A story as strange as it is sinister. It sure looks like someone was preparing to duplicate the Las Vegas massacre of 2017 by firing into crowds from their perch in a hotel room in Denver. Probably not coincidentally, the hotel in question is located just a block from Coors Field, where the MLB Home-Run Derby and All-Star Game are happening tonight and tomorrow. There’ll be tons of people in the area in the next 48 hours. Easy pickings for a sniper with his mind set on mass murder.

Or is it four snipers?

Some of the details here aren’t what you’d expect from a mass-shooting plot, but the details we do have are highly suggestive.

The man whom prosecutors believe was the “leader” of the group of four people arrested Friday at the Maven Hotel on suspicion of weapons and drug offenses was supposed to check out of the two rooms he rented on Friday, but asked to stay for longer and requested a room with a balcony, according to police documents…

Denver7 reported Saturday night that officers feared a “Las Vegas-style shooting” after a housekeeper at the hotel notified her supervisor she had found several guns inside a room she was cleaning, and that police found more than a dozen weapons, hundreds of rounds of ammunition, and suspected drugs after serving warrants on a hotel room…

After the housekeeper found the guns in one of the rooms — both were rented by Ricardo Rodriguez, according to the documents — the supervisor checked vehicles associated with the rooms “and could plainly see in the vehicles plate carriers and high capacity magazines,” according to one of the probable cause statements. The other said a ballistic vest and duty belt could be seen in a white Mercedes with an Idaho license plate.

Denver cops recovered no fewer than 16 long guns and body armor in addition to the ammo. The kicker: One suspect posted a message on Facebook recently mentioning his divorce and warning that he was planning to “go out in a big way,” according to police sources.

So … yeah.

The first odd detail is how many people were arrested on various drug and weapons charges here. Not one lone wolf or even two, but four suspects who were staying in two rooms rented by Rodriguez. That doesn’t mean they were all in on a plot to gun down baseball fans, but it’s odd to me that someone plotting a mass shooting would have risked making others aware of the huge cache of rifles he was stockpiling in a hotel room on All-Star weekend. If they weren’t all involved, the ones plotting should have feared being dimed out by the ones who weren’t, especially since the latter would have feared been charged as accomplices after the massacre if they didn’t rat.

Another odd detail: Why did they let the maid in to clean, knowing that she might put two and two together when she saw the guns? If ever there was a moment to hang the “Do Not Disturb” sign on the door, one would think it’s when you’re getting an arsenal ready for a murder spree.

There were also drugs found in the rooms, including heroin, ecstasy, and meth, and a “large amount of cash.” What was the cash for? Normally mass murder is a suicide mission; did these idiots think they were going to make their getaway after gunning down 50 people or whatever? Or was there a deal of some sort going down, with one or more of the suspects trading cash and drugs to the others in exchange for extra weapons?

One local news affiliate managed to land a jailhouse interview with Ricardo Rodriguez, whom police suspect of being the ringleader of the group. Rodriguez told CBS Denver, however, that it was another suspect, Richard Platt, who had most of the guns and that it “kind of concerned” him — but that he doesn’t think Platt or anyone else was planning anything nefarious.

Rodriguez said he arrived in Denver from Washington state last Thursday, intending to move to Colorado. He said mutual friends introduced him to Richard Platt, 42, who he met for the first time on Thursday. He said Platt recommended they stay at the Maven Hotel near Coors Field, which struck a chord with Rodriguez.

“I wanted to go to the All-Star show, wanted to be part of that,” said Rodriguez…

He said “They had a sniper rifle, probably two of them, two or three mid-sized assault rifles, AK-47s, another short entry weapon, to the average person it’s a TEC-9, like an Uzi, numerous firearms.”…

Asked if he questioned Platt about all the guns, Rodriguez said he did.

“He said he was collecting them for his friends.”

“Richard Platt loves this community,” said Rodriguez when asked what he thought Platt’s intentions were. “He may be involved in some activity none of which I believe has anything to do with actively and aggressively hurting his own community. I don’t think Richard Platt is the kind of person who would harm anybody.” Weird that he’s willing to vouch for Platt’s good intentions, up to and including Platt’s views of “this community,” despite having met him four days ago, no?

Also weird that reportedly both hotel rooms were rented in Rodriguez’s name, including the one Platt was staying in. It was nice of him to cover the hotel bill for a new friend he’d just met.

Rodriguez admitted that he had a 9mm handgun and an AR-15 in his own hotel room, which he said was no big deal because he designs and builds guns as a hobby and then gives them away to veterans. He told CBS Denver that Platt claimed to be selling and trading guns, which, again, makes me wonder if there was some kind of guns-for-drugs deal going on here. Maybe Rodriguez had murder in his heart, heard that Platt had an arsenal, and decided to arrange a transaction with heroin etc as the currency — or vice versa. The fact that he’s willing to vouch for Platt in his interview with the media, though, makes me think he’s at greater risk of Platt rolling over on him and is doing what little he can to try to keep Platt on his side.

If not for one maid being aware of her surroundings, a horror might be unfolding in Denver as you’re reading this. Here’s Rodriguez pushing his story to CBS yesterday.