Shooting at Las Vegas casino

You're missing a core element the definition of terrorism. Doesn't qualify without a political aim.

So far nobody has the slightest clue what his motive was.

 

"paid cash" means as opposed to borrowing.
He isn't bringing $300k in large bills to escrow.

 

Maybe both he and the brother have some money that the father didn't exactly obtain legally. Could be why the brother seems to be not so specific in his answers.

 

I'm not one for conspiracy theories because most of them quickly devolve into nonsense under the slightest scrutiny, but there is a lot of weird dots waiting to be connected.

The crime scene photos show one of his legs under a rifle and the gun he used to shoot himself a couple of feet above his head, but those can probably be explained by where he was when he pulled the trigger.
The cops got up to his room quickly enough that it one theory of a second shooter or his body being a plant or him being murdered by a partner seem off base. Cops would have seen and stopped someone trying to get away from the 32nd floor or out of any nearby rooms, right?
So the batshit crazy theories about multiple shooters are out.

Some of the easy theories on why don't fit, either. He seemingly wasn't in debt to the casinos, and even if he was the M.O. for most gamblers in that hopeless situation would be to shoot themselves and not carefully craft a plan to murder hundreds of people. They'd tend to be suicidal and not homicidal.
If he was on drugs it hasn't popped up yet. So far, though, the people who saw him around regularly haven't indicated he was anything but an occasionally creepy loner. Maybe there was a mental illness we haven't learned about yet, but if so he did a good enough job concealing it that it didn't seem to raise any red flags or cause daily problems.

So that brings us back to Paddock being a single shooter, a low-key guy with a seemingly clean background, no military training that's known about, who was apparently just living this odd life up until recent weeks (or months) when he decided to meticulously plan and carry out this horrific attack for ... shits and giggles? Some political ideology? Fifteen minutes of posthumous fame?
Maybe there's a suicide note or a manifesto we'll find out about eventually that will shed some light.
Until then, it just makes no sense whatsoever. I can't wrap my head around it.

 

Most of the school shootings that are foiled involve students who were fascinated with Columbine. It does seem odd that there hasn't been evidence yet disclosed of the meticulous planning required for something like this. Journals. Internet research. Maps. He didn't go into this just winging it.

 

I think a safe guess is that he was a gun nut who always wanted to do this and finally decided it was time.

 

I knew Stephen Paddock as a kind, caring, quiet man. I loved him and hoped for a quiet future together with him. He never said anything to me or took any action that I was aware of, that I understood in any way to be a warning that something horrible like this was going to happen.

A little more than two weeks ago, Stephen told me he found a cheap ticket for me to the Philippines and that he wanted me to take a trip home to see my family. Like all Filipinos abroad, I was excited to go home and see family and friends. While there, he wired me money, which he said was for me to buy a house for me and my family. I was grateful, but honestly, I was worried that first, the unexpected trip home, and then the money, was a way of breaking up with me. It never occurred to me in any way whatsoever that he was planning violence against anyone.

Statement From Las Vegas Gunman’s Girlfriend, Marilou Danley

 

Neither is paying 364 grand in cash for a house when you are 64.

 

Right. My point is, it's not $1 million all at once. It's on average about $20,000 a week, which, by Vegas standards is a tuna in a sea of whales.

Hell, even I've handled about $50,000 in wagers this year, just on horses.

 

Newsweek account says it took years to acquire the weapons and ammo. So, directly contradicts LA Times.

Las Vegas shooting update: Gunman "spent decades acquiring weapons and ammo."

 

Not necessarily. The Times said he acquired most of it in the past year, right? The statements are not contradictory.

EDIT: The L.A. Times story, in fact, uses the same “decades” quote.

So decades acquiring guns and ammo, but most of it in the past year.