LAS VEGAS (CBS News) — Two judges in Las Vegas have ordered the release of search warrant records and autopsy reports related to the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, with some information to be redacted. Court officials on Tuesday were redacting the warrant records in preparation for release later in the day.
Judge Elissa Cadish issued a written order to release documents showing what investigators told judges to obtain the search warrants after the Oct. 1 shooting. The order followed a closed-door hearing Friday with lawyers representing Las Vegas police.
Separately, Judge Timothy Williams ruled that the Clark County coroner should release autopsy records of the shooter and the 58 people killed by gunfire, with victims’ names blacked out. The coroner has the option of appealing the autopsies ruling to the Nevada Supreme Court.
Media organizations including The Associated Press sued to unseal records in a bid to answer ongoing questions about the investigation.
Earlier this month, authorities said Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock conducted extensive online searches for police and SWAT tactics and searched for other potential targets, including the famed California beach in Santa Monica, before he carried out the mass shooting. Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo released a preliminary report providing an overview of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s investigation into the shooting at the Mandalay Bay casino-hotel. Lombardo said the report does not detail Paddock’s motive, but would detail Paddock’s planning of the massacre and his “disturbing” search history, including about ballistics and SWAT tactics.
Paddock’s online searches before the shooting pointed to consideration of other potential public targets, including in Chicago, Boston and Santa Monica, the sheriff said.
See video, here.