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EARLY START

Las Vegas Massacre; Police Release Body Cam Video of Shooter; Gunman's Girlfriend Arrives in Los Angeles; President Trump's Visit to Puerto Rico. Aired 3-4a ET

Aired October 4, 2017 - 3:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


ANDERSON COOPER, CNN HOST: Time now for EARLY START.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN HOST: New details about the Las Vegas gunman as questions emerge about a gun mechanism that may have allowed him to fire so many shots. And now, we can tell you, his girlfriend is back in the country. What do investigators want to know?

Good morning and welcome to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans in New York where it's 3:00 a.m. here in the East.

DAVE BRIGGS, CNN HOST: Good morning, Christine. Good morning to all of you. I'm Dave Briggs here live in Las Vegas just past midnight. It is Wednesday, October 4th. We're just over 48 hours away from the deadly shooting here in Las Vegas.

Through this morning, details about the Las Vegas shooter, Stephen Paddock, his large cache of weapons, his extensive planning. His girlfriend now back in the United States. We're also getting our first look at newly released police body cam video capturing the chaos as the attack unfolded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(GUNFIRE)

POLICE OFFICER: Go that way. Go that way. Go that way.

Hey, they're shooting right at us, guys. Everybody, stay down. Stay down.

Where is it at?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: North of the Mandalay Bay. It's come out of the window.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Police officials say the gunman appears to have fired on and off between nine and 11 minutes after the first 911 call. Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo says the shooter had cameras set up both inside and outside his hotel room at the Mandalay Bay. Cameras, he may have been using to spot police and security approaching his room. Now, officials say they don't think the shooter was broadcasting this video over the internet. Even with the new details, the shooter's motive remains the mystery here.

The death toll from the attack has been revised downward by one. Officials now say 58 victims were killed, the number of injured remains at least 527.

Today, President Trump flies here to Las Vegas to see for himself how the city is responding to the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. He's expected to arrive at 9:30 a.m. local time, 12:30 p.m. Eastern. He's expected to visit hospital, meetings with medical officials, also expected to meet with law enforcement officials and those who saved lives at this deadly shooting.

Now, there is a new twist in this investigation. The gunman's girlfriend, initially, a person of interest before being cleared is considered a person of interest once again by authorities. Marilou Danley, who traveled to the Philippines almost two weeks before the shooting, back on American soil at this hour. Her plane arriving at LAX late last night.

Jean Casarez here with details on Marilou Danley. All eyes on her. This is the only person who may, Jean, have some insight as to why the shooting occurred.

JEAN CASAREZ, CNN CORRESPONDENT: That's right, and she is back in United States arriving at LAX, accompanied by FBI agents. She currently is in Los Angeles right now. Now the goal obviously is to talk with her. The Las Vegas Police Department will go to Los Angeles, it's believe, to participate in that interview. She will not come at least right now to Las Vegas.

But her itinerary is very interesting because on September 15th, she went from Japan to the Philippines. We don't know when she went to Japan. And then on September 22nd from the Philippines to Hong Kong, on the 25th of September, Hong Kong back to the Philippines, and in Tuesday night, Manila time, flew to Los Angeles obviously because the FBI wanted to talk with her.

So why did she go to all those areas? We don't know. What we do know, CNN was able to confirm that the perpetrator and all of this actually wired $100,000 to the Philippines. We don't have the date to correlate when she was in the Philippines or in other areas, but we have confirmed that that money was sent. Now --

BRIGGS: Do we know when that money was sent at all?

CASAREZ: We don't know at this point --

BRIGGS: No date.

CASAREZ: -- when or to whom it was sent.

BRIGGS: OK.

CASAREZ: And that I think is the -- BRIGGS: But she is from the Philippines, according to the best of our knowledge?

CASAREZ: Well, we believe that that Australia is interspersed in her life there but --

BRIGGS: Traveled on an Australian passport, yes.

CASAREZ: Correct, but she is a Filipino descent, yes. Now, crime scene photos, they've been published by the "Daily Mail" and authorities were able to authenticate them that they, in fact, are the hotel room, and you look at them and you see weapons just around the room appearing that they were just thrown down.

[03:05:03] You also do see magazines in one corner that are very neatly stacked. That is outside the room right there. And authorities were able to confirm that he indeed had cameras outside the room. There's inside the room. They have confirmed that is the body of the perpetrator. But just those weapons, you can see that he is just seriously going through one after the other in all of that.

Now also, there's some more information about the weapons in general. They confirmed that there's 47 weapons that they had taken in to custody and that the ATF with the FBI is going to look at those weapons. They are being sent back east. So they don't have a lot of information now on what type of weapons they were, but they were able to confirm that 12 bump stocks were located in that hotel room and those weapons. And that of course is to simulate a semi-automatic becoming an automatic bus, the sounds you heard of those bullets so fast and furiously coming out of the gun.

BRIGGS: And that is where this may go in terms of a gun control debate moving forward those devices too easy to purchase.

Jean, thank you.

OK, among the dozens of guns found that belong to the shooter, as Jean said, the federal ATF says 12 of the guns in the shooter's hotel room had these bump fire stocks or bump stocks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SHERIFF JOE LOMBARDO, LAS VEGAS METRO POLICE DEPARTMENT: What are the modifications associated with the weaponry? I can't give you an answer on whether any of them are automatic or not, but we are aware of a device called a bump stock, and that enables an individual to speed up the discharge of ammunition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Now on semi-automatic weapons, that trigger has to be pulled each time around is fired. On automatic weapons, the trigger can be pulled and held once the fire multiple rounds, hundreds per minute. Automatic weapon sales are banned in the U.S., but it is possible to buy perfectly legal tools like bump stocks that convert semiautomatic weapons to fire like automatic weapons. Now gun reform advocates in Congress seizing on this latest revelation about the Las Vegas attack. California Senator Dianne Feinstein tweeting, "I'm looking at ways to proceed with legislation to ban bump fire stocks and close this ridiculous loophole for good. Doing nothing in the wake of this tragedy is not an option." She first tried to get that legislation back in 2013 to no avail.

I can tell you, I tried to buy a bump fire stock. There are gun shops all over this area. We visited several called more than a dozen before even got that sentence out of my mouth every gun shop owner said no, no, we do not sell those. They told me, the gun shop owners, they feel as if there, "silly, gimmicky," almost beneath the customers that shop at their gunshots. They do not like these devices. They said they have never sold them. One did tell me when I called that they sold them via their website, but this may be where we go moving forward.

The third ranking Republican in the Senate, John Thune from South Dakota Republican did tell NBC News, "This is something will take a look at in terms of these devices that automate automatic weapons."

Christine, they are far too easy to get just $100 on the internet.

ROMANS: And just listening to that rapid fire from that hotel window and the damage it did to be able to fire so fast. I mean who could argue that, you know, human doesn't need to shoot that many bullets so quickly.

All right, thanks. Great reporting there for us.

The deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history likely to make hotels and other properties on the Vegas strip rethink security procedures that experts are focusing and say there may still be little that can be done to prevent this kind of massacre that we saw this week.

CNN's Scott McLean spoke with security experts in Las Vegas. He's live at McCarran Airport monitoring the travel, by the way, of Marilou Danley. We know that there at least a couple of folks from the Las Vegas Police Department who are heading to LAX to talk to her as well.

But tell us a little bit about security on the strip and what hotels may do in response to this?

SCOTT MCLEAN, CNN NATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Yes. So, Christine, the sheriff here in Las Vegas says that preventing something like this is pretty tough. He can't see a scenario where the hotel or police could have prevented a shooting like this. Stephen Paddock, he had no criminal record, he had no mental health issues that anyone seem to know about. He had no reason to not be able to purchase all of his guns legally, has massive arsenal of weapons, more than 20 inside of his hotel room.

But how does a guy get all of those guns from his car, from the lobby all the way up to his room without raising any red flags? Well, according to the security expert that we spoke to, it's not that difficult.

[03:10:00] He says that based on what the information that we have so far, he can't see how this would be preventable either. Sure, there are plenty of security cameras inside hotels but they're looking for odd behavior. And if Paddock didn't show any, well, then it's not going to raise any red flags. The maids, they're not going to go through and look inside bags looking for anything unusual. They respect people's privacy.

But what about the number of bags, would that raise any red flags? Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: We know that the suspect brought in a lot of bags. Would that raise any red flags with hotel staff or hotel security?

DAVID SHEPHERD, SECURITY EXPERT: The number of bags being brought in doesn't really bring up a lot more suspicions.

MCLEAN: Because?

SHEPHERD: We have people coming in from foreign countries that travel a lot, and they have a lot of bags. We have conventioneers that bring tons of bags for their equipment, for their shows, and people just bring a lot of bags sometimes.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: Now, I also asked our expert what kind of changes might be made to hotel security in light of this, and he said look, there have been plenty of mall shootings in this country and you don't see metal detectors, you don't see bag x-ray machines at the entrances the shopping malls across the country. And he thinks it is unlikely, it is unfeasible that we would see similar security arrangements in hotel lobbies in response to this unless of course the public demands it. Dave?

BRIGGS: Yes, just about impossible to protect against something like this. It happens just 40 hours ago. Thank you, Scott.

So what could have persuaded the gunman to execute nearly five dozen people and injure hundreds more? The psychological profile of a killer next on EARLY START.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:15:26] ROMANS: The 64-year-old retired accountant who pulled off the worst mass murder in modern U.S. history was heavily armed. At least 47 weapons owned by the gunman already found by investigators in three different locations. Stephen Paddock, son of a bank robber, a prolific gambler, casino regular, a music fan, a real estate speculator, all of these characteristics yet no one seem to have a clue that he was a murderer in the making.

Let's go live to Los Angeles and bring in clinical and forensic psychologist, Judy Ho.

Judy, thank you so much for joining us here. When you look at the background of this man --

(CROSSTALK)

ROMANS: -- is anything but ordinary. Can you hear me now? Can you hear me, Judy? I think Judy is having trouble hearing me.

What's so interesting about the background of him -- Judy, can you hear me? Checking her in. Hi, Judy, are you there? Can you hear me now? Can you hear me, Judy?

JUDY HO, CNN CLINICAL AND FORENSIC PSYCHOLOGIST: I can't hear what the question is.

ROMANS: All right, Dave, she's having trouble hearing me. But one of the things that I want to talk to her about is a profile of a mass murderer, a mass murderer in the making. You know, he was anything but ordinary. You know, his background -- can you hear me, Judy?

HO: I can hear you now.

ROMANS: Oh great.

HO: Thank you.

ROMANS: Thank you. Sorry about that little technical glitch. What I was saying is, you know, it's not as if he was some ordinary guy, just living his life undetected, he had an odd background really, the son of a bank robber, you know. He -- one of four brothers -- you know, when they were young, their dad was on the run for several years on the FBI's most wanted list. You know, he was a gambler, kind of itinerant too. There's a picture of his dad, a mug shot of his dad actually.

You know, he was itinerant in a lot of different places he lived. It seem to be a real estate speculator, would a buy a place really in retirement villages and then, you know, sell them quickly and move quickly, lived in several different states and sometimes would take up residence for weeks on end in these casinos. But were there any signs, any hints that there was something about this kind of lifestyle or this behavior that was a murderer in the making?

HO: Well, I think what's difficult about this is that in some ways, we're trying to find the needle in a haystack. Certainly, there were a number of risk factors growing up with a person who was on the most wanted list. There are certain values that a person picks up by being around a parent who has those types of values who ends up getting arrested and being on the run.

And of course having a bit of a transient sort of experience in terms of moving and not having a stable place, people think, well, does this person even have real meaningful attachments to other individuals? But again, these are risk factors for many people. They never amount to anything. They don't amount to something like this. And I think that's what's so difficult for us when we see a situation like this.

What we do know though is that individuals who commit mass murders, there is a common theme. And that common theme is they're not the type of people who generally snap all of a sudden, for example, from a psychotic illness, which is very rare. In fact, there's more of a long-term brooding. They feel like things are unfair. A certain group of people are taking thing that should be theirs. And eventually, there is one event that does lead them to pull that trigger, so to speak, and become violent, but it's really built-up through many, years of brooding and being angry and being resentful on the inside.

ROMANS: What does it tell you that this is someone who actually would go to a lot of music festivals and music concerts in Las Vegas? He likes that scene, apparently. He was part of that scene and then he ended up using that scene as his killing field.

HO: That's right. And I think this sort of speaks to what was underneath that that made him somehow perhaps resentful of this group, what they represented. Perhaps, he really wanted to feel like an insider with this particular group and didn't. There may have been one or two or several people that he was angry at that represented this group and he decided at one point to just take it out on this entire group because they symbolize something that was rejecting of him, that upset him, that took something away from him.

And in general, individuals who are mass murderers, they do expect to die at the end of it. So they're trying to take people out on the way out. They know that they're going to end up getting caught. This is very different from a serial killer who actually they're trying to keep the killing going on as long as possible and they do a lot to try not to be detected.

Most mass murderers, they know that they're going to end up dying either by suicide or being shot down by the police. And on their way out, they're trying to amass as much destruction as possible to exact that revenge.

ROMANS: Judy, it's so interesting that you mentioned that because the new details, the new reporting we have this morning is that that there were -- there's a camera in the people of his hotel room.

[03:20:04] There was a camera in a food tray, a food cart in the hallway. He had almost set it up so he had the upper hand. He could see police and they couldn't see him. The premeditation here is so fascinating. I mean this wasn't a snap. This was three days, four days in his hotel room watching this concert, you know, this concert festival every single day and choosing the end of that festival all prepared.

HO: That's right. And this is the mark of somebody who actually had lots of different plans, fantasies in his head. It could have been occurring over years and finally he decided on a master plan that he was going to execute it and probably took him a few weeks to plan this out, to actually carry it out, but this is absolutely premeditated. This person is coolheaded. This person knew exactly what they were doing. This was not an emotional moment where they just decided to do this with the span of a few hours or even a day. This is somebody who's been planning this for a long time, and again, has been really thinking about this for probably the predominant of the last, maybe year of his life.

ROMANS: How critical is it now that the girlfriend, the woman who is described as a 62-year-old girlfriend of this murderer. She is back in LAX. She is with the FBI, you know, police department from -- police officers for Las Vegas who will be going and interviewing her. How important is her information about the psyche of this person?

HO: I think it's going to be really important if they had a meaningful relationship. You know, people who tend to be mass murderers, they do tend to isolate a bit. They do tend to keep people at arms length. So even though this person was a romantic interest and girlfriend of the gunman, it's possible that she knew very little about him if that's also his profile. But if they actually did spend some meaningful time together, sometime alone, she could potentially help us to learn exactly what it was that he seemed to be ticked out about.

You know, it doesn't -- again, have to be the sort of boiling over anger, but she could potentially shed some light on, oh, he used to speak from time to time about how he wish things were different with this particular group of people or that he was angry with this particular group, and that could really help us understand a little bit more about what led him to this horrible attack.

ROMANS: Judy Ho, thank you so much, really interesting. And I am sure that the interviews with the FBI will be revealing in two more in terms of the timing of her departure and what was happening there, what was happening there in the past few days and weeks with this murder. Thank you so much.

Dave?

BRIGGS: Just so bizarre, Christine, how little we know about Stephen Paddock.

All right, the president, he is wheels up for Las Vegas in less than five hours, hoping for a smoother trip that is stop in Puerto Rico where he suggested there was not a "real catastrophe." We'll explain.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:27:04] BRIGGS: All right, we're back here in Las Vegas just past 12:30 p.m. on Wednesday. Meanwhile, the death toll in Puerto Rico --

[03:30:08] ROMANS: Amplify political discord during the presidential campaign. Facebook says 10 million users saw those ads. The ad buy was just $100,000, proving how effective Russian meddling can be with minimal investment.

Congressional committees are currently investigating Russian interference online during the election.

EARLY START continues right now.

(MUSIC)

ROMANS: New information this morning about the Las Vegas gunman, how he installed cameras to watch police, how he manipulated his guns to make them even more dangerous, and while you were sleeping, the killer's girlfriend is back in the country, landing at LAX with investigators alongside.

Welcome back to EARLY START. I'm Christine Romans in New York.

BRIGGS: Good morning, Christine. Good morning to all of you. I'm Dave Briggs in Las Vegas. It is just past 12:30 local time, p.m., 3:30 Eastern time. The city is still grappling with this deadly shooting.

This morning, we have new details about the Las Vegas shooter, Stephen Paddock, his large cache of weapons, his extensive planning. His girlfriend now back in the United States. We're also getting our first look at newly released police body cam video capturing the chaos as this attack unfolded.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

(GUNFIRE)

POLICE OFFICER: Go that way, go that way. Go that way.

Hey, they're shooting right at us, guys. Everybody, stay down. Stay down.

Where is it at?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: North of the Mandalay Bay. It's come out of the window.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Amazing video. Police officials say the gunman appears to have fired on and off between nine and 11 minutes after the first 911 call. Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo says the shooter had cameras setup both inside and outside his hotel room at the Mandalay Bay, two in the hallway, cameras he may have been using to spot police and security approaching his room. Officials say they do not think the shooter was broadcasting the video over the internet.

Even with the new details, the shooter's motive remains a mystery. The death toll from the attack has been revised downward by one. Officials now say 58 victims were killed. The official number of injured at least 527 remains the same.

Today, President Trump flies here to see for himself how the city is responding to the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. He is expected to arrive at 9:30 a.m., local time, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern. Jim Acosta reporting he will visit a hospital, visit with medical professionals, and also visit with law enforcement officials in a second stop.

There's also a new twist in the Las Vegas investigation, the gunman's girlfriend. Initially, a person of interest before being cleared considered a person of interest once again by authorities. She's Marilou Danley, located in the Philippines after the massacre unfolded back now on American soil at this hour. Her plane arriving at LAX late last night.

CNN's Jean Casarez has more information on the girlfriend and really the only link, the only person that may have some insight as to why this happened.

CASAREZ: Possibly the only person but a very important person, you're exactly right. She did arrive back in Los Angeles International Airport, LAX, late last night, accompanied by FBI agent. She was not on her own. It appears that she's going to remain in Los Angeles. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police want to participate in interviewing her. They may go to Los Angeles instead of her coming to Las Vegas at this point.

But it's very interesting. We don't know exactly when she left the mainland to go overseas, but there is a bit of a timeline that's unfolding now. September 15th, she went from Japan to the Philippines. And then on September 22nd, went from the Philippines to Hong Kong. And then on September 25th, Hong Kong back to the Philippines. And in Tuesday night, Manila time, flying with FBI agents to Los Angeles.

Now, correlate that with, CNN was able to confirm that the perpetrator in all of this, Steven Paddock actually wired $100,000 to the Philippines. When he did it day? We don't know. Why he did it? It's not known. But it is confirmed by CNN and a law enforcement source that that money was sent.

On the another front with the investigation itself, some crime scene photos have been released. The "Daily Mail" published them. Police are not happy with that. They are actually having an internal investigation now to see who leaked these graphic photos --

[03:35:01] BRIGGS: Graphic photos. Here they are.

CASAREZ: -- so soon after this all happened but they did confirm it's the inside of the hotel room. You can see the weapons are just basically thrown around in any form or fashion. This is the aftermath after this perpetrator and that is his body that was confirmed also, self-inflicted wound in that room. You can see spent bullets. You can see magazines in the corner right there that are stacked very neatly, guns anything, but neatly on the floor.

They did also say -- you know, Dave, I've got to tell you, when I started talking with victims that were just coming from the scene, like after it happened, they said he must have been shooting for two minutes. Well now, we understand from law enforcement that the shooting went on for nine to 11 minutes. That long those bullets came out, from 10:08 to 10:19 they're saying.

BRIGGS: Right.

CASAREZ: Far different from what the reality to those victims were. That information along with the amount of weapons, now 47 weapons that they have collected from three locations that belong to him. They confirmed bump stocks, which are put into a weapon, simulated as a fully automatic weapon. Twelve bump stocks they confirmed were in that hotel room

BRIGGS: And arsenal, 47 weapons purchase in four different states.

Jean, thank you.

Those bump stocks are particular interest as we move forward among the dozens of guns found that belong to the shooter. The federal ATF says 12 of those had what Jean just referred to as bump fire stocks or bump stocks.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LOMBARDO: What are the modifications associated with the weaponry? I can't give you an answer on whether any of them are automatic or not, but we are aware of a device called a bump stock, and that enables an individual to speed up the discharge of ammunition.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BRIGGS: Some also call them slide fire stocks, many different names for these devices on semi-automatic weapons. The trigger has to be pulled each time around this fired. On automatic weapons, of course, the trigger can be pulled and held once the fire multiple rounds. Automatic weapon sales are banned in the United States but it's possible to buy perfectly legal tools like bump stocks, slide stocks to convert semi-automatic weapons to fire like automatic weapons hundreds of rounds per minute.

Now, gun reform advocates in Congress seizing on this latest revelation about the Las Vegas attack. California Senator Dianne Feinstein tweeting, "I'm looking at ways to proceed with legislation to ban bump fire stocks and close this ridiculous loophole for good. Doing nothing in the wake of this tragedy is not an option." Dianne Feinstein also tried with that legislation in 2013 in the wake of the Sandy Hook shootings to no avail.

I visited several gun shops in the area, including two. They told me they sold weapons, multiple weapons, to the shooter. I also called more than a dozen gun shops in the area. All of them before even got the question out of my mouth said no, we do not sell bump fire stocks, slide stocks, anything like that. They believe, the gun owner shop -- owners, tell me they're gimmicky. They're silly. There something that almost beneath their customers, but there is so easy to purchase online, so easy to manipulate these weapons.

One owner of a gun shop even told me, he would not want his name public, but said, look, even if you ban these, Christine, there will be other ways, easy ways, for people that know weapons to manipulate them, to make them almost automatic weapons.

ROMANS: And so, Dave, what are the sporting or self-defense advantages of firing that many bullets so quickly? Are there any reasons in sporting and in self-defense to fire so many shots?

BRIGGS: No. Speaking with gun experts here, including those gun shop owners, they really say it's essentially -- and this is hard to use this word, but this is what they tell me, it's essentially entertainment. It makes them quicker to fire. Usually people do this stuff on YouTube, shooting demonstrations. It does dramatically decrease the accuracy of a weapon as well.

ROMANS: Interesting. All right, Dave, thanks for that.

The Las Vegas shooting likely to make hotels and other properties on the Vegas strip rethink their security measures. Experts who spoke to CNN say there's little that can be done to prevent a kind of massacre we saw this week.

CNN Scott McLean spoke with security experts in Las Vegas. He's live McCarran Airport, monitoring the travel of course of Marilou Danley, the girlfriend of the killer who has just returned from Asia.

So what are they saying? I mean this guy got all those weapons, cameras into that hotel suite, a place that's already heavily, heavily monitored. I mean could they have prevented this? I mean what would they change in terms of security?

[03:40:08] MCLEAN: Sure. So, Christine, the sheriff here in Las Vegas says he can't see any way for something like this to have been prevented. We also spoke to an expert, as you said, a guy with more than 20 years of experience at the FBI, seven years of experience heading up the security detail for the Venetian hotel, a big large hotel resort complex here in Las Vegas and he agrees. This may not have been preventable. Stephen Paddock, he did not have a criminal record. He didn't have any mental health issues that anyone was aware of. He was able to purchase all of his guns legally, and nothing that he did likely would have raised red flags for this hotel.

Sure, there are security cameras all throughout. Hotels are very common in Las Vegas, but the people who monitor them, they're looking for things that are out of the ordinary. Bringing up bag up to a room, it's not so out of the ordinary. But what about the number of bags? Well, the security expert says look, some people traveled internationally, their moving, they often have a lot of bags. It's not that uncommon.

But the staff, they went inside the room before, they said they didn't see anything amiss. I asked here a security expert about that. Listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: Hotel staff in the case of this suspect actually was in the room prior to the shooting. They didn't see anything out of the ordinary. Are they generally trained to look for things like that? DAVID SHEPHERD, SECURITY EXPERT: A lot of stuff should train. Actually, UNLV Institute of Security Studies created videos for maids, housekeepers, front desk people, valet people concerning what to look for, suspicious activity, things like that.

MCLEAN: And what types of things? Can you give the example?

SHEPHERD: Things that open that should not be, and should not be -- you know, not the normal clothing type thing, anything that looks peculiar.

MCLEAN: Are you surprised that they didn't notice anything amiss in this case?

SHEPHERD: If you have everything in a bag, if you have nothing exposed to start with, if you have everything unpacked -- or excuse me, packed up, you're not going to notice anything like that. They don't go through the bags of anybody now.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: So we know that as a temporary measure, many Las Vegas casinos are stepping up their security of plainclothes, security officers, many hotels may be doing the same, but our expert says that's likely temporary in terms of long-term changes in security, anything like airport security to get in the hotel lobby. He says it is simply unlikely. It is unfeasible unless of course the public demand that hotels do something like that. Dave?

BRIGGS: Scott, thank you.

All right, ahead on EARLY START from here in Las Vegas, what about the killer's background? Could it have contributed to his decision to carry out this massacre? The psychological profile of the killer, next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:46:56] ROMANS: All right, the 64-year-old retired accountant who pulled up the worst mass murder in modern U.S. history was heavily armed and arsenal of at least 47 weapons owned by the gunman already found by investigators in three different locations.

Stephen Paddock, son of a bank robber, a prolific gambler, a casino regular, a music fan, a real estate speculator, no one seem to have a clue that he was a murderer in the making.

I want to go live to Los Angeles and bring in clinical and forensic psychologist, Judy Ho. Welcome back.

You know, when I look at the most wanted poster of his father, from the late 1960s, 1970s, there he is, he was the most wanted list. He was a bank robbery. He was diagnosed on that poster a psychopathic, trade up firearms and commission bank robberies, suicidal tendencies, armed and very dangerous. How important in this detail in the making of his son, the murder? HO: I think it's a pretty important detail, Christine. And the reason is what we know about psychopath is that there is a genetic component to that. There seems to be a biological component and that they are wired very differently than people who are not psychopaths in terms of their reward systems and punishment systems.

And I think the most specific way I can describe that is that they tend to be rewarded in much different ways than a person who doesn't have those tendencies. And so something that would be exciting to a person who doesn't have psychopathic tendencies like eating a great meal.

For somebody who has psychopathic tendencies, there are some biological predispositions that they can't get excitement from things that normal people get excitement from. And so they need to up the ante oftentimes.

And also with punishments, their brains sometimes confuse punishment with reward. And so even things that seem punitive to normal people could actually be more problematic for individuals like this because they may actually feel rewarded from it. And so this could be something that Stephen may have partially inherited.

And another important key characteristic of psychopath is that they tend to have very low empathy. They tend to look at other people as means to an end, and there isn't that value for human life. And so if he inherited that type of trait for any reason, this could play a role in what happened here in Las Vegas.

ROMANS: Yes, I mean, clearly, the lack of empathy and the complete disregard for human life is evidence here. I mean, it was almost as if it was some kind of a sniper fantasy he was living out, you know, hiding behind that mirrored window of the -- in the hotel and firing down indiscriminately, yet you look around he put camera in the people, you know. He put a camera in a cart outside. He'd very elaborately laid out the fish.

HO: That's right. This was very clearly premeditated and carefully thought out. In fact, I -- as I look at these breadcrumbs of evidence, I see that this is probably something that he has been planning for a long time into meticulous detail. This was potentially something that was sort of a secret project of his for a very, very long period of time. He may have researched different ways to keep tabs on police, to carry this out.

[03:50:01] And he actually, because of his many travels, he's very familiar to the Las Vegas community. I don't think people necessarily suspected that he would be around even if he brought multiple bags and it wouldn't necessarily seem suspicious, but it did take place over a period of time. So it wasn't like he brought in 30 bags at one time. So he really thought out how he was going to sort of disseminate this at a pace that wouldn't raise suspicion right away.

ROMANS: And he certainly wasn't sort of an ordinary 64-year-old retiree. You know, I mean he was a creature of the Las Vegas casino floors from time to time, according to his brother and his family. I mean he would do so well the casinos. You know, he's lived in these suites. He bought and sold retirements, you know, homes and retirement villages. So he had real kind of a gene for taking risks too. I mean he wasn't your typical retiree.

HO: And, Christine, you bring up such a good point. I mean first of all, mass murderers, the average age in the last 50 years from studies that we've seen are around mid-30s. And so he's much older than the typical mass murderer.

You know, typically, the 60-something-year-olds are not really a profile in this type of case, but he did live a very interesting life. And as you already pointed out, this life is full of risk-taking. And, you know, again, back to that broken reward pathway, the more risk you take, the more you need to up the ante just to feel that tiny bit of joy, that tiny bit of excitement. And for somebody like this, this kind of describes why he might have been able to be so coolheaded in such a horrible situation where he was taking the lives of so many.

ROMANS: All right, we know they'll be new information when investigators debrief his girlfriend who we know had landed in just past few hours in LAX.

All right, Judy Ho, clinical and forensic psychologist, thanks for joining us this morning.

HO: Thank you very much.

ROMANS: And, Dave, you know, as his profile shapes up, it's just fascinating how he wasn't just some ordinary retiree. You know, I mean every little level that you peal back from how he did this, what was happening in the room, and how he sort of lived his life just, I think, revealing that this is -- this was a making of a murder.

BRIGGS: Yes. And you wonder, Christine, as we move forward, is there going to be any sort of federal database that can chip law enforcement officials, the FBI off when someone is accumulating an arsenal like this?

ROMANS: Yes.

BRIGGS: We were talking about nearly 50 weapons. It seems highly unusual that we wouldn't have some system to inform law enforcement officials, the FBI, that this was taking place. But these are the debates we'll have in the days and weeks ahead. Christine, thanks.

The president wheels up for Las Vegas in just over four hours, hoping for a smoother trip and his stop in Puerto Rico where he suggested there was not a "real catastrophe." As we head to break, we remember some of the victims of the Vegas massacre teachers, police officers, mothers, sons, all taken far too soon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[03:57:16] ROMANS: President Trump will arrive in Las Vegas later this morning on the heels of his visit to Puerto Rico, Tuesday, there at the death toll more than doubling from 16 to 34. The president's visit to the island, not entirely smooth. President getting -- was briefed by local and federal officials and talking to locals in a damaged San Juan neighborhood. He also handed out emergency supplies at a church. At one point, look at that tossing rolls of paper towels into the crowd.

The president raised eyebrows of comments on Puerto Rico's debt crisis and a bizarre comparison to another natural disaster.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: I hate to tell you, Puerto Rico, but you thrown our budget a little out of whack. Because we spent a lot of money on Puerto Rico and that's fine, we saved a lot of lives.

If you look at a real catastrophe like Katrina and you look at the tremendous hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people that died and you look at what happened here.

What is your death count as of this moment? Seventeen?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Sixteen certified.

TRUMP: Sixteen people certified. Sixteen people versus in the thousands. You can be very proud.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The San Juan mayor, Carmen Yulin Cruz, called Trump of course the miscommunication in chief because of those remarks. The two have been at odds since the president tweeted about her poor leadership after Cruz criticized the federal response.

President Trump also raising in perspective, wiping out Puerto Rico's $74 billion in debt.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

TRUMP: Well, we're going to work something out. We have to look at their whole debt structure. You know, they owe a lot of money to your friends on Wall Street and we're going to have to wipe that out. That's going to have to be, you know, you can say goodbye to that. I don't know if it's Goldman Sachs, but whoever it is, you can wave goodbye to that. We have to do something about it because the debt was massive on the island.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ROMANS: The whole bunch of hedge funds and some big banks and the American people actually, people who have mini-banks. White House officials didn't immediately explain the president's comments. But Puerto Rico was in financial trouble even before Maria. It fell the largest U.S. municipal bankruptcy back in May. Who owns the debt? Well, the Wall Street proud like Goldman Sachs through hedge funds, but also American savers and investors mainly through mutual funds. Yahoo's historic 2013 hack affected nearly every single customer account. All of them, everyone of them, three billion in total, three times. What Yahoo initially said, the new disclosure comes from Verizon. It purchased Yahoo earlier this year. Verizon says the revision is due to the new information. The leak data, include your name, your e-mail address, your password, but we're told not financial information.

Well, the facts mixed right now after Wall Street's winning streak for the second day in a row, records, records, records. The Dow, the NASDAQ and the S&P 500, all hit records, driven higher by airline and carmaker stocks.

On a sales growth in September after falling for months, getting a boost from the hurricanes, consumers are replacing their flood damaged cars. That's how you see those big, big news stories at play in the economy.

All right, top of the hour. EARLY START continues right now.