Mandalay bay resort just behind us. The hail of bullets targeting thousands of concert goers at an outdoor festival 500 yards away. Weve never heard of this much gunfire for this long on this many innocent people. Weve seen something else, frankly, that matters more. The evil of one countered by the love of many. Last night, there was a truly poignant memorial for the victims. Among those killed, people who had made the decision to give to others, teachers, nurse, police employees. So many more stories to be taken. All of them share the reality that their lives were taken by a coward. Why this man decided to take his life by taking the lives of others, how he got the means to do it they are both questions that matter. And the police say that he the found an arsenal in this guys hotel room. 42 guns so far. Who knows what else theyll find. They also recovered thousands of rounds of ammo. They found explosive material in his car. And at this point, the police are still trying to deal with why, what drove a man to become a monster . 64yearold with no criminal past, no record or history that would suggest he would have known how to do this let alone get the things to do it. And, of course, what would have made his heart so filled with evil. President trump has been speaking about this situation, saying were united in pain and grief. He will be here in las vegas tomorrow, he says. That will come after the president visits puerto rico today. Millions of americans are there. And for them, it is not over. They are in the midst of a humanitarian crisis. We were there and we are going to show you the reality of recovery. So we have it all covered for you this morning. Lets begin with jean casarez. She has been following every step of what matters in this story. Jean . Reporter so important in this investigation is the state of mind of stephen paddock, the intent. So much premeditation. His brother, eric, says he would never kill a bunch of people he didnt know. But the facts show anything but. [ automatic gunfire ] reporter authorities are learning more about the gunman responsible for the las vegas massacre, 64yearold stephen paddock. The retired accountant firing dozens of rounds on thousands of concert goers from two hotel windows he smashed on the 32nd floor at the mandalay bay. Police searching floor by floor until they found paddocks room. This video shot by an nbc journalist staying at the hotel. Paddock exchanged fire with police through his hotel room door, shooting one Security Guard in the leg. All units move back. Breach, breach, breach. Police say paddock took his life before a s. W. A. T. Team stormed the room, using explosives. Police recovering an arsenal of 23 weapons from Paddocks Hotel room, including multiple rifles, some with scopes. Police say he had been staying at the hotel since last thursday in a large suite. Investigators also finding another 19 weapons at his home in nearby mesquite. Additional firearms, some explosives and several thousand rounds of ammo, along with some Electronic Devices that we are evaluating that the point. Reporter investigators believe the guns were purchased legally. According to law enforcement, an initial report suggests at least one rifle was altered to function as an automatic weapon. A gun shop owner in utah is certain he sold a shotgun to paddock earlier this year. He didnt set off any of my alarms, anything that i felt like theres a problem in any way, shape or form with him. He was a normal, everyday guy that walks into my door 50,000 times a day. Reporter police say paddock wasnt on their radar, with no criminal past, and believe he acted alone. His brother, eric paddock, left stunned by the carnage, telling cnn he never exhibited any violent tendencies or had any affiliations with any terror or hate dproops. He bought the machine guns and did this. He has never even drawn his gun, you know . I mean, it makes no sense. He did not own machine guns that i knew of. This is something just incredibly wrong happened to my brother. Reporter his brother says paddock was a successful real estate investor, who owned and rented several Properties Across multiple states. He also had an affinity for gambling, according to this couple who lived next door to paddock for two years in florida. He was a gambler and a speculater. He told us that right up front since he was from vegas. Did he a little Online Gambling and he also did it in vegas. Reporter the family has a troubled past. Paddocks father, benjamin, was a convicted bank robber, who escaped from prison in the late 60s and was on the fbis most wanted list. Neighbors, shocked by the news, some even describing him as a gentle giant. You wouldnt recognize him as being anything out of the norm. Reporter search warrants have been executed at his hotel room, at his home in mesquite, nevada, and property in reno, nevada. We dont know everything they collected, the entire inventory. Chris, at the very last press conference, late last night, we finally learned there was a computer in that hotel room. Forensic investigators will be combing for answers to just understand why he did what he did. They can learn a lot and can learn it quickly. Jean, thank you very much. Lets discuss the latest on the investigation with cnn analyst james gagliono. Good to have you here. Thank you very much. Outstanding issues, one, why havent they called this terror . Lets shorthand that. They havent because they have to know why he did this and be able to ascribe some kind of political purpose or agenda to it. We dont know yet. Thats why theyre not there. In terms of acquiring the means, 42 weapons, ammonium nitrate. How do you do that and go undetected . Remember, chris, each weapon has akin to whats a fingerprint on it. Theres a serial number on there. They can be traced and tracked. I am confident thats whats going on right now, where and how he accrued these weapons. Were they accrued over a 40year period because he was a 64yearold gentleman . Could have started buying his weapons when he was 16 years old. Law enforcement is looking at it like this. The weapons that were modified, where did he get those, the automatic weapons . Those are two big variables. If he modified them it goes who taught him to you do that. But if they were automatic you have to have a special license or permit, even the most lax state you have to have a federal permit to get a lot of that stuff or you buy it on the black market. Reports out now were that there were two tripods found in the room, two shooting positions that put together a cone of fire, a killing field, if you will. Tripods are not typically used for a 308. Police recover aid 308. Youre talking about an m16 or beltfed type weapon. Militarygrade stuff. Typically other weapons, m16 or could have a bipod or even a threeway could have a bipod on it. He literally set up two shooting positions, moved back and forth through the two shooting positions, as much chaos as possible and kill as many people as possible. How do you know how to do that, set up something to make something automatic if its not already, and set up two positions and know about high ground and a cone of death or funnel effect . Where did he get that . No military background. From the premeditation standpoint part of this is speculative. We know that the concert was announced in february. Which would have given him time, if he had a particular grievance with the crowd there or whatever. We know that that was in february. Gave him some time. We also know that he probably asked for that room, having that downward view of the concert area. And that doesnt raise suspicions on its face. Chris you walk in and say i want a room so i can watch the concert from upstairs. Then to bring the weapons upstairs this is not something you throw anyway backpack. Couple of theories and thoughts. Im sure this would will be picked up on video. He could have had them in a golf bag. A lot of weapons would have collapsed into smaller pieces, put them in a rolling duffle, so he wasnt struggling with it or brought it up in several waves. No place in the world watches people like they do in las vegas. But its what they are looking for. This is not what they were trying to identify as a threat. Will that change . Well unpack more and as we learn more, we will. Now to alex marquardt, who joins us right now. He has taken us through the police side but something you have to remember in this situation. One man was a monster, but there were so many on the ground who did so much to change the situation for the better. And thats a big part of the story. Alex, youve got that for us. Reporter i do, chris. You were just talking about the vantage position from the mandalay bay. He had an incredible view of that entire concert venue. One of the Country Music stars who was there that night on the ground, as people were falling, said it was like shooting fish in a barrel. We are out here shall, outside the sheriffs office. We are learning more about how this horrible tragedy took place, about the background of the shooter. But we are also learning about how, in those incredible, dark moments how there were so many great human elements, people helping each other, coming to rescue each other as people fell around them. When the first gunshots rang out, concert goers didnt realize what they were. Just sounded like fireworks. Almost fake at the beginning. [ bleep ] reporter chaos erupting as Country Music fans tried to find cover from the hail of bullets. Whats going on out there . Reporter Brian Hopkins hid in a backstage freezer after running from the gunfire. We see a guy right in front of us goes down, another person goes down. I turn, bang, bang. Two girls go down behind us. I grab the two girls standing in front of me and grab them and took them with me. Reporter anthony rabone, offduty paramedic, sprang into action to save his brother. Reporter the real moment i realized twats gunshots when i heard my brother say i got hit. And i turned around and i saw him coughing up blood. Reporter using a piece of plastic and some bandaids to cover his chest wound. Sonny melton grabbed his wife, heather, and was ushering her to safety when he was shot in the back. He died trying to save her. Most people started scattering and climbed the fence. I had to stay with my buddy. Reporter mike kronk rushed to save his friend, shot three times in the chest. We got him over the fence and slid him under a stage so we were safe. Reporter vanessa, an offduty nurse, initially ran for cover as well. Then her training kicked in and she ran back into harms way. We went back because im a nurse and i just felt that i had to. So i went to three different scenes. By the time i got to the third one, there were just dead bodies. Reporter addison short was shot in the leg while trying to get away. A stranger came to her aid. And so i dove under this bar to get cover and this guy helped me grab my foot because it was just gushing out blood everywhere. I just want to if the guy that helped me is watching, i really just want to tell him how grateful i am for basically saving my life. Reporter addison says she never got the mans name. Amid all the blood shed, countless stories of heroism coming to light. There were so many people, just normal citizens. Doctors, cops, paramedics, nurses, just off duty. Everyone is just communicating and working together. It was completely horrible, but it was absolutely mazing to see all the people come together. Reporter chris, you have been asking your guests whether this should be considered an act of terrorism. The sheriff has repeatedly been getting that question. They have to wait to see what the motivation of the shooter was. The white house, of course, has also been getting this question. Yesterday they said because this is an Ongoing Investigation it is premature to weigh in on Something Like that before the facts are established. Neither local authorities nor the white house calling the biggest massacre in modern u. S. History an act of domestic terrorism. Chris . And, look, we understand why thats frustrating for people. They also see terror and that label giving gravity to how wrong something is. Without a trial and no clear connection to a larger organization, it becomes less important for the investigators. Alex, thank you very much. Stay on that reporting. Well have you back. Joining us now, those who survived. They are brothersinlaw. They are brothers in a new way after this. Welcome. I know everything is coming at you a million miles an hour. Who expects to live through Something Like this . When you think back to what you made it through, how are you feeling about it this morning . You know, its a little over 24 hours now since the incident. And starting to get to that point where its starting to sink in a little bit more of whats actually happened. The last 24 hours, ive kind of been in a haze, dark haze of trying to figure out and process the information. You see so much and you go through so much, trying to get out of there. And its traumatic. In every sense of the way. And just to be able to say that we survived this is pretty incredible in itself. You guys are okay. Everybody you were with. Everybody you knew, madison, did they get out of there . Yes, they did. Thank god for that. I was talking to one of the people that was there and got out. He said it just hit me. There was somebody who was trying to kill me in that place. Doesnt know me, doesnt know any of us, was trying to kill me. How do you handle that part of this . When you put it in those term s, im with that guy. I didnt think of it that way. When the bullets started soaring over us, you want to find who youre with, your loved ones, help anybody immediate right by you and just get out. Obviously you want to live to see the next day. To think about it that way, kind of puts it into a new perspective of somebody is trying to murder me. It hits close to home. And like we were talking about before, were going to question going to concerts from now on. Were going to question being in open spaces this is a lifechanging moment for all of us, anyone there, people injured, even the families. My sister was shaken up by the incident. I know my parents were. Its amazing we were able to get out, uninjured and safe. And you have to process the good part of it as well, that you did get out. Young, beautiful guys. Youve got your whole lives in front of you. Thats a reality. Thats probably a little bit more meaningful than it was before going to the concert. An aspect of this that is important is that you were together, right . Some of were you at the concession stand. Madison, take me through that, in terms of not being not knowing where the rest of your loved ones were, getting back to together. Take me through that. My wife and i, his sister, were in the background. We were sitting down in the grass. We were tired. It was the last day of the concert. We were sitting down in the back, watching from the back, looking at the large projector on the screen. He had gone up with some of our other family members. Pretty much 100 yards away from the stage. So when the first shots rang out we didnt think about it. We thought it was fireworks, generator, Something Like that. People started to run. I grabbed my wife and started to run and then we realized we werent with him. We started to walk swiftly toward the exit, hoping we would see him through the crowd. We didnt end up getting him. We ended up going into the tropicana and finding shelter in there. We were able to get ahold of him on the phone and met with him at the front entrance of the tropicana. Reporter what was that phone call like for you . It was incredible. At that point i was with my aunt, my cousin and his girlfriend. And it was the same thing. We had been seeing accounts of people saying we just thought it was fire works. First three pops sounded like somebody lighting up some firecrackers, somebody being stupid. You didnt see anybody react in a scared way at that point. For us, it was when aldean decided to book it offstage, thats when we all knew it was serious and we hit the floor. Again, like i said, you hear from a lot of people. We had no idea where it was coming from. It sounded like multiple shooters the way the gun was rattling off. We didnt know if he was trying to climb over the gate to get to the stage. Thats where the majority of people were standing. So, everybody everyone at that point had just fallen to the floor, get as low as you possibly can. I look over and see my cousin, he was shielding his girlfriend. He laid on top of her. I was with like i said, i was with my aunt as well. I turned around and found her. Ill never forget the look in her eyes. It was the look of, are we about to die . Is this it . And at that moment, it was just, we need to get out of here. We need to do what we can. We were surrounded by a group of young ladies as well, who i didnt end up knowing their names until hours later. But, you know, when we hit the floor, i was on top of them. I got my aunt and everyone kind of started running at the same time. Once i saw that, you know, you dont just youre not just dealing with the danger of the shooting at this point but the danger of getting trampled on. You have these females with you who are petite. And the last thing you want to see them you dont want to see them getting run over, stomped on. At that point, everyone is trying to get out. So i kind of said just wait a second. Wait a second. Wait a second. I didnt know we were being sniped. So we were sitting there. And i waited a few seconds and i grabbed them and said okay now. Lets go. When i saw there was kind of enough space to go. And we were able to start going. At that point, there was no gunfire yet. Presumably, i think he was reloading. And a few seconds in to us trying to get away, you could hear him start rattling off again. At that point i saw house of blues tent. It was a bar that was covered. It wasnt necessarily a tent. It was like a solid cover. I grabbed those girls i was with, they grabbed my hands and i shoved them into that tent area just to get cover. Like i said, we didnt know where the shooting was coming from. We went in there. I turned around and looked, couldnt see my aunt, my cousin and his girlfriend. They had decided to go a different direction. And that was tough in itself, not knowing where they were going go, if they were going to be okay. And in that tent you have people just crumbled with fear. They were laying there, they were crying. They didnt know what to do. They were frozen. And it was just a matter of do we sit here like sitting ducks . We didnt know, like i said, if the shooter was going to try to come in. Me and a couple of other guys were just yelling, get out. Get out. Get to the back. Get to the exit. Thats where everyone started going. We found the back street back there. You made it out. Made it out. Thats what matters. Youll have a realization of all kinds of things you didnt have to contemplate before. You have a realization of the blessings in your lives as well. Youve got each other. You made it through this. For you two, and your fami