welcome to bbc news, broadcasting to viewers in north america and around the globe. my name is mike embley. our top stories — police say the man behind the mass shooting in las vegas elaborately planned his attack — moving in weapons and planting cameras around his hotel room. while friends and families struggle to come to terms with their loss. a navy veteran, teacher and police officer were amongst the 59 victims killed. the leader of catalonia has told the bbc the region will declare independence from spain within days. and president trump visits puerto rico, thirteen days after hurricane maria. we report from the capital san juan. hello. we don't know why, but we're beginning to learn more about how stephen paddock carried out america's worst mass shooting of modern times.

las vegas police say the gunman set up cameras in and outside his hotel room, brought more than twenty guns to the scene where he carried out his attack, may have modified rifles to increase their capacity to fire quickly and had stored more weapons at other locations. president trump described the shooter as a ‘very sick individual‘. from las vegas, here's clive myrie. stephen paddock checked in to the mandalay bay hotel behind me here three days before he committed mass murder. he got his room key, calmly entered the lift, took his luggage up entered the lift, took his luggage up to the 32nd floor. what no—one understood was that inside his bags we re understood was that inside his bags were 23 weapons. some of them automatic, designed to kill as many people as possible as fast as possible. we now know tonight from the sheriff's offers that the shooting lasted for nine minutes. you may be able to make out in the

building there, three lakh halls where he punched holes through the windows and rained terror down on those below. our first windows and rained terror down on those below. ourfirst report tonight is from our north america editor. sirens. sunday night in las vegas, and the first reports of something going terribly wrong. the stress in the voices of the police, evident. they have located where the firing is coming from, and the impact he's having. stephen paddock is now dead and police are searching the hotel room on the 32nd floor of the mandalay bay, which had become his armoury.

at a news conference police revealed paddock had set up cameras. there were cameras located outside the room and inside the room, along with the firearms. he had set up how many cameras? i don't know specifically. what do you think? i anticipate he was looking for anybody to come and take him into custody. so what do we know about stephen paddock? the 64—year—old was a former accountant who had invested in property and was a serious high—stakes gambler. but he had no criminal record. he lived in this house in the quiet town of mesquite, 80 miles from las vegas, with his partner, marilou danley. his father was a bank robber, who, while on the run from the authorities, was described by the fbi as a psychopath with suicidal tendencies. the president, on his way to puerto rico, and who will be visiting vegas tomorrow,

had this to say about paddock. he was a sick man, a demented man. a lot of problems, i guess, and we are looking into him very, very seriously. but we are dealing with a very, very sick individual. but any review of gun law seems a long way down the line, if it will happen at all. meanwhile, more details are emerging about the massive arsenal that paddock had assembled. some came from this shop in utah. average, everyday joe blow. nothing stood out. it was just normal timing, for him to come in. he was talking about how he was new to the area, visiting all the firearms stores in the area, found something on our shelves that he really liked, and it took him a couple of different trips, you could say, before he ended up purchasing. and paddock came here, too, to buy a rifle and a shotgun. the owner of the shop said the background checks were fine. there were no red flags. an expert on the guns industry last night on television was asked, how much ammunition

are you allowed to buy. the answer was simple — how much money have you got. last night, normal people did what normal people do in the face of such tragedy. they came together to commune, to remember those killed and injured. america has been here many times before, and in all likelihood, will be here again. on this, history does repeat itself, regularly. jon sopel, bbc news, las vegas. all but three of those people killed by stephen paddock, their identities are now known. they include an off—duty police officer and a teacher. for those people who were caught up in the mayhem here on sunday night who stayed behind and risk their lives to try and save those who are falling all around them, their stories are beginning to

emerge as well. james cook reports now on the victims. lives wasted. families broken, futures stolen. the faces of the dead and missing tell so many stories. las vegas is a city in pain. how are you doing now? i think i'm 0k. it's also a city of heroes, like brian hopkins, the lead singer of the band elvis munro. when the shooting broke out he let people into a freezer to shelter from the bullets. you see a guy go down in front, another guy go down over here. i turned, bang, bang and two girls go down behind us. it's like this behind us. we are running. it's like, we are going to be ok, just run. you can hear it hitting the metal on the stage. it's ricocheting off stuff. not sure what's going on out there. this was their refuge, where they shivered in fear that a gunman was about to burst in.

some sort of shooting or something like that. it's got the two doors on it. i looked and there are some people in it. i'm like, let's go, everybody in. when they got out, there was only one thing to do. we are running and what do we see, body, body, the girls are starting to panic. nicole starts to say, i need to call my dad. i said, you need to run. taylor winston is another hero. he was dancing with his girlfriend moments before the massacre. the former marine commandeered a truck to drive survivors to hospital. i saw a field with a bunch of white trucks, i tested my luck to see if any had keys in, and the first one we tried opening had keys sitting right there. i started looking for people to take to hospital,

but there were too many, it was overwhelming how much blood was everywhere. once we dropped them off, we thought, let's go back for round two and get some more. this is where the most seriously injured people were brought on sunday night. surgeons say it was like a war zone as dozens and dozens and dozens of patients arrived. more than 100 in all. the battle to save lives here is continuing. but there is only so much anyone can do. bob paterson lost his wife in the massacre. my wife was a great person. she was very active in the church. brought up my three kids. i was with her for over 30 years. i can't believe she's gone. i have my two older kids with me and my eight—year—old daughter is at home. i don't know how i will tell her. i have no idea. the grief is both personal and extensive, the scale of the suffering inflicted here is difficult to comprehend and even harder to bear. james cook, bbc news, las vegas.

as we have been hearing, donald trump refused to be drawn into the debate about gun control in america. he said the time for discussions would come but there are many on capitol hill frustrated about the slow pace of reform. they said he needs to be part of the solution in dealing with gun violence in america. i have been looking at some of the issues surrounding gun control in this country. not everything that happens in vegas has to stay in vegas. there is no shame in heading to one of the many gunshots and shooting ranges here to buy some weapons and blow off some steam. this is the famous strip in las vegas, the heart of the entertainment district. and the area targeted in sunday's attack. scattered around are more than ten gunshots, catered to tourists as well as locals.

gambling, good times and guns is what this city is all about. that's what foreigners find hard to understand about america. buying a gun, for so many in this land, is as natural as buying a car. americans own more guns than any other country in the world, 300 million weapons in all, 89 for every 100 people. in fact, 42% of all the world's civilian guns are owned by citizens of the united states. no problem for some. anybody should be able to own a gun. if we don't own guns, the only people who will have them is then. for others, the shock of sunday gives pause for thought. it's a complicated issue. ican't... i just choked up. and the issue has become politically partisan. congress is split. democrats, on the whole, want loopholes in america's gun laws plugged. the gun laws in the united states

are swiss cheese, full of holes. we have to close the loopholes that exist that allow felons and those who have been charged and convicted of domestic violence, and those who have been judged to be mentally unstable, those are the people who shouldn't be able to get guns. but for conservatives, more laws will not stop mass shootings. if you read the diaries or statements that these killers leave, and in these mass public shootings, time after time, they explicitly talk about picking targets where they know victims can't defend themselves, these so—called gun free zones. these guys may be crazy in some sense, but they are not stupid. among the signs and notices on the strip, a new addition. testament to the deadly love affair americans have with their guns, as another shooting tragedy passes into memory. the franco, baffling to our site is.

if you are on the no—fly list you can bea if you are on the no—fly list you can be a danger on a plane but you can be a danger on a plane but you can geta can be a danger on a plane but you can get a gun down here on the ground. if you sell a weapon privately or online you do not need to go through a background check. you could be selling to anyone. these are the kind of issues that a lwa ys these are the kind of issues that always crop up during the soul—searching that takes place every single time there is a mass killing in this country.|j every single time there is a mass killing in this country. i covered the orlando shootings last year. sandy hook before that. there are so many that you can point to. but this isa many that you can point to. but this is a debate that will run and run and it will be interesting to see if president trump addresses that had an when he comes here tomorrow. clive myrie reporting from las vegas. in spain — the president of catalonia has told the bbc that a declaration of independence will come within days — following the referendum on sunday.

but the legal status of that vote has been dismissed again — this time by king felipe of spain himself — who said in a rare televised address that the catalan leadership had behaved irresponsibly. from barcelona, here's our special correspondent fergal keane. there was an energy today that felt as if it could shape history. a shared anger bringing hundreds of thousands the streets. why have you come here? i came here because of the state, against the violence. are you here for independence? n ot exa ctly. but others were. out with the the occupying forces, they chant. since i was a child i was a separatist and i still am, this man says. his friend tells me we are different to spain in our culture, our way of acting and being, many things. "the roads will always be ours" shout this man.

across catalonia, highways were blocked. firemen who guarded polling stations have become local heroes. this demonstration has drawn people from across the political spectrum. the question now is whether or not it prompts them into further confrontation with madrid. tonight, as the demonstrations continued, a highly unusual intervention. faced with the threat of a broken country, king felipe went on television, taking a tough line against the separatists. we are living in serious times for democracy, he said, condemning what he called the illegal actions of catalonia's leaders and not once mentioning the violence used by police against voters at the weekend. but in a bbc interview tonight, the catalan president was defiant they would go ahead with the declaration of independence. translation: we will probably do

this when we have the votes in from abroad. at the end of this week or thereabouts, so we will act at the end of the week, at the beginning of next week. what is remembered is that people from outside catalonia were unleashed against them. it has created anger and a sense of hurt felt on both sides of the independence debate here. translation: i am not in favour of independence. i am not a separatist. the attitude of the spanish government has left us all surprised in catalonia. we do not understand what the strategy of the government was when he sets thousands of police against defenceless people. spain and catalonia, a relationship relentlessly troubled by the past. the new ruler of spain rides into the city of this country.

after the victory of the dictator franco, catalonia's identity was suppressed. this mass grave remembers those killed here by this regime. some were catalan nationalists, others leftists and republicans. in a time of growing uncertainty, the wounds of the spanish civil war act as a warning. translation: this will be influential in the sense that people are very conscious when theyu are demonstrating, protesting and asking for independence. there cannot be violence. it has to be dialogue and peace. there is anger on both sides. look into the faces of these men. national police hemmed into their hotel. viva espana! let us act, they shout. from this... ..to this.

a vast gulf. fergal keane reporting from barcelona. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: living next door to a killer — we'll speak to two people who knew the las vegas gunman stephen paddock. in all russia's turmoil, it has never come to this. president yeltsin said the day would decide the nation's destiny. the nightmare that so many people have feared for so long is playing out its final act here. russians are killing russians in front of a grandstand audience. it was his humility which produced affection from catholics throughout the world. but his departure is a tragedy for the catholic church. israel's right—winger ariel sharon visited the religious compound

and that started the trouble. he wants israel alone to have sovereignty over the holy sites, an idea that's unthinkable to palestinians. after 45 years of division, germany is one. in berlin, a million germans celebrate the rebirth of europe's biggest and richest nation. this is bbc news. the latest headlines: police say the man behind the mass shooting in las vegas elaborately planned his attack, moving in weapons and planting cameras around his hotel room. friends and families struggle to come to terms with their loss. a navy veteran, teacher and police officer were amongst the 59 victims killed. let's get more on that story now,

and the question everyone wants to know the answer to is — why? why did stephen paddock carry out the attack? what were his motives? what kind of person was he? some people who may be able to provide some insight are don and sharon judy. they were stephen paddock‘s neigbours at one of the properties he owned at a community for the over—55s. they are in melbourne, florida and we can speak to them now. it isa it is a community for people over 55. we know some of the background, you have been speaking to our producers. you last saw the couple in 2015, it must have been quite a surprise when he asked you to look after the house the first time you met him? you barely knew him? that's true, we were very surprised about that but it is not unusual for neighbours to keep an eye out and help each other when they are out of town. they travel back and forth.

but that was the case. he was quite open with you both that he lived like gambling, what did you make of that? he was very open about the fa ct that? he was very open about the fact that he was a professional gambler. at first i thought it was kind of odd, but then i thought, he is from lossmakers. that's what they do. i didn't give it much thought. there were reports he did a lot of high—stakes gambling in the weeks before the shooting. did you ever see him upset, and if so, what about? no, i never saw him upset about? no, i never saw him upset about anything. did he ever talk about anything. did he ever talk about what got him upset, things in the news? no, he was never political, never set any bad words about anyone. he was very neighbourly. he was not outgoing. he

was always saying hello. we never got into politics, religion, race, nationality, anything like that. i was going to say, the only time i ever saw any kind of concerning thing was when he could not get a sticker for thing was when he could not get a stickerfor his rental thing was when he could not get a sticker for his rental car. thing was when he could not get a stickerfor his rental car. that would allow you to get in and out of the gates. but he said, oh, ok, i understand. did he ever talk about guns? he never did. when we went to the house to make sure everything was ok, we never saw any indication of any kind of weapons whatsoever. what was the house like inside? what did they do inside? it was pretty sparsely decorated because they didn't live there permanently. they probably came 5—6 times to that house. they had two chairs and two

television cables with laptops on them. they had a bed in each of the bedrooms and a few pit is on the wall, that was it. we were saying before that there was quite a lot of gambling going on. you must have talked about this a lot since sunday night. was there anything at all about him that gives any sense of a motive for what he did on sunday night? none whatsoever. what did you think when you heard the news? i was shocked. it is a heinous crime to begin with, and for somebody... there was no reason, rhyme or reason. we couldn't understand what happened, we are still questioning, just like the authorities, what the motives could be. nothing came to the surface in the two years that we knew him. thank you so much for talking to us. president trump has been on a visit to puerto rico to see for himself

the devastation caused by hurricane maria. it's taken mr trump 13 days to visit the island — the same amount of time it took president bush to visit new orleans after hurricane katrina. while meeting officials, the president made reference to katrina, saying maria wasjust as bad in terms of the damage but not in terms of the death toll. aleem maqbool reports from the capital san juan. 13 days after hurricane maria tore into puerto rico, donald trump swept in. he was greeted by officials, some of whom criticised the time it took the us to take the disaster seriously. he might not have pleased people with his opening remarks on the island. i hate to tell you, puerto rico, but you've thrown our budget a little out of whack. we spent a lot of money on puerto rico and we've saved a lot of lives. every death is a horror, but if you look at a real catastrophe like katrina, and you look at the tremendous, hundreds and hundreds

of people that died, and you look at what happened with really a storm that was just totally overpowering, nobody has ever seen everything like this. what is your death count? 16. 16 people versus in the thousands. he did go out to meet some of those affected by the hurricane. they told us they were sceptical about the visit. there are people who lost everything. we need help. i know that the united states is going through a lot with las vegas and everything, but we are part of the united states too. i am not infatuated with the idea, he is not really interested in helping us.

over recent days, we have seen the kind of devastation that hurricane maria brought. thousands lost their homes, most of the three and a half million people here are still without electricity. donald trump may have drawn attention to puerto rico's plight, but many feel they have been treated like second class citizens. they don't feel that the government took this disaster as seriously as they should have from the beginning, particularly as people are still suffering. and within the last hour or so a spokesman for the governor of puerto rico says the death toll from hurricane maria has more than doubled to 34. and you can get in touch with me and most of the team on twitter, i'm @bbcmikeembley. hello.

wednesday's weather gets off to a fine start for some of us, but things will have changed by wednesday night. wet and windy again. a chilly start, particularly in rural spots, and there will be an area of rainfall, having moved south of scotland overnight and stretching through parts of northern ireland. it's this weather front here, but it's this low pressure moving along across central swathes of the uk on wednesday night, turning things wetter and windier. along with this weather fronts searching through scotland and northern ireland, showers heavy and thundery in the far north of scotland and northern isles, some very gusty winds to begin the day. though both fronts will ease as we go through the day. across a large part of england and wales, getting off to a chilly but fine start. a lot of sunshine around. there will be a few showers running into parts of north—west england, with increasing cloud here. increasing cloud in northern ireland as well, some outbreaks of rain particular to the north. and the stretching through parts of south—west scotland and galloway. for much of northern scotland, some sunshine. very windy in the far north and northern isles to begin with.

50—60 miles per hour gusts. but the heavy showers gradually ease during the day. elsewhere, rain starting to pick up. cloud increases and wet in northern ireland in the afternoon. south—west scotland, northern england, some outbreaks into northern parts of wales as well. temperatures generally in the mid to low teens. low pressure bringing rain across many parts of the uk on wednesday night. looking very wet into lancashire, for example. we need to watch that. in the southern flanks, some gales developing. we could see gusts of 50—60 miles per hour. so the chance of disruption as thursday begins. thursday very windy. rain soon clearing away from southern england. a few showers into northern scotland and the irish sea coast, maybe parts of north—west england the north midlands as well. many places dry with sunny spells. temperatures again around the mid—low teens. a windy day. on friday, high pressure building.

things starting to quieten down a bit. lighter winds, variable cloud, sunny spells, many places dry. it doesn't last long, though. into the weekend, another area of low pressure. not quite as strong, but still some rain—bearing weather fronts pushing across the uk. so expect a lot of cloud on saturday and some outbreaks of rain spreading south and east as the day goes on. breezier, again, and temperatures around 13—16 degrees. as that eases away on sunday, still some sunny spells around. one or two showers, but it is a quieter weather picture on sunday. this is bbc news. the headlines — police have released footage of officers arriving at the scene of sunday's deadly mass shooting in las vegas that killed fifty—nine people. sheriffjoseph lombardo told reporters the suspect fired on and off for between nine to 11 minutes from his hotel room. the president of catalonia's devolved government, carles puigdemont, has told the bbc that his region will declare

independence from spain within days. he warned that if the spanish government intervened and took control of catalonia, or arrested him, it could be "the definitive mistake". and the white house says president trump will ask congress to release $29 billion in disaster aid to pay for the aftermath of the recent hurricanes. mr trump visited puerto rico on tuesday — and was criticised afterjoking the devastation from hurricane marcia had thrown the us budget ‘out of whack‘. now on bbc news — it‘s time for hardtalk.