Stephen Paddock, the white terrorist who killed 58 people and injured hundreds more at the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas Sunday, reportedly booked two hotel rooms overlooking the Lollapalooza grounds back in August. In a report Thursday that doesn't once call this terrorist a terrorist, TMZ said Paddock booked a room for Aug. 1 at the Blackstone Hotel in Chicago, Illinois. A second room, with an Aug. 3 arrival, was also booked. Both rooms reportedly had an Aug. 6 checkout date, the same date as the music festival's final day.
The Blackstone, where Paddock reportedly "specifically requested" that both rooms have a view of Grant Park, overlooks the Lolla main stage. According to the report, Paddock never checked in. This year's Lolla lineup included Chance the Rapper, Arcade Fire, Big Sean, blink-182, Rae Sremmurd, Charli XCX, 21 Savage, Lorde, Run the Jewels, and many more.
TMZ's report arrives one day after Clark County sheriff Joe Lombardo confirmed that Paddock had also rented space at the Ogden condominium complex in Vegas around the time of Life Is Beautiful, which occurred the weekend before Route 91 Harvest.
Predictably, gun-loving Republicans in Congress—presumably flush with stacks of NRA cash—have responded to the Vegas attack with thoughts and prayers and literally nothing else. Democrats, for some reason, have expressed hope that Trump will suddenly change his mind about the NRA and be willing to pursue gun law changes. "Let's see if he has the courage, the willpower to say, 'I'm going to break with that small group' and do something that makes common sense and Americans—in overwhelming numbers, Democrats, Republicans and independents—want," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer said this week.
