A mass shooting in Las Vegas Strip on Sunday, October 1, left 50 people dead and 500 injured. The incident took place at an outdoor country music concert that was being held on the Las Vegas Strip. A gunman open fire on the crowd from a room in Mandalay Bay hotel. This mass shooting is being dubbed the deadliest in the history of the United States and left nearly 500 injured per the latest figures.
Sheriff Joe Lombardo stated that the suspect Stephen Paddock, a 64-year old Mesquite resident, was killed by the police early on Monday, October 2. Paddock was located on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay hotel from where he opened fire at the teeming crowd below.
Las Vegas strip left in a trail of blood
The death toll of the Las Vegas strip shooting surpasses that of the Orlando shooting, where 49 people were killed by a gunman who was inspired by the Islamic State’s propaganda. The gunman had opened fired at a packed nightclub in June 2016. This time, 50 people were left dead by the gunman, whose motive behind the open firing is still unclear.
During the gunfire, people ran helter-skelter on the Las Vegas strip to cover themselves from the bullets that were raining down from the Mandalay Bay hotel at around 10 p.m. at night. The sudden attack also caused a stampede among the crowd, who panicked to save their lives.
According to the police, the gunman was a “lone wolf” attacker with no accomplice to help him. Lombardo refrained from disclosing additional information regarding the gunman’s background and belief system, which may have been instrumental and potentially prodded him to launch this massacre. Initially, a woman called Marilou Danley was named as a person of interest in the gunfire investigation and was said to have been associated with Paddock.
However, at 5 a.m. a police statement was released to the press clearing her and stating that the police have interviewed Danley and did not think she was involved in the mass shooting. Earlier, the police had suspected Danley of being Paddock’s “traveling companion” and thus thought she might have an idea as to why he open fired on an innocent crowd. As of now, the police are continuing its search for a Hyundai Tuscon car carrying a 114 B40 Nevada license plate.
Gunfire on unsuspecting concert crowd
Paddock started to fire his gun during the last performance of the Route 91 country music festival. The bullets started coming during the performance of Jason Aldean, who was one of the last performers of the three-day long music festival. Ivetta Saldana, a witness and a concert goer, recounted the horror and shared that when the gunfire started it sounded like fireworks.