The Las Vegas Casino Shooting As It Happened.
At least 50 people were killed and more than 200 were injured Sunday night in Las Vegas in the deadliest shooting in modern US history.
A gunman opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, aiming into a tightly packed crowd of many thousands of people below who were attending a country music festival.
The shooter, who appeared to have been armed with at least one automatic weapon, used the elevated vantage point to fire into the crowds across the Las Vegas Strip at the Route 91 Harvest festival, where Jason Aldean was onstage.
Soon after the shooting, which began at 10:08 p.m. PDT, a SWAT team stormed the building, forced their way into his hotel room, and found the gunman already dead. Officers identified him as Stephen Paddock. They believe he was the only attacker.
In a press conference, Joseph Lombardo, the sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, said the death toll was “in excess of 50,” revised up from a previous figure of 20. More than 200 people were injured, he said.
A subsequent press release said that 406 people had been “transported to hospital,” raising the propsect that the numbers injured is significantly greater than 200.
Lombardo said officers had spoken to a woman, Marilou Danley, described as Paddock’s roommate. A later police statement said officers do not believe she was involved in the attack.
The police are searching Paddock’s hotel room, which they say contained several rifles. They are also investigating his house in Mesquite, Nevada, which is 80 miles from Las Vegas and investigating two vehicles registered to him.
Footage posted on social media showed the moment the shooting started. The singer Jason Aldean, who was onstage with his band at the time of the attack, later said in an Instagram post that the shooting was “beyond horrific” but that he and his crew were safe.
https://twitter.com/joshdcaplan/status/914734060332769280
