The officers who raided the hotel room of Las Vegas gunman Stephen Paddock on the night of the shooting have given a harrowing account of the barricaded door they had to bust through and the booby traps they feared they would find.

In an appearance on the CBS television program 60 Minutes, the makeshift SWAT team of police officers who made it to Paddock’s door at the Mandalay Bay hotel casino 12 minutes after the first shots were fired described how they got there and the “gun store” they found inside.

One of them said he hurried from police headquarters to the Mandalay Bay in cowboy boots and ditched them before ascending to the 32nd floor in search of the gunman.

“I just threw them in the casino,” Detective Matthew Donaldson said.

“That was slowing’ me down. I was faster barefoot, and I was going to be more effective barefoot.”

The officers said they heard reports of gunmen on both the 29th and 32nd floor, so “we’re thinking multiple shooters at this point”, Sergeant Joshua Bitsko said.

They zeroed in on the 32nd floor after Paddock unleashed about 200 rounds at a security guard outside his door.

When they got to the stairwell door on that floor near Paddock’s room, they found he had taken special measures to slow them down.

“He had screwed shut the door — with a piece of metal and some screws,” Sergeant Bitsko said.

“Cause he knew we’d be coming out that door to gain entry into his door. So he tried to barricade it as best he could.”

But another officer had a pry bar and was able to easily pop it open, Sergeant Bitsko said.

Police zeroed in on the 32nd floor after Paddock shot at a guard outside his door. Photo: AP

‘I wish I had my dog with me’

Authorities would later reveal that Paddock had surveillance cameras rigged inside and outside his room. But the officers didn’t know that at the time.

“There’s a room service cart with wires going on it underneath the door,” Officer Dave Newton said.

“There was something black on top of the cart. So initially I’m thinking, ‘This is a booby-trap. It’s, it’s going to explode’.”

Sergeant Bitsko and Officer Newton are K9 officers who had been training dogs when they got the call about Mandalay Bay.

“He knew we were coming and we were going to have to come through,” Officer Newton said.

Sergeant Bitsko said it was “like a deadly game of hide and seek”, and thought “‘Man, I wish I had my dog with me’, because, you know, it’s nice to have him lead a team.”

It turned out Paddock had already shot and killed himself when they finally entered the room.

Inside, Officer Newton said he found “so many guns” and “so many magazines”.

“Stacks and stacks of magazines everywhere. Just in suitcases all neatly stacked against pillars, around the room, all stacked up, rifles placed all throughout,” he said.

“All kinds of monitors and electrical equipment he had in there. It just looked like almost a gun store.”

FBI searches Maddock’s home as belongings returned

This weekend US investigators also returned to search Paddock’s home, one week after he opened fire on a country music crowd, killing 58 and injuring nearly 500.

The search of Paddock’s three-bedroom house on a cul-de-sac in a retirement community in Mesquite, Nevada, was for “re-documenting and rechecking,” said local police Chief Troy Tanner, who accompanied FBI agents as they served the search warrant.

“I don’t think they are after anything specific,” Mr Tanner said.

“They’re going through everything and photographing everything again.”

The home was first searched on Monday by Las Vegas police, who said they found 19 guns and several pounds of potentially explosive materials at the house that Paddock bought in early 2015.

Authorities also began returning the baby strollers, shoes, phones, backpacks and purses that have been strewn for days across the huge crime scene that a week ago was home to 22,000 country music fans at the Route 91 Harvest festival.

Federal agents have spent the week collecting evidence amid the thousands of items that were abandoned in panic, some of them stained with blood.

“Whatever was dropped when people started running, those items we’re collecting and we’re going to provide back,” Paul Flood, unit chief in the FBI’s victim services division said at a news conference.