Motive Still a Mystery 55 Years After Bombing of Downtown Vegas Motel

News 3 conducted a retrospective look at the Orbit Inn bombing, including this image highlighting the aftermath of the attack. (KSLV)

A thunderous blast during the early morning hours rocked downtown Las Vegas on January 7, 1967. The explosion at the Orbit Inn would turn out to be the deadliest bombing in the history of Las Vegas. Surprisingly, in a city famous for organized crime-linked bombings, this murderous act was carried out by an AWOL soldier from the U.S. Army for reasons that are still shrouded in mystery.

Richard J. Paris, a deserter from the U.S. Army base at Ford Ord, fled California with his wife after going AWOL and eventually ended up renting room 214 at the Orbit Inn. Paris traveled to Arizona and purchased 50 sticks of dynamite before returning to Las Vegas. The night of the bombing, Paris fired a single round from a .25 handgun into the dynamite, setting off an explosion that would leave 6 dead and many more injured.

Photos of the aftermath of the Orbit Inn bombing as covered in the local Las Vegas press. (Las Vegas-Clark County Library District/LVRJ)

Investigators were never able to reach a consensus on the motive for the bombing. The theories ranged from an accident, to revenge for an affair (Paris’ wife died in the blast), to shame over going AWOL from the military for a second time.

To find out more about the bombing of the Orbit Inn, click the link for our in-depth article on the incident.