A gunman attacked attendees at the Route 91 Harvest Festival country music concert in Las Vegas, Nevada in what is now considered the deadliest mass shooting in American history.
64-year-old Stephen Craig Paddock opened fire on concertgoers Sunday night killing as many as 58 people and sending more than 500 to local hospitals before killing himself Las Vegas Sheriff Joe Lombardo told reporters Monday morning. The shooter used one or more fully automatic weapons from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel that overlooked the outdoor event to shower hundreds of rounds down on the 22,000 people at the concert.
LATEST: Las Vegas Mandalay Bay gunman has been identified as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock pic.twitter.com/Gwz6ilWTgs
— NBC News (@NBCNews) October 2, 2017
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Aerial footage shows window on 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay hotel where suspect fired from. https://t.co/SnJlcmIcuT pic.twitter.com/xyfR3jHgOZ
— ABC News (@ABC) October 2, 2017
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No motive for the shooting has yet been identified and police believe he was the only shooter.
“We have no idea what his belief system was,” Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said. “Right now, we believe he was the sole aggressor and the scene is static.”
But ISIS has claimed responsibility, called Paddock one of their soldiers, and said that the shooter converted to Islam “months ago.” All of these claims have not yet been confirmed by investigators.
The shooting appears pre-planned as ten guns were found in the hotel room where the shooter had been staying since September 28th. Paddock also had a remote video camera set up to monitor the hallway, likely to detect when police were closing in on him.
The shooter’s brother, Eric Paddock, told reporters that his brother was “just a regular guy” with no real religious or political affiliations.
Paddock and his female companion share a house in Mesquite, Nevada, about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas.
Two police officers were also shot. One, an off-duty officer was killed while attending the concert. Another, in critical condition, was responding to the shooter.
The gunman’s female companion, 62-year-old Marilou Danley, has been detained as a person of interest. The shooter had Marilou’s Mandalay Bay ID card on him at the time, but no other connection of her to the shooting is known at this time.
.@LVMPD: Marilou Danley, is being sought for questioning for the investigation into the Las Vegas shooting https://t.co/oSjaEv6V92 pic.twitter.com/4HxVYE4Y7R
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 2, 2017
The shooting began around 10:30 pm local time during the last set of the event when Jason Aldean was on stage.
#BREAKING VIDEO: Jason Aldean on stage as a gunman begins to fire upon crowd in Las Vegas #vegasshooting #Vegas #mandalaybay pic.twitter.com/Uy8UOK2NAS
— THE INSURANCE MAN (@babahererra) October 2, 2017
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.@Jason_Aldean shared this message after a gunman opened fire while he was performing in Las Vegas. https://t.co/GzYifoyW1k pic.twitter.com/G7crV8l2vf
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 2, 2017
It took quite awhile for patrons to realize what was happening. One concertgoer thought there was something going wrong with the sound system until he saw Aldean rip of his guitar and run off stage.
Most panicked, began ripping down fences and barricades as they sought to flee the venue. Others begin helping those who had been hit.
Witness: “Everyone who I saw breathing, I helped.” https://t.co/oSjaEvow0A pic.twitter.com/rxeTh5piVK
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 2, 2017
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Witness to Vegas shooting: “There were a couple of bodies there and I started loading them in the back of a truck.” https://t.co/oSjaEvow0A pic.twitter.com/6qr4aDhuFq
— Fox News (@FoxNews) October 2, 2017
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This is a developing story and will be updated as events warrant and/or more information becomes available.
And the push continues to disarm America. More hired guns killing innocent people in order to push an agenda designed to turn all Americans into helpless unarmed slaves.
Sorry SCUM, but it ain’t gonna work !!
We’re keeping those guns because we need them to take YOU OUT !!