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Friday, November 13, 2026Nov 13

FBI report on Vegas massacre prompts outrage over brevity

File - In this Jan. 29, 2019, file photo, the FBI and Justice Department findings report on Stephen Paddock, who killed 58 in a 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting, the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history in a short report concluded the investigation shown here in Phoenix. President Donald Trump is "disappointed" the FBI couldn't figure out what specifically motivated Paddock to carry out the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history. Trump's comments to The Daily Caller on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019, came a day after the FBI released its final report on the 2017 Las Vegas shooting that left 58 people dead. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
File - In this Jan. 29, 2019, file photo, the FBI and Justice Department findings report on Stephen Paddock, who killed 58 in a 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting, the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history in a short report concluded the investigation shown here in Phoenix. President Donald Trump is "disappointed" the FBI couldn't figure out what specifically motivated Paddock to carry out the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history. Trump's comments to The Daily Caller on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019, came a day after the FBI released its final report on the 2017 Las Vegas shooting that left 58 people dead. (AP Photo/Ross D. Franklin, File)
photo FILE – This October 2017 file evidence photo released by the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Force Investigation Team Report shows the interior of Stephen Paddock’s 32nd floor room of the Mandalay Bay hotel in Las Vegas after a mass shooting. President Donald Trump is “disappointed” the FBI couldn’t figure out what specifically motivated Paddock to carry out the deadliest shooting in modern U.S. history. Trump’s comments to The Daily Caller on Wednesday, Jan. 30, 2019, came a day after the FBI released its final report on the 2017 Las Vegas shooting that left 58 people dead. (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department via AP, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) – After a gunman killed 20 first-graders and six educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School seven years ago, the FBI released 1,500 pages of documents from its investigation.

Its report on the 2017 massacre in Las Vegas was just three pages.

The brevity prompted disbelief and outrage from survivors and relatives of victims. Even President Donald Trump said he was disappointed and surprised, though he said he understood the FBI had not determined a motive in the Vegas shooting.

“I don’t think they did that thorough of an investigation,” said Christine Caria, who survived the attack that killed 58 people and injured nearly 900 others. “It seems like it was really fast.”

Close to 16 months after the shooting, the FBI’s long-awaited report – released Tuesday – did little to shed light on the investigation and left its main question about motive unanswered.