MGM Resorts International has no plans to rent the room used by mass killer Stephen Paddock to gun down 58 people and wound hundreds more, the company said.
“This was a terrible tragedy perpetrated by an evil man. We have no intention of renting that room,” the company told the Las Vegas Sun in a statement Friday.
The company did not say what it intended to do with the 32nd-floor suite at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, nor has it revealed what its intentions are for the festival grounds that were used for the Route 91 concerts.
Nearly three weeks after the Oct. 1 massacre, police have yet to piece together Paddock’s motive. In addition, critical questions still linger about what exactly transpired in the days, weeks and months prior to the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
On Thursday, a judge ordered MGM Resorts to not destroy anything that could be considered evidence in a trial. The order blocks Mandalay Bay from erasing video surveillance, card-swipe data and complaints coming from Paddock’s hotel suite until another hearing Oct. 30, where MGM Resorts will have a chance to argue against it.
Meanwhile, Jesus Campos, a Mandalay Bay security guard who was hailed by Las Vegas police as a “hero” for alerting authorities to the gunman’s sniper’s nest, appeared on Ellen DeGeneres’ show earlier in the week.
However, the interview did not clear up any of the unanswered questions about Paddock and the response to the shooting, including what caused Paddock to stop firing before authorities ever gained entry to his room, where Paddock was found dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.