Banality of evil: hotel security footage shows Vegas gunman slowly amassing arsenal before mass shooting

Hotel surveillance video from the days before the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, made public Thursday, shows the gunman as an unremarkable Las Vegas hotel guest and casino patron.

Footage provided by MGM Resorts International shows Stephen Paddock interacting with Mandalay Bay resort staff members, repeatedly wheeling suitcases toward elevators and pulling his Dodge Caravan into the hotel valet.

It offers no outward sign that the bags contained an arsenal of weapons, that Paddock would use to carry out the October 1 shooting that killed 58 people and injured hundreds at an outdoor concert on the Las Vegas Strip.

“Paddock gave no indication of what he planned to do and his interactions with staff and overall behaviour were all normal,” company spokeswoman Debra DeShong said in a statement.

“MGM and Mandalay Bay could not reasonably foresee that a long-time guest with no known history of threats or violence and behaving in a manner that appeared outwardly normal, would carry out such an inexplicably evil, violent and deadly act,” she said.

Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo and Las Vegas police did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

The 32 video clips, first obtained by The New York Times, offer no motive for the 64-year-old Paddock opening fire with assault-style rifles from a 32nd-floor suite into a concert audience of 22,000 people.