At least 50 people were killed and more than 500 injured in a shooting outside the Mandalay Bay Resort on the Las Vegas Strip on Sunday night. The target of the attack was the Route 91 Harvest country music festival with Jason Aldean.
Las Vegas police estimate that 527 people have been transported to hospitals and 59 are dead. It is the deadliest mass shooting in US history.
When security guards at the Mandalay Bay hotel went to the door of the suspect’s room, to find out why he knocked out the windows of his two bedroom suite, he opened fire on them as well. He shot and killed one security guard.
Law enforcement officials identified the suspect as 64-year-old Mesquite, Nevada resident Stephen Paddock, who is now dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
According to reports, police responded to the scene Sunday night and breached the door to the suspect’s room on the 32nd floor, where they found “numerous firearms”, including rifles. Las Vegas Police Undersheriff Kevin McMahill said there were at least 8 guns and a number of long rifles in the alleged shooter’s room. Nineteen guns, and several thousand rounds of ammunition was found at the suspect’s home.
Las Vegas officials said they did not believe there were any more shooters. The Mesquite Police Department had no prior contact with Paddock before the shooting.
https://twitter.com/spectatorindex/status/914815157435457537
via Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department:
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department identified the lone suspect involved in the latenight mass shooting on the Las Vegas Strip as 64-year-old, Stephen Craig Paddock, a white male from Mesquite, Nevada.
Paddock opened fire on a crowd of more than 22,000 concert-goers from his hotel room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel on Sunday evening at approximately 10:08 p.m. The victims were across the street attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival concert when bullets rang out. LVMPD SWAT responded to the call, breached the hotel room and found the suspect dead.
The Clark County Fire Department estimated that approximately 406 people were transported to area hospitals and 50 are dead following Sunday evening’s shooting. Among the dead is an LVMPD officer who was off-duty at the time. His name is being withheld pending notification of next of kin. There were also two on-duty officers injured, one of whom was upgraded recently from critical to stable condition. The other sustained non-life threatening wounds.
PRESS RELEASE: LVMPD Identifies Suspect in Sunday Night Shooting on the Strip https://t.co/dR6m0812Vu #LVMPDnews
— LVMPD (@LVMPD) October 2, 2017
Las Vegas Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said police “located numerous firearms” in Paddock’s hotel room. A search of Paddock’s house is set to take place shortly.
Authorities shut down part of the Las Vegas Strip and Interstate 15. Flights were temporarily halted at McCarran International Airport because of the shooting.
At least one member of law enforcement is among the dead.
The FBI is asking for anyone with videos or photos concerning the shooting to call 1-800-CALLFBI or (800) 225-5324.
My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting. God bless you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2017
After the shooting, Jason Aldean posted on Instagram, saung that the shooting was “beyond horrific.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/BZvRZnogBrI/?taken-by=jasonaldean
Who Is Stephen Paddock?
Stephen Craig Paddock, 64, born April 9, 1953, was a Mesquite, Nevada, resident who was responsible for the Las Vegas shooting that left over 50 dead 400 injured.
Paddock had a hunter’s license and a pilot’s license, however, the last known time he filed for a pilot’s license was in 2010.
Mesquite Police said that they had no previous run-ins with Paddock, who lived on Babbling Brook Court in Mesquite, Nevada, since June 2016. Paddock died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound as police entered his hotel room.
Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo described Paddock as a “lone wolf”, who had a criminal past and was known to local law enforcement.
Eric Paddock, the terrorist’s brother, told the Orlando Sentinel that his family “are completely dumbfounded” and “can’t understand what happened.”
.@LVMPD ID 64 yo Stephen Paddock of Mesquite, NV as suspect in the deadly shooting. Cops say he killed himself before cops entered his room pic.twitter.com/1XTuOylCzn
— KPIX 5 (@KPIXtv) October 2, 2017
According to NBC, Records show Stephen Paddock had gambled more than $70,000 at casinos in Las Vegas in recent weeks; unknown if he won or lost money.
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