At least 50 dead, more than 400 injured after shooting on Las Vegas Strip

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At least 50 dead, more than 400 injured after shooting on Las Vegas Strip
By Mark Berman and Travis M. Andrews October 2 at 9:17 AM

At least 50 people are dead and more than 200 wounded after a gunman opened fire at a country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip Oct. 1 (Elyse Samuels/The Washington Post)
A gunman in a high-rise hotel opened fire on a country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip late Sunday, killing at least 50 people and injuring hundreds of others in the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.

The gunman, identified by police as Stephen Paddock, was later found dead by officers on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said during a news briefing. Paddock was 64.

Lombardo said “over 50” were killed in the shooting, though that toll could rise, as he noted that police were still investigating the scene. Police said an estimated 406 people were taken to area hospitals after the shooting. Authorities did not immediately specify how many of the people were wounded by gunfire or injured in the chaotic frenzy.

Paddock was found dead in his hotel room by Las Vegas SWAT officers who responded to the call about the shooting, police said, and they believe he killed himself shortly before they arrived.

The shooting marked the latest outbreak of gunfire and bloodshed to erupt in a public place, again transforming a seemingly routine night into one of terror. The carnage surpassed the death toll of 49 people slain when a gunman in Orlando, who later said he was inspired by the Islamic State, opened fire inside a crowded nightclub in June 2016.

Under the neon glow and glitz of the Vegas Strip, concertgoers dove for cover or raced toward shelter through a sea of water bottles, hats, shoes and other items lost in the stampede as a hail of gunfire rained down from the Mandalay Bay around 10 p.m. local time. According to police, more than 22,000 people were at the concert when Paddock began opening fire from his hotel room.

[Route 91 Harvest Festival: The Las Vegas ‘sleepover’ that ended in a nightmare]

Police believe Paddock, a local resident, was a “lone wolf” attacker. Lombardo did not give further details, however, on Paddock’s background or possible motivation.

“We have no idea what his belief system was,” Lombardo said. “Right now, we believe he was the sole aggressor and the scene is static.”

Recordings of the attack suggested that Paddock used an automatic weapon. Paddock, who arrived at the hotel last Thursday, was found with more than 10 rifles, Lombardo said.

Paddock’s brother, Eric, told Reuters that the family was stunned by what happened.

“We have no idea,” Eric Paddock told the news agency. “We’re horrified. We’re bewildered and our condolences go out to the victims. We have no idea in the world.”

Las Vegas police said Monday morning that one off-duty officer with the department was killed in the shooting. Two other officers who were on-duty were injured, police said; one was in stable condition after surgery and the other sustained minor injuries.

Authorities were searching for a woman named Marilou Danley, described only as Paddock’s “traveling companion,” but police said early Monday they had located her as well as two cars they were seeking.

During a news conference Monday morning, Lombardo said that investigators have spoken with Danley, who was located outside the country, and do not believe she was involved in the shooting. Her relationship with Paddock was not immediately known, but they lived at the same address in Mesquite, Nev., according to public records. Lombardo said police in Mesquite were entering Paddock’s home to conduct a search on Monday morning.



The gunman was previously known to local police for past run-ins with law enforcement, according to people familiar with the investigation. However, police in Las Vegas had only minimal interactions with Haddock before the shooting, Lombardo said at a Monday morning news briefing.

“We have no investigative information or background associated with this individual that is derogatory,” Lombardo said. “The only thing we can tell is he received a citation several years ago, that citation was handled as a matter of normal practice in the court system.”

The shooting occurred at the end of the Route 91 Harvest Festival, a three-day country music concert held over the weekend that reportedly drew 30,000 attendees. The concert grounds are adjacent to Mandalay Bay. The shots began as Jason Aldean, one of the final performers, was playing.

“It’s a devastating time,” Lombardo said at a news conference early Monday. “We have responded to the scene, and we’re doing the best we can to provide safety to the survivors.”

A witness to the shooting, Ivetta Saldana, told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that Aldean was rushed offstage when the shots rang out. “It was a horror show,” she said. “People were standing around, then they hit the floor.”

Aldean posted an Instagram message that he and his crew were safe. The scene, he wrote, was “beyond horrific.”

Videos posted to Twitter from people claiming to be witnesses showed people screaming and running for cover amid the sound of gunshots. The shooting continued intermittently for more than five minutes, according to the Associated Press.

“The gunfire never ended, it seemed like,” concert attendee Rachel Dekerf told CNN. “It just went on and on and on.”

Mike McGarry, a 53-year-old financial adviser from Philadelphia, said he threw himself on top of his children as shots rang out. “They’re 20. I’m 53. I lived a good life,” McGarry told the Reuters news agency. The back of his shirt had foot marks from people who stepped over him in the crush to flee.

President Trump tweeted “condolences and sympathies” for the victims and their families hours after the shooting.



“The president has been briefed on the horrific tragedy in Las Vegas. We are monitoring the situation closely and offer our full support to state and local officials,” White House press secretary Sarah Sanders said in a statement Monday morning. “All of those affected are in our thoughts and prayers.”

Federal homeland security officials said there were no specific, credible threats to other public venues around the country.

Among those wounded was an off-duty officer with the Bakersfield Police Department in Southern California, who was taken to a hospital for non-life-threatening injuries, according to a news statement. Several of the department’s officers were off-duty and attending the concert when the gunfire erupted.

Multiple flights bound for the McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas were diverted after the attack, the airport tweeted. All other planes were temporarily grounded, with a few flights resuming Monday morning.

The Route 91 Harvest Festival has been held for the past four years on a 15-acre lot across an intersection from Mandalay Bay. The concert’s main stage is situated near the northeastern side of the gold-colored casino and high-rise hotel complex, which towers more than 400 feet above the Strip.

Three hours after the shooting, Aldean said in an Instagram post: “My Thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved tonight. It hurts my heart that this would happen to anyone who was just coming out to enjoy what should have been a fun night.”

Security measures at many music venues have been boosted in recent years after concerts have been hit by terrorism strikes.

In May in northern England, a bomb exploded at a concert by American singer Ariana Grande in Manchester, killing 22 people in an attack carried out by the suspected Islamist militant. In Paris, Islamist attackers opened fire at a rock concert in November 2015 as part of coordinated attacks that left 130 dead.

In June, a 42-year-old man from the Philippines opened fire at a casino in Manila, killing 37 people. Police said the attack was motivated by gambling debts and other personal problems facing the gunman, who killed himself with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The Islamic State had claimed responsibility for the attack, but officials repeatedly denied it was terrorism-related.
 

Cotton

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This is horrific. It just blows my mind that there are people out there like this. I know I should be used to it by now, but I'm just not.
 

Rev

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This is horrific. It just blows my mind that there are people out there like this. I know I should be used to it by now, but I'm just not.
You can't be human and get used to this crap. This is sad and infuriating.
 

Cotton

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You can't be human and get used to this crap. This is sad and infuriating.
I'm sick to my stomach right now. Just unbelievable.
 

Smitty

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My wife's first cousin, a woman who did a reading at our wedding, we are very close to her, was staying at Mandalay Bay and left yesterday a few hours before the shooting. She was there for a bachelorette party. They are big country music fans and probably would have gone to that concert if they had been there another night.

Crazy.
 

Smitty

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I don't know if people have watched the video footage of this incident -- there seem to be dozens of cell phone videos out there now posted to youtube -- but you can hear the fire. There is no way that is anything but a banned automatic weapon. Or possibly modified into automatic.

Either way, already illegal.

It sounded like, belt fed. There is no way that is someone manipulating a legal semi-automatic weapon into firing fast. That is an automatic weapon.... either one manufactured that way or altered by the owner to be automatic. Sounds rather low caliber too.
 

jsmith6919

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I don't know if people have watched the video footage of this incident -- there seem to be dozens of cell phone videos out there now posted to youtube -- but you can hear the fire. There is no way that is anything but a banned automatic weapon. Or possibly modified into automatic.

Either way, already illegal.

It sounded like, belt fed. There is no way that is someone manipulating a legal semi-automatic weapon into firing fast. That is an automatic weapon.... either one manufactured that way or altered by the owner to be automatic. Sounds rather low caliber too.
Yea I've shot a few full autos and it def sounded like one. You can get one legally but it's so hard to it's basically impossible
 

NoDak

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My brother, his wife, and a couple of their friends were at this concert during the shooting. I finally just spoke to him about an hour ago. My brother and his friend are on lockdown in their rooms in Mandalay Bay. Their wives are in lockdown in the basement of the Luxor. About 5 minutes before the shooting started, by brother and his friend were heading back to their room while their wives were staying until the end of the concert.
 

Smitty

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Yea I've shot a few full autos and it def sounded like one. You can get one legally but it's so hard to it's basically impossible
My understanding is that the only way to legally get a full automatic is with ATF clearance, which is basically like top level security clearance difficult. To say they are not already banned would be a practically dishonest statement, since they are banned for almost the entire population who cannot get that clearance.
 

jsmith6919

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My understanding is that the only way to legally get a full automatic is with ATF clearance, which is basically like top level security clearance difficult. To say they are not already banned would be a practically dishonest statement, since they are banned for almost the entire population who cannot get that clearance.
Yep pretty much
 

Cotton

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My brother, his wife, and a couple of their friends were at this concert during the shooting. I finally just spoke to him about an hour ago. My brother and his friend are on lockdown in their rooms in Mandalay Bay. Their wives are in lockdown in the basement of the Luxor. About 5 minutes before the shooting started, by brother and his friend were heading back to their room while their wives were staying until the end of the concert.
Thank god they are okay. That is some scary shit, man.
 

Cotton

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My understanding is that the only way to legally get a full automatic is with ATF clearance, which is basically like top level security clearance difficult. To say they are not already banned would be a practically dishonest statement, since they are banned for almost the entire population who cannot get that clearance.
Unless you're military, a Class 3 license is just damn near impossible to get.
 

Cotton

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Yea I've shot a few full autos and it def sounded like one. You can get one legally but it's so hard to it's basically impossible
Guess I should have read the whole thread. Yes, what this guy said.
 

NoDak

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Unless you're military, a Class 3 license is just damn near impossible to get.
It takes a lot more than just being military. Just because an infantryman may carry/fire an automatic weapon like a SAW while on duty, doesn't mean they can have the licence to own one themselves. And they would never have access to one outside the scope of their duty/training. You must sign them out from the armory, and every thing is accounted for, right down to the last bullet.
 

Cotton

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Cotton

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It takes a lot more than just being military. Just because an infantryman may carry/fire an automatic weapon like a SAW while on duty, doesn't mean they can have the licence to own one themselves. And they would never have access to one outside the scope of their duty/training. You must sign them out from the armory, and every thing is accounted for, right down to the last bullet.
Yeah, I assumed a little there. I assumed it would be easier to get the license if you were military. I guess I was wrong.
 

Cotton

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Cotton

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This is really hard to watch. This is our god damn country, not some third world war zone. Motherfucker.

 

Cotton

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Cotton

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Maybe it's an echo, but it damn sure sounds like more than one gun being fired here.

 
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