The 2017 Las Vegas mass shooting remains one of the most bizarre major criminal incidents in U.S. history. Countless man-hours of investigation and analysis have not yielded a motive or explanation for what remains the deadliest single shooting ever perpetrated in the United States.

This week, however, a records request from the Wall Street Journal revealed what could very well have been a contributing factor to the brutal spree:

The Las Vegas mass shooter Stephen Paddock killed 60 people and injured hundreds more after losing $1.5million gambling weeks before the shooting, new FBI files revealed.

An FBI interview with the gunman's fellow gambler detailed in hundreds of pages of documents made public this week's suggests his loss could have been an influence.

To be honest, this feels like a bit of a stretch. Or maybe not a stretch but just completely inconclusive.

Losing $1.5 million is a big deal. It could drive a man to do some insane things, no doubt. But the sick killer had 24 firearms in his hotel room. And he began compiling that massive collection a full year before he committed the killing, suggesting a long, careful preplanning element.

Whatever the case, it's absolutely incredible that the FBI hasn't been able to nail this down more than five years after the shooting. The Bureau could do better than this. They have the resources, manpower and jurisdiction. We should not be getting this kind of dreck still more than half a decade later:

In the agency's final report released in 2019, it said Paddock had sought notoriety in the attack and maybe wanted to follow in his father's criminal footsteps. The report also said his physical and mental health was declining as his wealth diminished.

Maybe one day we'll know why the psychopath carried out his terrible crime. For now, we have nothing. And that's unacceptable.