U.S. pledges nearly $17M for survivors of Vegas massacre

LAS VEGAS — The U.S. government is allocating nearly $17 million to help people affected by the Las Vegas Strip mass shooting that became the deadliest in the nation’s modern history, Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker said Friday.

The money from the Justice Department will defray costs of counseling, therapy, rehabilitation, trauma recovery and legal aid for thousands of people affected by the Oct. 1, 2017, massacre, Whitaker said.

Fifty-eight people died and more than 850 were injured when a gunman opened fire from a highrise hotel into an open-air country music concert crowd of 22,000 people.

Whitaker termed the $16.7 million grant to victims, family members, medical personnel, first responders, concert staff, vendors and witnesses as an effort to help Las Vegas heal.

“We have already provided $3 million to cover expenses for state and local law enforcement in Las Vegas and in Clark County following last October’s horrific mass shooting,” he said.

The Justice Department said the money will supplement a $31.4 million compensation fund collected and spent by the Nevada Office for Victims of Crime.

A committee overseeing the state fund created a protocol to make payments to more than 530 people.

Relatives of those killed and people whose injuries left them with permanent brain damage or paralysis received the maximum $275,000.

Smaller sums were given to those who were hospitalized or received medical care on an emergency or outpatient basis in the days after the shooting.