Vegas bloodbath
LAS VEGAS: At least 50 people were killed and more than 400 injured when a 64-yearold gunman armed with more than 10 rifles opened fire on a Las Vegas country music festival on Sunday night, spraying bullets from a 32nd-floor window for several minutes before killing himself.
The death toll would make the mass shooting the deadliest in US history, eclipsing last year’s massacre of 49 people at an Orlando night club by a gunman who pledged allegiance to Islamic State (IS) militants.
About 22,000 people were in the crowd when t he man police identified as Stephen Paddock opened fire from a room in the Mandalay Bay hotel, causing concert goers to panic, some trampling on others as law enforcement officers scrambled to find the gunman.
Pol i c e s a i d 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 in Nevada, killed himself before police entered the hotel room he was firing from, Clark County Sheriff J oseph Lombardo told reporters.
“We’ve no idea what his belief system was,” Lombardo said.
Two senior US government officials said there was no evidence linking him to any international militant group.
One of them discounted IS claim of responsibility. There was reason to believe Paddock had a history of psychological problems, the official said.
In its claim made via the group’s news agency Amaq, IS said the gunman was a recent convert.
Its claim did not include the gunman’s name and showed no proof. In the past, the group has also
claimed responsibility for attacks without providing evidence.
Police found several weapons when they searched Paddock’s home in a retirement community in Mesquite, Nevada, about 145km northeast of Las Vegas, Mesquite police spokesman Quinn Averett said.
The dead included one off-duty police officer, Lombardo said, adding that two onduty officers were injured. Police warned the death toll may rise. President Donald Trump 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!” said Trump.
Videos 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 45year-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,” Smith said. “It would sound like he was reloading and then it would go again.”
Las Vegas casinos, nightclubs and shopping outlets draw some 3.5 million visitors from around the world each year and the area was packed with visitors when the shooting broke out shortly after 10pm local time (12pm on Monday in Malaysia).
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, Sam Hunt 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’re horrified. “We’re bewildered. “Our condolences go out to the victims,” Eric said in a brief telephone interview.
His voice trembling, he said: “We had 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 gun-rights advocates staunchly defend that provision. – Reuters