The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Tayside women’s terrifying ordeal in Las Vegas shooting.
Police seal women in room for six hours as gunman goes on shooting spree
Two women originally from Arbroath were trapped in the Mandalay Bay Hotel in Las Vegas as a gunman shot down dozens of people from his hotel room window.
Fiona McKinnon and Sara Gillan were in the hotel lobby while the shootings took place.
They were trapped in darkness for six hours as police sealed them in a room for protection while they located the gunman, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock.
Fiona, 43, said: “It was frightening as we didn’t know what was happening, so I jumped on Twitter to get information which said there was a shooter, or shooters, in our hotel.”
While Fiona and Sara, also 43, listened to the shots, hundreds of people were being killed or injured.
IT consultant Fiona said there had been a few scary moments when they were told someone in the theatre had a gun and that someone had tried the door.
After six hours they were transported to an evacuation centre.
“It was only when we were outside that we realised we were across the road from the terrible scene and that all the emergency crews, and bodies, were all still there.
“We met people at the centre who had been directly affected, separated from friends or injured.“
She said they had been fortunate when so many others had not.
Fiona, who lives in London, organised the trip to meet Australian resident Sara.
Fiona’s father Alex only found out about the horror on Monday morning.
The 81-year-old said: “A friend got in touch with Fiona’s sister to let us know that she was in the hotel but that she was OK.
“It was a real shock to hear.
Alex said Fiona had also narrowly avoided the London bombings.
“She was due to get on a train at London’s King’s Cross just five minutes before the attack, but she missed that by the skin of her teeth.
“She is a real globetrotter so she is used to being in lots of situations, but perhaps not something as scary as this.”
Meanwhile President Trump has suggested he is ready to discuss gun laws before describing the gunman “demented” and saying “we’re looking into him very seriously”.
Asked about US legislation, he said “we’ll be talking about gun laws as time goes by”.
Paddock, who killed 59 people and injured 527 others, was a big-spending gambler who took 23 guns into his hotel room before opening fire on crowds enjoying the Route 91 Harvest Festival.
The retired accountant from Mesquite, Nevada, killed himself before police officers stormed his room.
Assistant sheriff Todd Fasulo said Paddock had 23 guns, some with telescopic sights, in his hotel room.
Authorities found 19 more guns at his home in Mesquite, as well as explosives and thousands of rounds of ammunition.
Several pounds of ammonium nitrate, a fertiliser that can be turned into explosives such as those used in the 1995 Oklahoma bombing, were found in his car.
Investigators believe the shooting, the most deadly in modern US history, was a “lone wolf” attack, and say they do not have any information to lead them to suspect more people were involved.
Paddock’s brother described the gunman as a multi-millionaire property developer who liked to gamble large amounts of money and who had no known political or religious agenda.
Eric Paddock also said their father was a bank robber who was once on the most wanted list.
Investigators are working to establish a motive for the attack, but a law enforcement official said there was no immediate indication that the massacre was connected to international terrorism.
The Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack and said the gunman was “a soldier” who had converted to Islam months ago, but it provided no evidence to back up the claim.