A man who shot into crowds and killed at least 50 people at a Las Vegas music festival has been identified.
Police confirmed at least 50 people have been killed and more than 400 injured after a man opened fire into crowds at Route 91 Harvest Music Festival, from a 32nd floor window of the Mandalay Bay Resort on Sunday night.
Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said officers had identified the attacker as Steven Paddock, 64, who is described as a local, lone-wolf-type actor.
Lombardo said:
The suspect’s name is Stephen Paddock, with a date of birth of four, nine of 1953. As far as history and background we haven’t completed that part of the investigation.
Officers who were called to the scene said Paddock, who used a ‘fully-automatic weapon’, is dead and said they did not believe there were any more shooters involved.
Police were searching for Marilou Danley, a companion of the shooter and for two vehicles, a Hyundai Tucson and Chrysler Pacifica, both with Nevada plates.
The have since confirmed they are ‘confident’ a female suspect and vehicles have been located.
Lombardo revealed ‘several’ firearms had been found in Paddock’s room.
Adding:
We located numerous firearms within the room that he occupied. All’s we know is that they were rifles.
We are executing a search warrant on the room. We have officers at his residence, and we will be executing a search warrant there also shortly.
It is going to be a long and tedious investigation. We are bringing in all the resources of the FBI to assist us in this investigation, in particular to their victim witness advocates and their CSI folks to help us process the scene and ensure that we are getting all the evidence that we can possible obtain.
ABC News reported ‘at least two police officers’ were hospitalised following the incident, one has now been confirmed as dead, the other is in a ‘critical condition’.
The gunfire caused the audience flee toward the Strip, but the gunfire continued there as crowds attempted to escape.
It is the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, surpassing the shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando in June 2016 when 49 people were killed.
The brother of Stephen Paddock said that his family have been left stunned by the news, according to the Independent.
They reported he’d spoken with Reuters in a telephone conversation.
According to the article, Eric Paddock said:
We have no idea. We’re horrified. We’re bewildered and our condolences go out to the victims. We have no idea in the world.
Video was captured by those caught up in the tragic attack, with some initially mistaking the gunfire for fireworks.
There have been multiple eyewitness accounts of the event, including one from poker player Dan Bilzerian, and an audience member who told ABC News he held a man in his arms as he died.
Mike Cronk, 48, told ABC News:
I was at the concert there and Jason Aldea was playing and it sounded like some fireworks going off and then I think that was the first volley and then all of a sudden there was this second volley.
My buddy was like ‘I just got hit’ and he got hit three times. People started diving for the ground and it just continued and it was pretty much chaotic and lots of people got hit.
It took a while to get him out, we had to get him over the fence and hiding under the stage to be safe and finally we had to move him because he had three chest wounds.
He continued:
We got him out here and we got four people into the back of a truck but then we got turned around because there was an active shooter so we couldn’t go down that street.
We finally got an ambulance right across the street here and got two of the guys in and one guy ended up dying in my arms because he was bleeding.
My buddy got in there and we got three more people in that ambulance and I just got a message my buddy is going to be okay.
A statement has been issued by MGM Resorts, who own the Mandalay Hotel where the shooter fired from the 32nd floor window.
It reads:
This evening there was a tragic active shooter situation at the south end of the Las Vegas Strip. Law enforcement and emergency personnel responded quickly to the incident and secured the scene.
Law enforcement requested that we put hotels in the vicinity on lockdown to ensure guest safety. We will provide more information as it becomes available.
Mandalay Hotel representatives added:
Our thoughts and prayers are with the victims of last night’s tragic events. We’re grateful for the immediate actions of our first responders.
For families looking to locate missing loved ones, call 1-866-535-5654.
If you would like to donate blood for the injured victims of the Strip shooting visit the Labor Health & Welfare Clinic, 7135 W. Sahara.
