By Valeria Bula
An outdoor country music festival became a bloodbath as a shower of bullets was unleashed onto a group of thousands of concert goers on Sunday night.
Around 1 AM ET, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock unleashed a hail of bullets from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas onto a crowd of about 22,000 spectators attending the “Route 91 Harvest Festival,” confirmed Las Vegas Police Sheriff Joseph Lombardo on Monday.
What happened at the Las Vegas shooting https://t.co/ooiwIqSFQ1 pic.twitter.com/bdJwC2ItmR
— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 2, 2017
The attack has now become the deadliest mass shooting in modern United States history.
At least 58 people have been killed and 515 people have been injured, several of whom sustained critical injuries, leading to a death toll that is expected to rise.
The massacred began around 10:08 p.m. Sunday (1:08 a.m. Monday ET) when a series of about 200-300 bullets were unleashed.
“There were purses and shoes everywhere … there were bodies and blood,” she said. “We just kept running.”
The events transpired during a Jason Aldean concert, when suddenly a series of gunshots rang through the air. The shoot-out progressed throughout a span of 10 minutes in short bursts. Aldean ran off stage and the crowd scrambled for covered. Initially, many of the concert goers believed the sounds heard were merely fireworks. It wasn’t until bloodied bodies were sprawled across the floor that reality hit every one.
“About five feet from me, you could see a guy with a bullet wound right in his neck, motionless,” witness Taylor Benge said. “From there on … people just started dropping like flies.”
Audio of the shooting suggested that the shooter had used a military-style weapon, CNN law enforcement analyst James Gagliano said.
“Automatic weapon(s) like that — had to be numbers of magazines or a very large drum, it sounded to me like a belt-fed weapon, a military-style weapon and then to be shooting down, to use the analogy, it was like shooting fish in a barrel in that space,” Gagliano said.
The motives behind the massacre remain unknown. Paddock’s brother, Eric Paddock, was shocked to learn that his brother had carried out such a malignant crime.
“He was my brother, and it’s like an asteroid fell out of the sky,” Eric Paddock told CNN outside his home in Orlando, Florida.
Eric Paddock was aware that his brother had previously owned a couple handguns but knew nothing about his ownership of automatic weapons.
The assailant, Paddock, has been found with 10 rifles inside his hotel room, Lombardo said. “We believe the individual killed himself prior to our entry.”
As of now, investigators believe that Paddock acted alone in perpetrating the crime. The event also has no known link or affiliation to any international terrorist groups, according to US officials.
An initial “person of interest,” identified as Marilou Danley, was believed to have been an accomplice during the shooting but is no longer a person of interest.
“Marilou Danley is no longer being sought out as a person of interest,” the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said. “LVMPD detectives have made contact with her and do not believe she is involved with the shooting on the strip.”
Despite the appalling turn of events, a silver lining arose in the form of aid from the Las Vegas community. By Monday morning, dozens of donors had already lined up outside a local blood bank.
This. Is. Vegas.
This is our community.
These are our people.
Thank you to everyone here donating.#PrayForVegas #VegasShooting pic.twitter.com/wn5RA5jVLX— Shanda (@shanda) October 2, 2017
Line to donate blood for Las Vegas shooting victims stretches around building. @shanda: https://t.co/2dLuN7rDTh
— Morning Express (@MorningExp) October 2, 2017
Country Singer Jason Aldean, who was performing at the time of the shooting also spoke out on social media to express his reaction to the catastrophic turn of events.
“My Thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved tonight. It hurts my heart that this would happen to anyone who was just coming out to enjoy what should have been a fun night. #heartbroken#stopthehate,” he wrote.
President Donald Trump has also spoken out to condone last night’s events in a solemn address, describing it as “an act of pure evil.” The president also went on to express his gratitude towards to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police department and first responders for their courageous efforts.
The president announced that he will be visiting the stricken city on Wednesday.
“We cannot fathom their pain, we cannot imagine their loss,” Trump said of those who lost loved ones in the massacre.
This is the second time during his presidency that Trump has sought to provide solace in the midst of a horrific mass-shooting.
We are 275 days into 2017. There have been 273 mass shootings. https://t.co/AfSmfFY5ap
— Lauren Duca (@laurenduca) October 2, 2017
Oct. 1, 2017
July 7, 2016
June 12, 2016
Dec. 2, 2015
Nov. 27, 2015
Oct. 1, 2015
July 16, 2015The list goes on: https://t.co/3J3NA0hjv8
— The New York Times (@nytimes) October 2, 2017
The events that have transpired Sunday night is one of the hundreds of shootings that have taken place in the United States in this year alone, all of which culminate to creating a sense of normalcy, and perhaps apathy, in the light of massacre.
Hundreds of people now call for stricter gun control and point their fingers towards the NRA. Regardless of whomever is put to blame, this act of terrorism is becoming an increasing plague in the US which needs to meet its end.
