Stephen Paddock 'may have staged target practice' before Las Vegas shooting

Surveillance footage shows Paddock driving alone to a remote area in the Nevada desert

Paddock's family said they were stunned to learn he was responsible for the deadliest mass shooting in US history (AP)

The Las Vegas gunman may have held target practise just days before carrying out the deadliest mass shooting in US history, reports claim.

Investigators have uncovered surveillance footage of Stephen Paddock driving alone into the desert on the Friday before the shooting, law enforcement officials told the Wall Street Journal. The remote area – located near his home in Mesquite, Nevada – is often used by locals for target practise.

Investigators say Paddock split his time between the home in Mesquite and one in Reno, Nevada. He was a frequent gambler who often stayed in Las Vegas, and enjoyed VIP privileges at several casinos.

One day before the surveillance video was taken, Paddock checked into a 32nd-story room at Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. Over the course of several days, police say, he brought more than 20 firearms into his hotel room. He also stockpiled at least 12 bump stocks – devices used to increase the speed at which a gun can fire.

On 1 October, Paddock broke open his hotel room windows and opened fire on a country music concert taking place below. He injured almost 500 people and killed 58, before shooting and killing himself.

Paddock also researched locations in Chicago and Boston in the weeks before the shooting, officials say. He even booked a hotel room overlooking Chicago’s popular Lollapolooza music festival, but never showed up.

But one week after the horrific shooting, investigators are still searching for a motive. Friends and neighbours have described Paddock as quiet and unremarkable, if standoffish. A retired accountant, the 64-year-old lived with his girlfriend, Marilou Danley, who described him as “kind, caring, quiet”.

But Ms Danely also recalled Paddock screaming and moaning to himself in bed, NBC News reported. Local Starbucks employees told the Los Angeles Times he would often berate her in public. He had started taking anti-anxiety medication over the summer, and told a car dealer in Reno that he was depressed and having relationship troubles.

Paddock’s brother described him as “the king of microaggression,” saying he often carried a cigar for the sole purpose of blowing smoke in the faces of people lighting up around him. Their father, Benjamin Paddock, wound up on the FBI’s most wanted list after escaping prison.

Still, authorities do not believe Paddock’s was mentally unstable enough to trigger this kind of massacre.

“We still do not have a clear motive or reason why,” Clark County Undersheriff Kevin McMahill told reporters on Friday. “We have looked at literally everything.”