On the evening of Sunday, what was just a normal gathering of music lovers on the Las Vegas strip for the Route 91 Harvest music festival was turned into a sudden bloodbath. A heavily armed active shooter had opened fire on the concertgoers from his suite at the thirty-second floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. By the time the perpetrator ended his own life before police can reach him, about 50 people had been killed and over 400 wounded, some of which will join the dead over the following days. The tragic mass shooting incident in Las Vegas caught the attention of the world, and they have reacted accordingly.

From New York to Paris, lights were turned off in memory of the dead.

Tributes near and far

As news of the full extent of the devastation in human lives at Las Vegas spread, local and foreign national governments began expressing their condolences for the lost and their solidarity with the survivors and the rest of the American people. In the same fashion, as has been done many times before, during mourning for international tragedies, the lights of famous buildings and edifices were extinguished. The Empire State Building in New York City paid tribute by darkening their window lights and leaving an orange halo, the symbol of awareness to the trend of gun violence.

Things were much the same in Paris, which is also mourning with the rest of France on account of a sensational killing in their own country.

A knife-wielding assailant went after pedestrians at a train station in Marseilles, leading to the deaths of two women before he was gunned down by French soldiers at the scene. To honor their dead along with those of Las Vegas, the city government of Paris had the lights of the Eiffel tower turned off as well.

Remembering a black day

From there, the number of landmarks both in and out of the country that have doused their lights and shone orange bands for Las Vegas began to increase.

Back in New York, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced on Twitter that the One World Trade Center, which replaced the Twin Towers destroyed by terrorists on 9/11 in 2001, will follow suit in flashing the orange light of gun violence awareness. A moment of silence was observed at Congress and even hurricane-battered Puerto Rico also sent their condolences.

Finally, back in Las Vegas where the tragedy took place, the lights of the usually lively Strip were likewise extinguished as the city honored its fallen.

In solidarity with its fellow major cities across the US and of their allies such as Paris, France, London and Israel, Las Vegans pay tribute to the victims of October 1 and hope that it will not happen anywhere else again anytime soon.
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