Vegas killer joked with hotel staff as they carried weapons

Las Vegas killer Stephen Paddock cracked jokes with Mandalay Bay staff members as they unwittingly carried bags full of weapons and ammunition that would become part of the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, surveillance video shows.

The solitary Paddock only interacted with hotel employees in the days before he killed 58 people on Oct. 1, according to the series of videos obtained by the New York Times.

The 64-year-old killer made repeated trips to his Nevada home in Mesquite before the massacre and returned each time with a vehicle full of suitcases, according to the report.

Paddock can be seen telling jokes and tipping staff members as they handle his suitcases and take them to his room, according to the video. At least 21 bags were taken to his room over a span of seven days, according to the Times.

He would eat alone at the sushi restaurant and would grab snacks at the Mandalay Bay gift shop. The surveillance video obtained by the Times shows Paddock celebrating a $1,000 gambling victory.

Paddock would kill 58 people and injure more than 700 after opening fire from his hotel room on the 32nd floor. Paddock used the so-called bump or slider stocks to turn semiautomatic rifles into more powerful weapons.

A crowd of 22,000 people had been attending a country music festival at the resort.

Paddock died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A motive for the attack remains unclear six months later.