Investigators Still Looking For Motive Of Las Vegas Shooter

Nearly a week has passed since the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history and investigators are continuing to look for clues into why the shooter did what he did.

ROBERT SIEGEL, HOST:

The deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas happened on Sunday. And now on Friday, investigators are revealing little if any of the clues they're pursuing into the mystery of why the shooter did this. NPR correspondent Leila Fadel joins us now from Las Vegas. And, Leila, what's the latest in the investigation?

LEILA FADEL, BYLINE: Well, law enforcement had their first briefing for the media in over a day, and there is still no answer to that big question - why? Local and law enforcement in partnership with the FBI have run down over a thousand leads. They're sorting fact from fiction. And Clark County Undersheriff Kevin McMahill said repeatedly today really with a hint of exasperation that they don't know why the shooter did this.

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KEVIN MCMAHILL: I will tell you, though, that all of the rumor and speculation has not been helpful to our investigation. In the past, terror attacks or mass murder incidents, motive was made very clear, very clear in most of those cases by a note that was left, by a social media post, by a telephone call that was made, by investigators mining computer data. Today in our investigation, we don't have any of that uncovered. I wish we did.

FADEL: Now the FBI's asking for the public's help. They're calling for anyone who knows anything to call them. And they're putting it up on billboards across Las Vegas - if you know something, say something - with their tip line. They're confident that the shooter was alone in that room. But they want to know if he spoke to anyone, if anyone knows anything about what led up to all of this. And they're looking at everything from birth to death.

SIEGEL: Now, yesterday, the authorities released the complete list of the deceased. How is the city coping with the aftermath of all this?

FADEL: Well, this is a city that's grieving. There was a vigil last night to honor Charleston Hartfield, who was an off-duty Las Vegas police officer at the concert, a veteran. He was killed along with 57 other people. And thousands of people turned out to honor him. The city's opening a memorial garden tonight with a wall of remembrance and 58 trees, one for each victim. And they're also celebrating their heroes. McMahill today mentioned Jesus Campos, who's the security guard who went to that room on the 32nd floor when the alarm was triggered and got shot and notified police. So that is how Las Vegas right now is trying to deal with the aftermath.

SIEGEL: Leila, you now live in Las Vegas. And you know that the weekend is when the town gets going, when the gamblers arrive and the like. What are the signs whether this will or won't be the case this weekend so soon after this tragedy?

FADEL: Yeah. I mean, all week we've been seeing more and more people coming to Las Vegas. I've been seeing the throngs of people crossing the street. It's hard to make a turn. And it's Friday. That's the day people are checking in. And there are people checking in. Last night I was at the Bellagio, and I saw brides just walking through the lobby. But we're also seeing a little bit of heightened security as well - security guards at parking lots, checking people's cars if they're bigger cars. I'm seeing more people posted in parts of the casino to look. So you're definitely seeing heightened security, but it doesn't seem to be stopping people from coming here.

SIEGEL: That's NPR's Leila Fadel in Las Vegas. Leila, thanks.

FADEL: Thank you so much.

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