Leaker of Paddock Hotel Room Pics Could Be in Trouble

Las Vegas police have confirmed the legitimacy of photos circulating the internet showing guns, ammunition, and the corpse of Stephen Paddock inside a Mandalay Bay hotel room, LawNewz reports. The next step is finding—and punishing—whoever leaked the gruesome crime scene photos. The New York Times has stitched together some of the non-graphic leaked photos to give a complete view of the inside of Paddock's hotel room and its contents, which included more than 20 guns and hundreds of rounds of ammunition carried up to the room inside 10 suitcases. According to the Independent, some people online believe one of the photos shows a note left behind by Paddock, but that appears to not have been the case.

The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department undersheriff says the department has "opened up an internal investigation to determine the source of the leaks." While whoever leaked the crime scene photos would face consequences, it's unclear what those consequences would be. LawNewz notes a Los Angeles Police Department officer who leaked photos of Rihanna following a domestic violence incident in 2009 was fired from her job but didn't face criminal charges. Crime scene photos leaked from the terrorist attack at an Ariana Grande concert last year in England resulted in British intelligence cutting US intelligence off from certain information. (More Las Vegas shooting stories.)