Las Vegas Shooting Near Mandalay Bay Casino Kills More Than 50
A
gunman firing from a Las Vegas hotel rained a rapid-fire barrage on a
huge outdoor concert festival on Sunday night, sending thousands of
people fleeing until SWAT units found and killed him. More than 50
victims died, and at least 200 others were wounded, officials said,
making it one of the deadliest mass shootings in United States history.
Online
video of the attack outside the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino showed
the singer Jason Aldean performing outside at the Route 91 Harvest
Festival, a three-day country music event, interrupted by the sound of
automatic gunfire. The music stopped, and concertgoers ducked for cover.
“Get down,” one shouted. “Stay down,” screamed another.
Several
SWAT teams were sent to the hotel immediately after the first reports
of the shooting at 10:08 p.m., and officers overheard on police radio
reported being pinned down by gunfire. Shortly before midnight the Las
Vegas Metropolitan Police Department reported that “one suspect is
down,” and soon thereafter the police said they did not believe there
were any more active gunmen.
Sheriff
Joseph Lombardo of Clark County told reporters early Monday that more
than 50 people were killed and more than 200 injured. He identified the
gunman as Stephen Paddock, 64. He said the police were seeking “a
companion” named Marilou Danley, and the authorities later said they
were “confident” they had located her.
Later Monday morning, President Trump issued a statement on Twitter extending sympathies to the victims and their families.
Video
of the shooting captured nine seconds of rapid-fire, continuous bursts,
followed by 37 seconds of silence from the weapon amid panicked
screaming. The barrage of gunfire then erupted again in at least two
more rounds, both shorter than the first.
In
the confusion after the shooting, the police also descended on the Ali
Baba Restaurant, about a 10-minute drive from the Mandalay Bay, and they
also investigated reports of a shooting at the New York-New York Hotel
and Casino, not far from the concert ground.
Graphic
What Happened at the Las Vegas Shooting
How the attack at a country music festival unfolded.
The
police reported clearing out the Mandalay Bay’s 29th floor and working
their way up to the 32nd floor. A police Twitter post described reports
of an “active shooter” near or around the Mandalay Bay casino.
Video from the shooting showed Mr. Aldean, the final performer of the night, running off the stage as the gunfire erupted.
Two concertgoers described hearing round after round of gunfire.
“It just kept coming,” one of the witnesses, Robyn Webb, told The Las Vegas Review-Journal. “It was relentless.”
They said they saw about 20 people bleeding in the street.
“That’s when we knew for sure it was real,” said her companion, Matt Webb.
The police reported closing off about a mile of Las Vegas Boulevard and asked the public to steer clear of the area.
Police
radio reports suggested that at least three people were transported to
Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center for treatment. The police were told
not to bring additional casualties — unless the injuries were
life-threatening — to University Medical Center, another nearby
hospital, because it was at capacity.
A photo posted by a Review-Journal photographer showed emergency responders transporting one injured person in a wheelbarrow.
McCarran
International Airport in Las Vegas said that some flights destined for
the airport were diverted because of police activity. The airport is
just east of the Mandalay hotel, and after the shooting there were
reports of people fleeing the concert by running onto an airport runway.
The hotel itself was placed on virtual lockdown after the shooting, guests said.
“We
went into the hotel and they started shutting down casinos,” Todd
Price, a guest of Mandalay Bay, told CNN. “We tried to get into our
rooms, and they shut down the elevators and started to get everybody
out.”
The Route 91 Harvest Festival
bills itself as “three days of country music on the Vegas Strip,” and
Sunday night’s performance was the last of the festival. The site of the
concert, the Las Vegas Village and Festival Grounds, run by MGM
Resorts, sprawls over 15 acres and has a capacity of 40,000 people. The
festival’s website said this year’s three-day concert was sold out.
