The Vegas Shooting: Investigation instead of Speculation
(TFC) – It’s time to separate fact from fiction and plausible from impossible. It’s also time to address some physics that is leading to lots of confusion. The Vegas shooting is the biggest mass shooting since Wounded Knee. With such a tragic event, it stands to reason people would be searching for answers. The answers are only important if you’re asking the right questions.
The Fifth Column spoke with several survivors. The stories were harrowing. They all believed a second shooter was on scene. They witnessed carnage and humanity at its finest. Brett Cossairt’s narrative was the most telling and was not contradicted by any other witness.
Cossairt had been on scene since 6:30 with his wife and a coworker. They were staying in the temporary VIP shelters near at the performance location. The elevated position on the roof of the structure provided him with a perfect viewing location of the incident. At first he heard 4 or 5 cracks followed by a 30- to 40-round burst. He believed some of the shots came from the neighborhood opposite the Mandalay. He described the crowd’s reaction as ripples moving away from a droplet of water in a bucket. The droplet, of course, being the impact zone of the first burst. He and his companions ran downstairs and into their suite. They turned off the lights, unscrewed the one blub they weren’t able to turn off, and laid on the floor. Cossairt was on top of his wife, shielding her, as she texted and sent out messages on Facebook. During a break in the fire, he looked out over the field. He described the scene:
“All I could see was people running and hitting the ground as they got shot.”
He took cover as firing resumed. Bullets hit the structure. During the next break, his party decided to flee the location. On the stairs, they witnessed a young woman shot and bleeding. They began running and another volley of fire erupted. Across the street, they ran into a chainlink fence. Along with the flood of people, they pushed the fence over and climbed over the cars it fell on. Cossairt witnessed the victim of “the impossible shot” at the church. Cossairt was adamant the person could not have been shot from the Mandalay. As discussed below, he was correct. A tourniquet was applied and the victim was moved and shielded by a cop car. Cossairt’s party kept moving. Crossing another street, vehicles fleeing the shooting were moving at what he estimated to be 60 or 70 mph. His party reached the MGM.
“Running through the parking lots it felt like bullets were near us, couldn’t tell you how close.”
The staff of the MGM helped secure those fleeing in the back of the house to keep them safe. Cossairt handed out water bottles provided by MGM and banquet chairs. Elderly people were in a state of mild shock. One of those he tried to provide a seat to became agitated and started swearing at him, most likely due to the adrenaline release. After a few minutes, the staff of MGM began moving the victims into banquet rooms. Cossairt was worried about the possibility of a shooter being in the crowd, so they began moving again rather than face the possibility of being trapped in a room with a shooter. His party bounced from location to location as reports of more shooters emerged in the crowd. At times people started running and his party followed. His party ran from Planet Hollywood to the Flamingo to a Hilton-branded hotel. He “absolutely” heard additional gunshots at the Flamingo. When asked directly if he believed there was more than one shooter, he stated:
“I’d put my life on it.”
Now it’s time to address some of the common themes emerging from the shooting.
Fourth-floor shooter: A common piece of evidence in support of the second shooter theory is a series of flashes appearing to come from a fourth- or fifth-floor window. The flashes do appear to match the sound of automatic fire in several videos. However, there are videos from long before the shooting started showing the same flashes. Police radio traffic expressing interest in that room could be attributed to someone reporting the lights and the police also confusing them for muzzle flashes.
Different weapons: The different sounding fire can be attributed to echoes, the possibility of various calibers being used, different types of ammo of the same caliber, and the difference in sound generated by muzzle blast and the ballistic shockwave from a single shot.
The Impossible Shot: One person was wounded at a location impossible to hit from the Mandalay. It’s discussed in-depth in the video below.
The elevator: For some reason, people have demanded footage of the shooter in the elevator bringing the weapons into the hotel. The weapons could have been broken down and concealed in suitcases. It’s entirely possible bellmen at the hotel unknowingly transported the weapons to his suite for him.
The casualties: The number of casualties from the scene seems impossible. Hundreds of wounded people. However, it should be noted, just because someone was injured during the incident doesn’t mean they were shot. They could have been injured jumping over fences, falling, trampled, and so on. Even simple cases of shock could be referred to hospitals for medical attention.
Multiple shooters at different hotels: In the aftermath of an event like the shooting, it is entirely possible that panic could be triggered by seeing a plainclothes officer with a firearm. This could cause one person to begin running, which could set off a chain reaction. A wounded person walking into a nearby casino or hotel could easily lead witnesses there to believe shooting had taken just outside. Confusion is the order of the day in situations such as this.
The reality: Above are plausible explanations for the various key building blocks of the second shooter theory. While they offer explanations, there are still many unanswered questions. While the above does not completely debunk the theories emerging from the Vegas shooting, it casts doubt on them. Nobody should stop demanding answers for discrepancies in any government narrative, however, investigation not speculation will win the day.
