of a gambling debt?
LOMBARDO: 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.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
LOMBARDO: No, we don't, ma'am. As part of the SWAT team is an attachment of our armor personnel or our bomb squad. And we want to ensure that there's no booby-traps available.
QUESTION: Did you use that in Mesquite?
LOMBARDO: Yes, we did.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
LOMBARDO: We believe so. We haven't broken them down. The ATF hasn't evaluated them yet. But I believe -- I don't know if the (INAUDIBLE) have been filed or whether they're been converted to fully automatic.
(CROSSTALK)
LOMBARDO: Slow down, please.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE) any places you have searched, computer hard drives, stuff like that?
LOMBARDO: Yes, we have. Yes, we have. We haven't evaluated them yet. The FBI is giving us their resources to evaluate those.
QUESTION: Could the weapons be described as assault weapons?
LOMBARDO: Yes.
QUESTION: Were any of them modified or purchased automatic?
LOMBARDO: 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.
QUESTION: Gun dealer in Las Vegas? Gun dealer in Las Vegas?
LOMBARDO: I'm not aware of Las Vegas. We're aware of Arizona so far, but we're working on further...
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
LOMBARDO: No. There were several suitcases. I can't give you the exact number, but it was in excess of 10.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
LOMBARDO: From the 28th.
QUESTION: So he methodically just kept bringing suitcases back and forth (OFF-MIKE). It's a big place, I get it, but...
LOMBARDO: I wish that would have happened, ma'am. Absolutely wish that would have happened.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
LOMBARDO: We don't have any evidence of that.
QUESTION: Do you have a working motive at this point? LOMBARDO: No, we don't.
QUESTION: Did he stay in one room, two?
LOMBARDO: It was one large suite that had two rooms.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
LOMBARDO: 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.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
LOMBARDO: We are researching that. We had information that he may have attended "Life Is Beautiful," but we haven't confirmed it yet.
QUESTION: (OFF-MIKE)
LOMBARDO: No, we had complaints from customers and to security.
QUESTION: And did the SWAT team break down the door?
LOMBARDO: Yes, they did.
QUESTION: Was he engaged by security before police arrived?
LOMBARDO: No, he engaged security. He fought -- he shot through the doorway and struck a security guard.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Was any ammunition found in the room?
LOMBARDO: Yes.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Can you say how much?
LOMBARDO: I don't know.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was the security guard killed?
LOMBARDO: OK, please, slow down. OK. I don't think as fast as you.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Was the security guard killed when he was shot?
LOMBARDO: No, he wasn't. He was shot in the leg.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: There are some reports he might have been employed by (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
LOMBARDO: I can't confirm that or deny it. We are still evaluating that.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheriff, (UNINTELLIGIBLE) are you and some of the casino owners starting to think about plans for a reevaluation of security? LOMBARDO: Target hardening, absolutely that's a continual
conversation. Recently, everyone is very aware of the Bollard Project and that was the intent, to prevent any harm associated to that. So target hardening, evaluating customers will be a continual basis.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you expand on the relationship between the man and this roommate?
LOMBARDO: We believe they're -- my understanding, they're boyfriend- girlfriend.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheriff, what's the distance from the room to where the shots landed?
LOMBARDO: I would measure by sight, just through my hunting background, an excess of 500 yards.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did he use scope?
LOMBARDO: He had scope on some of the rifles.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: And did he use multiple rifles during the assault?
LOMBARDO: Yes, he did. I don't know how -- whether he used all of them or not, Ken. I don't know that yet. We have to break them down and evaluate them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sheriff, there was 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.
LOMBARDO: Yes, I mean, 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.
You know, quite often we're the ones that go in when everybody's running the other way. And case in point this event, that's exactly what occurred. And we asked the 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 officers did.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We heard earlier it was minutes. Was it four minutes?
LOMBARDO: I couldn't give you -- I don't even want to guess on the time, Ken. You'd probably do a better job than me with evaluation of the video.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Have they given you a timeline of when they can expect the traces to be done and when do you believe... LOMBARDO: I believe that in short order. I'm hoping we'll get that.
Erin, do you have any timeline on that? I would anticipate in the next day or two.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sheriff (UNINTELLIGIBLE) claiming responsibility for this?
LOMBARDO: Good for them.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Do you have any...
LOMBARDO: No, we have no evidence of that.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Sheriff, when he was engaging with your officers, was there anything said? Did he yell anything?
LOMBARDO: I'm not aware of anything. So we do our standard announcements before entry.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: You mentioned tannerite was found in the vehicle...
LOMBARDO: No, not in the vehicle. In the home.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Excuse me, in the home. Can you explain a little bit more what exactly that is, what it's used for? Is this the explosive that's used in exploding targets?
LOMBARDO: Yes, exactly. You can buy it at any gun store. I can't -- 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 available, commercially available.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Did you say how much this gunman had?
LOMBARDO: No, I can't recall. I was told, but I can't recall.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheriff, do you have any...
LOMBARDO: Several pounds.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheriff, do you have any information he frequented Las Vegas often or was scouting out locations in the weeks leading up to this?
LOMBARDO: No, ma'am. Other than what's possibly been presumed with life is beautiful and he does live in close vicinity of Las Vegas, an excess of year, with that being in Mesquite.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sheriff (UNINTELLIGIBLE), is there any indication he was familiar with the specific hotel?
LOMBARDO: No, because the player club's card did not belong to him.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
LOMBARDO: No, I don't. I'm not aware of it.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE) think he not have actually held his primary residence there. Do you know where he actually currently lives?
LOMBARDO: 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.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Can you walk us through from the minute the shots rang out how you guys got to the hotel room?
LOMBARDO: No, all the officers -- this will be the last question for you. 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 -- 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 SWAT responded.
UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: (UNINTELLIGIBLE)
LOMBARDO: I don't recall a smoke alarm.
So 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?
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Seven o'clock, 7 p.m.
LOMBARDO: We'll shoot for 7 p.m. tonight for updates of any new information.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Will you be back here, Sheriff?
LOMBARDO: Yes, sir. Thank you.
BLITZER: 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 ammonium nitrate found in the vehicle belonging to Stephen Paddock, the 64-year-old mass murderer.
Other information: in 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 SWAT team is there right now.
Let's bring in Phil Mudd, our CNN analyst. Phil, ammonium nitrate reminds me of the ammonium nitrate that was used in those fertilizer bombs in -- at the Murrow Federal Office Building in Oklahoma City. Why would he have it in significant quantities in his vehicle in Las Vegas?
PHIL MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: We've got a lot of clues here, Wolf. And 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 that's really common in basic improvised or homemade terrorist devices. We've seen around the world in terrorism one of the basic questions I'd have, did they find a laptop in the house, and was this man researching how to build an improvised explosive device with ammonium nitrate?
We now know that, by my count, we've got at least 34 weapons, in addition to that explosive material. That's weapons at both the Mesquite home and at the hotel. We know that despite the fact that neighbors were talking about this man as reclusive, that he communicated with his brother recently. His brother said that. And that 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 this, all this data we just learned in that last half hour or so, there's got to be intensifying questions about who knew what when.
BLITZER: Yes, lots of disturbing information. By the way, Marilou Danley, the girlfriend, the sheriff, Sheriff Lombardo, says is now in Tokyo, not in the Philippines or Australia, as earlier reported. They clearly want to speak with her, Marilou Danley.
Evan Perez, you've been looking at all this new information that we're getting very disturbing information. Explosives, ammonium nitrate, lots of weapons, 18 additional weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition at the home in Mesquite. Sixteen guns in his room in his suite at the Mandalay Bay.
EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Right. And the sheriff there also said that 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, we know tannerite is something that, you know, 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 was where they found the ammonium nitrate. But a lot of people put this together to use in target practice that they use in their leisure.
Again, this man had an arsenal, 34 firearms at least, that have been recovered here today both in the home and the hotel room. This tells us it's somebody who is a fan of firearms, and not terribly unusual in this part of the country.
BLITZER: Several thousand rounds of ammunition found in the home in Mesquite, Nevada, as well.
Phil Banks, you're a 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?
PHIL BANKS, FORMER CHIEF OF DEPARTMENT, NYPD: This is very disturbing. Like you know, folks also said was that 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 -- a gun fan. Yet he had an arsenal of weapons and he certainly had these -- this material that if combined could have been used as a bomb. So interesting.
I would like to know when the girlfriend left to Tokyo or to Asia or to wherever else she's at. There's a lot of questions that have to be answered here and it just seems a little strange to me that someone in his inner circle did not know anything about a possibility of something happening. Can't say that that's the case, but certainly something that needs to be looked at.
BLITZER: 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?
BANKS: 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 started, 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 his brother stated that he wasn't a big, big hunter. So a lot of questions and something that 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.
BLITZER: Yes, they certainly do. I want to quickly go to our senior international correspondent Kyung Lah. She's in Mesquite, Nevada, what, about 90 miles from Las Vegas. That's where Stephen Paddock lived. What are you -- 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.
KYUNG LAH, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: And frightening ones, because if you put yourself here, this is a retirement community. A lot of people come here because it's seclude. 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. And 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, "OK, 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 certainly are 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.
BLITZER: Yes, that retirement community, you 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 Danita Cohen. She's the spokeswoman for the University Medical Center in Las Vegas. Danita, tell us more, first of all, about the condition of the patients at your hospital.
DANITA COHEN, SPOKESPERSON, UNIVERSITY MEDICAL CENTER, LAS VEGAS: 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.
BLITZER: 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?
COHEN: We sure hope not. Here at the UMC trauma center, we have a 97 percent survival rate. That's with patients who arrive to us, oftentimes with less than a 1 percent chance to survive. So we're very hopeful that even those patients who are critically injured will have a good outcome.
BLITZER: Does the hospital have all the resources it needs right now, particularly blood?
COHEN: 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 that we can turn over those rooms and keep areas clean to keep patients moving. It was just an outpouring of support and help.
BLITZER: 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?
COHEN: 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.
BLITZER: People who are watching us right now, Danita, if they want to help, what can they do?
COHEN: 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.
You know, 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.
BLITZER: I know they haven't. And please thank all of them, the doctors, nurses, the entire staff at the University Medical Center of southern Nevada for their excellent, excellent work. Life saving work.
Danita Cohen, thank you very much.
COHEN: Thank you.
BLITZER: 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?
DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: 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 it was -- 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 -- I've heard so many stories, just a number of people coming here in the airport, people saying, they couldn't -- they were trying to get out. [18:50:03] Many people can't get flights because they just want to get
out of town, obviously, there's visitors here, millions every -- 40 million every single year, and people trying to rent cars and really just get out of ton and the folks who live here and work in these casinos. Obviously, they have to deal with it, people who live here in town.
But as you know, this place is where people come to relax, they let their guard down, even if you're on business. You try go into where the casinos or the pools or shopping or what-have-you, and that's why people's guards are down.
And that's why people mistook it for fireworks, because who would think when you're either hanging out in a concert, you're sitting by the pool, you're in a casino, you're having a cocktail or two, that someone would open fire, was perceivably automatic weapons, and kill so many people, Wolf. It's just unbelievable.
BLITZER: It certainly is.
Don, thank you very, very much. Don will be back with much more special edition of his program, "CNN TONIGHT". That will begin 10:00 p.m. Eastern and will continue for three hours, until 1:00 Eastern.
Don Lemon is on the ground in Las Vegas.
You know, Mary Ellen, let's talk a little bit about the profile. You're -- Mary Ellen O'Toole is with us. She's a former senior FBI profiler, former FBI special agent.
This guy, this Stephen Paddock, 64 years old. Does he fit the profile of a mass killer?
MARY ELLEN O'TOOLE, FORMER SENIOR FBI PROFILER: No, he's an outlier. And by that, I mean, based on his age and based on the limited amount of information that's available about him, he really is an outlier.
Now, 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, I think that's going to be particularly interesting about him.
BLITZER: He had explosives at his house in Mesquite, Nevada, several thousand rounds of ammunition, 18 additional weapons, and that doesn't include the 16 he had in his hotel suite and in his vehicle, he had ammonium nitrate, which is obviously very, very disturbing because it potentially could be used to build a fertilizer bomb, or it could have other more peaceful purposes.
But what does that say to you to as an FBI profiler?
O'TOOLE: It says that this man was very mission-oriented. This was a mission for him. It was a mission to bring as much fire power as he could to that room, and you only do that for one reason, which is to kill as many people as you possibly can. He wasn't intending to injure people. He wanted to kill people.
And then part of his goal -- part of his plan was to kill himself.
EVAN PEREZ, CNN JUSTICE CORRESPONDENT: Methodically bringing in the firearms over several days, probably.
O'TOOLE: Probably, right.
PEREZ: And renting it on Thursday.
I mean, this is something -- you know, we've talked to sources, Wolf, who told us that they believe he cased this location. He knew what angles he was going to be using to be able to carry this out.
O'TOOLE: And my -- I think once the investigation wraps up, we're going to find that 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 Charles Whitman case back in 1966, on top of the Texas Tower.
PEREZ: Right.
O'TOOLE: And this is a frightening shift with these kinds of cases.
BLITZER: You heard Sheriff Lombardo of Clark County sheriff say that he had, what, 10 suitcases in that hotel room, it just wasn't a hotel room. It was a suite. It was two rooms. That's why windows on both sides of that suite were broken, and he went from window to window with his automatic weapons killing people.
O'TOOLE: And that's really what Whitman did on the Texas Tower. He placed the weapons around the tower so he could move very efficiently back and forth.
But I think what's really interesting, my understand is, that there was maid service in the room during the period of time that he was there, and he was able to make his way through there, coming into the room without creating any suspicion. So, even though he had those ten suitcases filled with weapons and bullets, it still didn't draw that kind of suspicion.
PEREZ: Yes, this is a convention town, so my understanding is actually there are like, for example, firearms conventions and so on that come to Las Vegas. So, it's not unusual if you come there and you see someone with this kind of fire power. You might think someone's showing up early for a convention.
Again, lots of things that people in Vegas don't ask questions about because, you know, that's what Vegas supposed to be.
O'TOOLE: And he had a game plan. He probably know exactly what he would say if someone has him.
PEREZ: Exactly.
BLITZER: And the fact that he had 10 suitcases, they were probably all locked. They were closed. I've been in a lot of hotel rooms.
PEREZ: Right.
BLITZER: All of us.
When housekeeping comes to clean the room, they don't open up suitcases, they go ahead and simply clean up the room.
Stand by. Joining us on the phone right now, Amber Diskin.
[18:55:00] She was among the thousands, thousands of people who fled as the bullets began raining down.
First of all, Amber, how are you doing?
AMBER DISKIN, SHOOTING SURVIVOR (via telephone): I'm OK. I've only had a few hours' sleep. So, just, still in shock.
BLITZER: 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.
DISKIN: Well, luckily, we weren't up close to the stage. We were with all the students (ph) was, on the grass area. I looked at my friend and said that sounds like gunshots. He said, no, that's got to be fireworks. And I kept looking towards Mandalay Bay, and I'm like, I don't see fireworks.
And then 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.
BLITZER: How did you escape the scene, Amber?
DISKIN: We just -- we ran. We -- and 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 and get away from the Strip.
BLITZER: You were at the concert with some friends. How are they doing?
DISKIN: Very good. Two of them went to Thompson Mac (ph) and they're (INAUDIBLE) up there, and then the other two were locked down in a room with -- a hotel room with like 20 other people. Somebody let them in and they were on lockdown until like 4:00 or 5:00 a.m.
BLITZER: You lived in Las Vegas I know for years. Do you know of anyone else affected by the shooting?
DISKIN: I do. My son's -- I was told one of the football coaches was the off-duty that was killed. And I know another guy I went to school with was shot, but he's OK. I have some other realtor friends that witnessed people passing and, you know, people getting shot.
BLITZER: Yes, it's an awful, awful situation, Amber Diskin. You were there. You're an eyewitness. Good luck to you. Good luck to your friends. 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 sheriff, Sheriff Joseph Lombardo. I don't know where to pick it up.
PHIL MUDD, CNN COUNTERTERRORISM ANALYST: Well, 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 of this, how do you prevent someone from binging ten suitcases into a hotel, I think the answers are going to be frustrating.
The way forward in the coming days, though, Wolf, is not about prevention. It's about deterrence. If someone knew about this and if we determine, for example, whether it's a family member or friend, regardless of whether they're co-conspirator, the message from law enforcement is, you got to ring to phone. Because the deterrent effect of this will be, if you don't, we're going to file federal charges.
I think there's going to be deterrent questions here, but prevention is going to be frustrating.
BLITZER: You know, it's interesting. A lot of these lone killers end up killing themselves, obviously their crimes are still being investigated. But do you really think we ever will learn from the investigations what actually went through this individual's mind and how to help prevent future attacks?
MUDD: I don't think so. When you look at this case, look at the Pulse Nightclub case, I'm still not certain what happened in that case. If you look at San Bernardino, remember, we had people who were radicalized by ISIS but they chose to attack an office location and not a public event like this. I don't think we fully understand those and those are going back a year or more.
In this case, especially if someone operated in some isolation, I think a year from now, we'll still be questioning what happened here, Wolf.
BLITZER: Evan Perez, the investigation right now, it's only been a what, a day, not even a day, but it's at a critical point?
PEREZ: Right, exactly, Wolf.
One of the things they're trying to do is retrace his steps of the last few days. There's a lot of information that can be gotten, especially, as pointed out, the fact that he rented this hotel room on Thursday, so he's been there for a few days. They want to see who he met with, if there's anything else from his family that might have indicated that something was amiss, and certainly deteriorating with this man.
BLITZER: And they clearly will want to speak with his Marilou Danley, his girlfriend who apparently according to the sheriff right now is in Tokyo.
PEREZ: Right.
BLITZER: I know if they had a chance to speak with her yet, but they clearly want to get some answers her as well.
All right, guys. 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.
