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Investigators are looking into the possibility that Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock was planning other attacks, including a car bombing.
It has also emerged that the 64-year-old had booked hotel rooms overlooking two other music festivals before he killed 58 people in the worst mass shooting in modern US history.
The chilling details, which raise the possibility that Paddock contemplated other attacks, emerged as investigators struggle to find a motive his actions.
The real estate investor opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino on Sunday night - targeting an open-air country music festival below.
Paddock, who also injured nearly 500 people, then took his own life.
It has now emerged that Paddock booked a room at the 21-storey Blackstone Hotel in Chicago, Illinois, overlooking the site of the Lollapalooza music festival.
A law enforcement official said no evidence has been found to indicate Paddock travelled to Chicago on the weekend of the festival.
The weekend before the shooting, Paddock also rented an apartment in a 21-storey building in Las Vegas that overlooked the Life Is Beautiful festival, Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said.
The event included performances by Chance the Rapper, Muse, Lorde and Blink-182.
When Paddock checked into the Mandalay Bay on 28 September, he asked for an upper-floor room with a view of the Route 91 Harvest musical festival, a person who has seen hotel records said.
Investigators trying to establish a motive have so far drawn a blank, with FBI deputy director Andrew McCabe acknowledging: "We have a lot of work to do."
Authorities believe Paddock had stockpiled weapons and ammunition over decades and meticulously planned the attack.
"What we know is that Stephen Paddock is a man who spent decades acquiring weapons and ammo and living a secret life, much of which will never be fully understood," Sheriff Lombardo said.
While other mass killers have left a number of clues in plain sight that have helped authorities quickly understand what drove them to violence, Paddock led a low-key, private life.
Police say he had no known criminal record, no known history of mental illness and no overt signs of social disaffection, political discontent or extremist ideology.
Investigators are focusing on a weapon-buying spree Paddock embarked on in the year before the mass shooting - and wonder if some sort of life event prompted him to start planning the attack.
Sheriff Lombardo said he struggled to believe that the arsenal of weapons, ammunition and explosives recovered by police could have been assembled by Paddock completely on his own.
Another line of inquiry concerns Paddock's gambling habits, with authorities checking records for any disputes he might have had with casinos or other gamblers.
FBI agents investigating the shooting spree questioned Paddock's girlfriend, 62-year-old Marilou Danley, on Wednesday.
She was out of the country when the shooting happened, visiting her native Philippines. Ms Danley said she had no idea about what her boyfriend was planning to do.
(SKY NEWS)
