Slaughtered from above
58 killed, 515 injured by Las Vegas hotel madman Shooter, 64, massacres festival fans from 32nd floor
AMERICA was in mourning last night after a deranged gunman opened fire on a Las Vegas crowd, killing 58 people and injuring 515 more.
The killer, identified as Stephen Paddock, 64, gunned down fans at an open-air music festival from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel, next to the famous Strip.
CONCERT-GOERS last night told how “they ran for their lives” after a lone-wolf gunman massacred 58 revellers and injured 515 more at a Las Vegas country music festival.
Dozens of Britons were caught up in the mayhem unleashed by deranged Stephen Paddock as he carried out the worst mass shooting in US history.
The 64-year-old fired thousands of bullets down in five minutes from his room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino 1200ft away.
Paddock, who had no known previous criminal record, nor links to a terror group, fired his arsenal of more than 10 high-powered rifles on the 22,000 people packed into the sold-out Route 91 Harvest music event late on Sunday night.
As SWAT team officers breached the gunman’s suite, blowing the room’s door off with explosives, he shot himself dead.
Haunting videos captured the moment joy turned to bloody tragedy as last act of the night US country star Jason Aldean performed on stage before hundreds were cut down by volleys of machine-gun-like fire.
The dying and wounded were tended to by emergency responders and fellow revellers – with many seen plugging bullet wounds with their fingers.
Witness Russell Bleck told how he saw people desperately covering up bullet wounds with their fingers in an attempt to save the injured and dying.
He said: “I saw a lot of ex-military jump into gear and start plugging bullet-holes with their fingers.
“While everyone else was crouching I saw police officers standing up as targets, just trying to direct people and tell them where to go.
“The amount of bravery I saw there, words can’t describe what it was like.”
He added: “He (Paddock) was just spraying the crowd. It was relentless, there was no stopping, maybe five or eight seconds to move from cover to cover to try and get out as he reloaded.”
Just hours after the atrocity, Brit Sue Mallion told how she and her husband, Dave, 69, ran for their lives as Paddock rained down bullets from his hotel room.
Recalling the harrowing moment the attack began she said: “We were sat in the ‘chair corral’ listening to the music when all of sudden we heard a pop pop popping noise.
“At first we thought it was part of the show, fireworks or something, so did the musicians, but after a brief pause it began again.
“Someone close by said it was gunfire and shouted for everyone to get on the ground.
“We threw ourselves to the floor. It was terrifying not knowing if we would live or die.
“The shots rang out in bursts. First for a few seconds, then a pause and then it started again.
“It seemed like it would never stop. He was shooting for about five minutes.
“People were screaming. It was so frightening.”
Retired Sue, 62, who lives in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, and is originally from Manchester, said security staff opened up an emergency exit ordering people to flee.
“We ran for our lives,” she said. “There was blood everywhere. There was so much panic and confusion, it was like a stampede but we just kept running and running.
“We were directed to the Tropicana Hotel and told to take shelter there.
“My husband found a really big car and we hid behind that. We were absolutely terrified.
“Eventually we got to the hotel and a man opened his room door to see what was happening.
‘He took us all in. There were 20 people in his room.
“They placed all hotels on lockdown until the shooting was over.
“All I want is to get back home. I’m not sure I will ever come to America again. It is too dangerous.”
The mother-of-four and her husband, who were staying at the Luxor hotel on the Las Vegas strip, were attending their second Route 91 festival – returning to the event after enjoying it so much last year. They were joined by two other British couples who they arranged to meet at the festival.
British tennis star Laura Robson, 23, was also in the crowd when the shooting broke out.
She posted a picture of herself at the concert on Instagram before the gunman opened fire.
When asked on Twitter if she was safe she replied: “I’m OK. We were right there.
“It sounded like fireworks at first then everyone started running. Scary.”
British troops enjoying time off from duty rushed to the scene giving life-saving first aid to those wounded.
Soldiers from the 1st Queen’s Dragoon Guards, known as the Welsh Cavalry, were enjoying a rest
and recuperation break after gruelling training at the Fort Irwin US Army base in California.
A source said: “Due to their experience, the guys who heard the noise knew instantly it was gunfire.
“Their training immediately kicked in and they rushed to the festival to help.
“All soldiers in the cavalry are given medical training designed to preserve life on the battlefield.
“The injuries they were seeing were the ones they are well versed in treating.
“They paid no respect for their own safety and did whatever they could to help.” The soldiers had previously been posted to the Mojave Desert to
take part in Exercise Diamondback to assist a US Brigade in their pre-deployment training.
Investigators are now trying to determine Paddock’s motive for the attack and how he managed to stockpile his arsenal of weapons and ammunition in his room undetected.
Police raided the gunman’s home in a retirement community in Mesquite, Nevada, which he shared with a woman named Marilou Danley.
Initially, she was called a person of interest in the shooting, but police no longer believe she was involved after contacting her early yesterday morning and finding her out of the country.
Police say it appears Paddock, who was reported to be going through a divorce, used her ID when he checked into his hotel on Thursday.
President Donald Trump condemned the massacre as “terrible”, tweeting: “My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting. God bless you!”
He later addressed the country, calling the massacre an “act of pure evil.” In a subdued statement, Trump said the nation was united “in sadness, shock and grief.”
Reading from a teleprompter, Trump mourned the victims and announced he would visit the stricken Nevada city on Wednesday.
“We cannot fathom their pain, we cannot imagine their loss,” Trump said of those who lost loved ones in the massacre.
For the second time of his presidency, Trump sought to provide solace after a deadly US shooting. He acknowledged the work of police and called for unity.
Trump acknowledged there were few answers for Americans still coming to grips with the tragedy.
He said: “In times such as these I know we are searching for some kind of meaning in the chaos, some kind of light in the darkness.”
“The answers do not come easy. But we can take solace knowing that even the darkest space can be brightened by a single light, and even the most terrible despair can be illuminated by a single ray of hope.”
The massacre in Nevada is the worst domestic act of violence of Trump’s presidency.
The Pope also offered a message of support.