Police: Las Vegas gunman shot security guard before firing at concertgoers

The suspected Las Vegas gunman shot a hotel security guard before opening fire on a country music festival in Las Vegas earlier this month, Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said Monday, contradicting earlier reports.

“He was injured prior to the mass volume shooting,” Lombardo told reporters, announcing a new timeline to the shooting.

Lombardo said Jesus Campos, a Mandalay Bay security guard, first confronted gunman Stephen Paddock after going to the 32nd floor of the hotel to investigate a door alert in another guest’s room, according to reports.

{mosads}Paddock likely saw Campos on the security camera system he had set up, prompting him to fire at the security guard and ultimately shooting him in the leg, investigators said.

The exchange between the two reportedly took place about six minutes before Paddock sent a barrage of bullets into the crowd of concertgoers, killing at least 58 people and wounding hundreds more in what has become the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.

Officials, who had previously credited Campos with stopping the assault by pulling his attention away from the concert, said they are still looking for an explanation as to why Paddock stopped his assault before ultimately killing himself.

Although Campos had radioed for police to come after the exchange, police officers found him “in the hallway” as they rushed to the shooter’s room, Lombardo said.

Officers also discovered that Paddock unsuccessfully attempted to drill a hole in his doorway, likely to place a camera or firearm through. 

Investigators are still trying to piece together key components of the massacre, including Paddock’s motivation for planning such a horrific assault.

“Every piece of information we get is one more piece of the puzzle in this case,” Lombardo said. “We want to figure out the why to this, and we’d like to know the motive. That’s our most important goal. To prevent any other action.”