The gunman who holed up in a room on the 32nd floor of a Las Vegas hotel on Sunday before raining bullets on revelers gathered for a country music festival across the street had booked hotel rooms near the Lollapalooza music festival two months earlier, according to multiple reports.
Stephen Paddock, 64, turned a gun on himself on Sunday after firing hundreds of bullets into the crowd gathered for the final night of the Route 91 Harvest music festival, killing nearly 60 people and wounding hundreds.
Two months before carrying out the attack from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel, Paddock booked a pair of rooms across the street from Chicago's Grant Park, where the Lollapalooza music festival was held from Aug. 3 to Aug. 6, TMZ reported. His rooms at the Blackstone Hotel faced the park and were booked for Aug. 1 through Aug. 6 and Aug. 3 through Aug. 6, respectively, according to TMZ.
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The website reported that Paddock never showed up for his reservation.
An anonymous tipster alerted police to the reservations, WBBM reported.
In a statement released to the Chicago Tribune, chief police spokesman Anthony Guglielmi said authorities are investigating the report.
"We are aware of the media reports and have been in communication with our federal partners," Guglielmi told the newspaper.
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Paddock checked into his room at the Mandalay Bay Hotel on Sept. 28, three days before carrying out his deadly attack, Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said.
Days before that, Lombardo said Paddock rented a room overlooking another Las Vegas music festival, Life is Beautiful. The festival ran from Sept. 22 to Sept. 24.
“Was he doing pre-surveillance?” Lombardo said at a news conference. “We don’t know yet.”
In the days after the attack, it remained unclear why Paddock carried out his attack. Authorities continue to investigate.
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