Sheriff Lombardo revealed how the chaos unfolded, between the first shot being fired to police entering Paddock’s Mandalay Bay hotel room.
The attack, which left 59 people dead and more than 500 injured, has become the deadliest mass shooting in US history.
But it took police 30 minutes to formulate a plan of how to enter the luxury suite.
Briefing journalists, Mr Lombardo said the delay was “purposeful and no shots were being heard at this point”.
The official timeline of the Las Vegas shooting (all timings local)
10:05pm: First shots fired by the suspect, seen on CCTV at the concert venue.
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10:12pm: First officers arrived on the 31st floor and announced gunfire coming from above them.
10:15pm: Last shots fired by the suspect.
10:17pm: First two officers arrive on the 32nd floor of the hotel, where Paddock’s room was located.
10:18pm: Security officer tells the officers he was shot and gives them the exact location of the suspect’s room.
10:26-10:30pm: Eight additional officers arrive on the 32nd floor and begin to move systematically down the hallway, clearing each room and looking for injured people.
10:55pm: Eight officers arrive at the stairwell in the opposite ends of the hallway nearest the suspect’s room.
11:20pm: The first breach was off and officers entered the suspect’s room, where he was seen lying on the ground. They also saw a second door that could not be accessed from their position.
11.27pm: The second breach was set off allowing officers to access the second room. Officers quickly realised there was no one else in the rooms and announced over the radio that the suspect was down.
It was “phenomenal” officers were able to reach the 32nd floor within just 12 minutes of the first shot being fired, Mr Lombardo said.
As they are trained to do, officers got hold of a master keycard and began to evacuate the hotel rooms.
Explaining why Paddock’s room wasn’t immediately stormed, Mr Lombardo said: “Because no firing was occurring, they could not hear additional firing, they believed it was important to evacuate [hotel rooms] in case the suspect was barricaded.”
While one police team conducted the evacuation, a second team – made up of two canine personnel, a SWAT officer and patrol officers — tried to get closer to Paddock’s room.
But as they tried to secure the front doorway, they discovered cameras on a room service cart outside, and realised Paddock could see them. It is then the gunfire stopped.
Sheriff Lombardo believes Paddock saw the security officer and realised he was “about the be breached”, adding: “He was doing everything possible to figure out how he could escape at that point.”
The security officer was then shot in the leg through the door, but heroically stayed with the other police officers.
Sheriff Lombardo said: “The bravery was amazing because he remained with our officers, providing them the key pass to access the door and actually continued to help them clear rooms until our officer demanded that he go seek medical attention.”
However, he says it is likely the gunfire would have stopped around the same time even if the security officer hadn’t approached Paddock’s door, because police officers were on the scene about a minute later.
When exactly Paddock turned the gun on himself remains a mystery, but police think it was either when the hotel room door was breached or when a strike team was setting up in the hallway outside.