Shooter's deadlier perch

Las Vegas Boulevard on Tuesday stayed closed to traffic near the scene of the mass shooting. (AFP) n The gambler,

TT & New York Times Service, Las Vegas, Oct. 3: When the gunshots started from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, concertgoers in front of the stage down below dropped to their stomachs - often an adequate first measure when under fire.

But on Sunday night, the decision potentially put them at greater risk. Gunman Stephen Paddock killed at least 59 people and injured 527 others, officials said.

Paddock's position overhead gave him a vantage point over objects and obstacles that would typically protect people from bullets flying from a gunman at ground level. It also meant that inaccurate shots could still plunge into areas where people were huddled.

What may have seemed like a difficult feat, firing across an urban area and into a crowd from about 500 yards away - the equivalent of several football fields - appears to have been offset by Paddock's preparations.

The officials said Paddock was armed with at least 23 firearms. He brought in more than 10 suitcases during his stay at the hotel. An additional 19 firearms were found at his home.

Police said some rifles found in the hotel room may have been modified to make them fully automatic. Automatic rifles fire multiple rounds with a squeeze of a trigger.

Among his weapons, a law enforcement official said, were AR-15-style rifles, a civilian variant of a standard service rifle used by the American military for more than a half-century.

The possibility that Paddock used tripod indicates that he understood how to overcome some of the difficulties of his plan. Special mounts designed to fit the underside of a rifle and sit atop camera tripods allow the gunman to fire more accurately while standing. Military snipers use tripods in urban spaces, often setting themselves back from a window so neither they nor their weapons can be seen from the streets below.

These preparations, along with the downward angle of Paddock's gunfire, would make the shooting more lethal than it might otherwise have been.