Vegas Shooter Stephen Paddock Got Aggressive with Chicago Hotel Manager Before Lollapalooza

[highplainsdem]

Source: TMZ

Stephen Paddock got a guaranteed room with a view that overlooked the Lollapalooza festival because he was aggressive and demanding with the hotel manager ... TMZ has learned.

TMZ broke the story ... Paddock booked 2 rooms at the Blackstone Hotel for early August that coincided with the music festival. He booked the rooms through Expedia, and requested rooms with a view of Grant Park, but he couldn't get a guarantee.

As we reported, Paddock then called the hotel and someone entered a note in the computer that his view room was guaranteed ... despite the fact that's against hotel policy.

Now we've learned how Paddock got the guarantee. He got a manager on the phone and was aggressive, saying he needed the view because he and his wife met at Lollapalooza years back and this was an anniversary trip. Our sources say Paddock was "forceful" on the phone, and it worked.

-snip-

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2017/10/06/stephen-paddock-chicago-hotel-lollapalooza-vegas-shooter/

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It's looking more and more as though Paddock had been extremely serious about wanting to target Lollapalooza.

[IronLionZion]

1. Time to start profiling aggressive assholes

just until we figure this whole thing out. You know, for security reasons.

[MFM008]

32. GOOD IDEA

Instead of just muslims.......fat old white guys............

[LisaL]

2. But despite all of that, my understanding he didn't actually show up for the hotel.

[sharedvalues]

7. Yes. Why?

[csziggy]

18. I wonder if his girlfriend was not ready to travel then

It seems as though he planned the Las Vegas incident to coincide with his girlfriend being out of the country. Maybe she had planned to go to the Philippines in August but something delayed her trip?

[More_Cowbell]

19. He bought her ticket to the Philippines

So she was going when he said to (she had no plans of her own; he supposedly told her he got a cheap ticket)

Malia Obama was at Lollapalooza

[csziggy]

20. Thanks - I had missed that report nt

[KY_EnviroGuy]

15. Makes me wonder...

if that show was his first preference for some reason (maybe Obama).

I also wonder how he planned on transporting all those guns to Chicago. Maybe he get scared of getting caught on the way and scrapped that plan.

We may never know.

[JI7]

31. Maybe issues with taking all his weapons there and they are less gun friendly than Nevada

[Midnight Writer]

33. My thoughts exactly. Vegas has almost continuous gun shows, conventions, industry meetings.

They say it is not unusual for an exhibitor to haul in a trailer full of guns. And they can't very well leave them in the parking lot all night.

But in Chicago or Boston? Even rich old white guys who haul thirty guns and thousands of rounds up to their room will be under scrutiny.

[PSPS]

3. LOL. TMZ in LBN.

[murielm99]

5. I agree...

Sometimes they do break good stories, though.

Our media has become such a joke.

We do have some media people trying, though, some of the MSNBC people.

[sarisataka]

11. Sadly TMZ is

one of the more reliable news sources. It is rare they get a story wrong.

[paleotn]

4. He'd been planning this for a while.

No one plans like this without a motive and a very clear one at that. What's the motive?

[highplainsdem]

8. His motive obviously wasn't "wanting to kill country fans because they're Republicans," as many

deplorables suggested before the first stories came out about the Route 91 Harvest festival NOT being the first one he considered.

Can't tell you how many messages I've seen on social media saying this tragedy was supposedly a Democrat deliberately killing Republicans.

[paleotn]

14. I've seen them too....

And it's just simple minded, politically motivated crap. I don't buy the official meme that law enforcement hasn't yet figured out why he was up to what he was up to. I also don't buy the claims that his circle of family, friends and acquaintances had no clue what was going on. The guy had an arsenal to rival any National Guard armory for Christ's sake! Somebody had to know something, I and think law enforcement knows what that something was. What's curious to me is why his motivation hasn't been made public or at least leaked.

[yardwork]

21. He wanted to kill people. Its that simple.

I doubt anybody in his family paid any attention. I doubt there is any complicated reason. I doubt he told anybody. He bought lots of guns because he wanted to kill a lot of people, and he did.

[Iggo]

29. Sounds like he wanted to kill concert-goers because they are numerous.

And he was successful.

[Impk11]

37. Hardcore Right Wingers hate pop-country

If Paddock was a hardcore right wing guy, he would hate artists like Jason Aldean because Aldean had a #1 country hit with the country rap song, "dirt road anthem." (It has a rap verse in it) Paddock has already been confirmed as an actual country music fan by friends and family. He is most likely the old school type that detest the new hick-hop country rap type stuff.

Fox news and the NRA are running scared because they may know Paddock had a McVeigh type motive. Conservatives are desperately trying to tie Paddock to a leftist agenda but it is becoming more clear that he is some sort of far right anti-government extremist.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

16. Batshit crazy psychopaths don't necessarily have a clear motive.

At least not one that would make any sense to you and I.

They are also very good at planning very complex, evil crimes without remorse.

[paleotn]

22. their point may not make sense to us....

but they do have a motivation. That's what I want to know. What exactly was his point?

[yardwork]

24. He wanted to kill a lot of people at once.

[paleotn]

26. That's not a motivation....

Why did he want to kill a lot of people? No one just gets up one day and decides to kill a bunch of people...certainly not someone who goes to as much effort as this guy. All mass killers have a motive. It may be crazy as shit, but they have one.

[yardwork]

27. How do we know that wasnt his motivation?

I think it’s a more common motivation for massacres than we want to believe. People just dress it up with other excuses. Maybe this killer didn’t bother to do that.

Apparently he left a note. Maybe that will shed more light.

[marylandblue]

28. Thrill of the hunt

That's common with serial killers. Mass murderers often have a grudge against someone, but Paddock could just be a serial killer who wanted to go out with a bang. In fact, there are so many unsolved murders, he could have killed many people already and we will never know.

[JI7]

36. i think a lot of people who kill people in cases like George Zimmerman WANT to kill someone

they may try to claim it had to do with protection or make up some other story but in the end they really really want to use their gun to shoot someone.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

25. We may never know....

unless the cops discover some solid things from his cell phone use, his computer, and any social media contacts. For a wealthy loner guy with a gambling addiction and gun fantasies, a real estate holder and landlord, and a former employee both in government and private business, one could list hundreds of possible motives.

I'm afraid if the conclusion is highly political, it will be kept hidden and we'll never know.

[Dustlawyer]

6. I guess concert promoters will have to pay local police to inspect all buildings close to outdoor

concert venues. There go the ticket prices!

I go to a venue like that that has one office building overlooking the venue. There is a covered part for the reserve seating where I sit, but going to the area where they sell food, beer, T-shirts and other booths would be the closest to the building. Damn these gun nuts who see what is going on and still insist that there rights to own military weapons cannot be infringed. They always leave off the "well regulated militia" part.

It will take a huge organized opposition to make any headway. I think that we are better off with an "occupy Wall Street" type protest to shed light on the root problem, the money used to buy our politicians. The Quid Pro Quo(s) that the politicians perform are never investigated. The money and support from the gun industry keeps real reform from happening

[jmowreader]

9. What are Paddocks religious views?

All his proposed targets, plus the attack he carried out, were music festivals. What Christian splinter group hates music that badly?

[yardwork]

23. I doubt it had anything to do with the music.

Big outdoor concerts are places where large crowds gather in contained places. He needed a place with a high rise hotel room overlooking a large crowd of people. Outdoor music festivals meet the criteria.

[HipChick]

10. Worst kept hotel secret..

If you slip the check in person $20 bill or so, you will be amazed how quickly you get your desired room

The reason they won't guarantee it on the phone, is because folks don't show up...

[YOHABLO]

12. Well I guess that saved a lot of Lollappalooza fans lives. No more out door concerts for me I guess.

[LeftInTX]

13. I wonder if he didn't show up because Secret Service would have been there

[Lurks Often]

30. The Secret Service would not have been there

Children 18 and older of former presidents or vice presidents are not entitled to Secret Service protection: https://www.secretservice.gov/protection/

And even if there was protection detail, it would have been no more then a handful of agents, not the enormous amount of protection a sitting President gets.

[LisaL]

34. Secret Service wouldn't have been able to do much in that type of a situation anyway.

[Baitball Blogger]

17. White male makes demand and gets what

He asks for. Nothing to see, move on.