CARNAGE IN LAS VEGAS
A 64-YEAR-OLD gunman firing from the 32nd floor of a Las Vegas hotel killed 58 people and injured more than 500 others at an open-air festival before killing himself. The death toll makes the attack the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
AT least 58 people were killed and hundreds hurt when a 64-yearold gunman armed with more than 10 rifles opened fire on a Las Vegas country music festival on Sunday night, raining down bullets from a 32nd-floor window before killing himself.
The death toll, which police emphasised was preliminary, would make the mass shooting the deadliest in United States history, eclipsing last year’s massacre of 49 people at an Orlando night club by a gunman who pledged allegiance to Islamic State.
About 22,000 people were in the crowd when a man police identified as Stephen Paddock opened fire from a room at the Mandalay Bay hotel, causing concert-goers to panic, some trampling on others as law enforcement officers scrambled to find the gunman.
Police said they had no information about Paddock’s motive, that he had no criminal record and was not believed to be connected to any militant group.
Paddock, of Mesquite, Nevada, killed himself before police entered the hotel room he was firing from, Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said.
Two senior US government officials said Paddock’s name was not on any database of suspected terrorists and that there was no evidence linking him to any international militant group.
One of the two officials discounted a claim of responsibility that was made by IS. There was reason to believe that Paddock had a history of psychological problems, the official said.
In its claim, IS said the gunman was a recent convert, according to the group’s news agency Amaq. Its claim did not include the gunman’s name and showed no proof. In the past, the group has claimed responsibility for attacks without providing evidence.
Lombardo said there were more than 10 rifles at the room where Paddock killed himself. He had checked into the hotel last Thursday.
Police found several weapons when they searched Paddock’s home in a retirement community in Mesquite, Nevada, 145km northeast of Las Vegas, Mesquite
police spokesman Quinn Averett said.
The dead included one off-duty police officer, Lombardo said. Two on-duty officers were injured, including one who was in stable condition after surgery and one who sustained minor injuries, Lombardo said. Police warned the death toll may rise.
President Donald Trump, in a televised address to the nation yesterday, described the mass shooting as “an act of pure evil”.
He earlier offered his condolences to the victims via a post on Twitter.
“My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting. God bless you!”
Video of the attack showed panicked crowds fleeing as sustained rapid gunfire ripped through the area.
“People were just dropping to the ground. It just kept going on,” said Steve Smith, a 45-year-old visitor from Phoenix, Arizona, who had flown in for the concert. He said the gunfire went on for an extended period of time.
“Probably 100 shots at a time. It sounded like it was reloading and then it would go again.”
Mike McGarry, a financial adviser from Philadelphia, was at the concert when he heard hundreds of shots ring out.
“It was crazy. I laid on top of the kids. They are 20. I am 53. I lived a good life.”
The shooting broke out on the final night of the three-day Route 91 Harvest festival, a sold-out event featuring top acts such as Eric Church and Jason Aldean.
“Tonight has been beyond horrific,” Aldean said in a statement on Instagram.
“It hurts my heart that this would happen to anyone.”
The suspected shooter’s brother, Eric Paddock, said the family was stunned.
“We have no idea. We are horrified. Our condolences go out to the victims,” Eric Paddock said in a brief telephone interview.
“We have no idea in the world.” As with previous US mass shootings, the incident sparked anger among advocates for gun control. The Second Amendment of the US Constitution protects the right to bear arms, and gunrights advocates staunchly defend that provision.
“It’s time for Congress to get off its ass and do something,” said US Senator Chris Murphy of Connecticut, where 26 young children and educators were killed in an attack on a school in 2012.