Fifty-eight people are dead and 489 are injured following a shooting Sunday night at a music festival in Las Vegas. It is the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, passing the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting.
According to police, the killer opened fired from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino into a crowd of over 22,000 people attending a country music festival across the street.
The killer was identified as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock. As of now, the motive of the shooting is unclear and Paddock has no connection to any international terrorist organizations, despite the Islamic State taking claim for the attack.
People at the scene of the attack took action by caring for the victims by plugging wounds with their bare hands, creating makeshift barriers out of police barricades and using their clothing to try to stanch bleeding.
Jasmine Barbusca describes the chaos in an interview with ABC News.
“All you heard were just gunshots,” Barbusca said. “And every time the gunshots would come down, you just start getting to the ground. And when they would stop, you get up and you just try to climb the fence again. We finally made it over. We were running through the parking lot; everybody just ran through the streets.”
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) responded and went to the hotel room of the killer, finding Paddock dead at the scene. It is believed he killed himself.
Paddock was not known to law enforcement and had no criminal history except for a minor citation.
Police found multiple cameras placed inside and outside Paddock’s room, as well as 23 firearms in the room. The LVMPD believe that the incident was a “premeditated” shooting due to the amount of ammunition and evidence found at the scene.
Eric Paddock, a brother of the killer, revealed that his brother lived as a gambler.
“He was a gambler, that was his job,” Paddock said in an interview conducted by CBS News. “He was a wealthy guy, playing video poker, who went cruising all the time and lived in a hotel room.”
His father, Benjamin Hoskins Paddock, was a notorious bank robber who spent several years on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted Fugitives” list. A wanted poster circulated in 1969 describing him as a “very dangerous” criminal.
The poster reads: “Diagnosed as psychopathic, he has carried firearms in commission of bank robberies. He reportedly has suicidal tendencies and should be considered armed and very dangerous.”
President Donald Trump responded to the attack in an address to the nation the next day, calling it “an act of pure evil.”
“Our unity cannot be shattered by evil,” Trump said. “Our bonds cannot be broken by violence. And though we feel such great anger at the senseless murder of our fellow citizens, it is our love that defines us today — and always will, forever.”
He plans to visit Las Vegas on Wednesday to meet with families of the victims, as well as law-enforcement personnel.
When questioned by reporters on if the shooting would prompt him to begin work on gun control legislation, Trump said “We’ll be talking about gun laws as time goes on.”
A GoFundMe account has been set up to assist the victims of the shooting. It has surpassed $3.7 million in donations as of today.
Henry Wolski
Executive Editor