10-2-17

LAS VEGAS — A gunman in a high-rise hotel overlooking the Las Vegas Strip opened fire on a country music festival late Sunday, killing at least 50 people and injuring hundreds of others in the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.

The gunman, identified by police as Stephen Paddock, was later found dead by officers on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said during a news briefing.

The shooting marked the nation’s latest outbreak of gunfire and bloodshed to erupt in a public place, again transforming a seemingly routine night into one of terror. The carnage in Las Vegas surpassed the death toll of 49 people slain in June 2016 when a gunman in Orlando, who later said he was inspired by the Islamic State, opened fire inside a crowded nightclub.

Lombardo said the death toll could rise, as police were still investigating the scene. Police also said an estimated 406 people were taken to area hospitals after the shooting. Authorities did not specify how many of the people were wounded by gunfire or injured in the chaos that followed.

Paddock, 64, was found dead in his hotel room by Las Vegas SWAT officers who responded to calls about the shooting, police said. They believe he took his own life.

[Route 91 Harvest Festival: The Las Vegas ‘sleepover’ that ended in a nightmare]

Under the neon glow and glitz of the Vegas Strip, thousands of concertgoers who had gathered for a three-day music festival dove for cover or raced toward shelter when the gunfire began at about 10 p.m. Sunday. Police said more than 22,000 people were at the concert when Paddock, who had checked into the Mandalay Bay on Thursday, began firing round after round.

Police believe the 64-year-old Paddock, a local resident, was a “lone wolf” attacker. Lombardo did not give further details, however, on Paddock’s background or possible motivation. “We have no idea what his belief system was,” Lombardo said during a briefing. “Right now, we believe he was the sole aggressor, and the scene is static.”

Recordings of the attack suggested that Paddock used an automatic weapon. He was found with more than 10 rifles, Lombardo said.

Relatives of Paddock’s said they were stunned by what happened.

“I used to fix things for a living. My job was to find the answers and this is like, ‘what?’ This is asteroid fell out of the sky. There’s no, there’s just nothing,” Eric Paddock, the gunman’s brother, said in an interview posted online by ABC-affiliate WFTV in Orlando.

Eric Paddock said early in the morning, the “phones lit up from Las Vegas PD.” He said the family had been on the phone with detectives all morning “to try to understand this; trying to make sense of this.”

“As far as we know, we’re just another piece of input, but he has no ‘affiliation’ with anything, as far as we know,” Eric Paddock said.

As the Las Vegas police investigated the horror that had unfolded on the Strip, they also faced a tragedy within their own ranks. The dead included an off-duty city police officer, the department said Monday morning. Two other officers who were on duty were injured, police said; one was in stable condition after surgery, and the other sustained minor injuries.

“It’s a devastating time,” Lombardo said at a news conference early Monday.

In the initial chaotic aftermath of the shooting, authorities had searched for a woman named Marilou Danley, described only as Paddock’s “traveling companion.” Lombardo said during a news briefing Monday morning that investigators spoke with Danley, who was found outside the country, and do not believe she was involved in the shooting.

Danley’s relationship with Paddock was not immediately known, but they lived at the same address in Mesquite, Nev., according to public records. Lombardo said police in Mesquite were entering Paddock’s home to conduct a search on Monday morning.

[What we know about the Las Vegas shooting]

Police in Las Vegas had only minimal interactions with Paddock before the shooting, Lombardo said.

“We have no investigative information or background associated with this individual that is derogatory,” Lombardo said. “The only thing we can tell is he received a citation several years ago; that citation was handled as a matter of normal practice in the court system.”

Few details about Paddock’s background were immediately known Monday. He was retired and, for several years, lived in Mesquite, Tex., before moving to the Nevada town with the same name. Relatives said Paddock, a licensed pilot who owned two planes, was a quiet man who often went to Las Vegas to gamble and view concerts. In a statement, Lockheed Martin, the defense giant, said that Paddock worked for them for three years in the 1980s.

“Stephen Paddock worked for a predecessor company of Lockheed Martin from 1985 until 1988,” a spokesman said in a statement. “We’re cooperating with authorities to answer questions they may have about Mr. Paddock and his time with the company.”

President Trump praised the “miraculous” speed with which local law enforcement responded to the shooting, which he decried as an unfathomable attack on innocents gathered for a concert.

“It was an act of pure evil,” Trump said during remarks from the White House. “We cannot fathom their pain, we cannot imagine their loss.”

Trump ordered flags flown at half-staff and said he would visit Las Vegas on Wednesday.

Federal authorities responded to the shooting scene, assisting local law enforcement officials with the investigation. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives said it dispatched agents to the scene, while FBI criminal investigators — rather than those in the bureau’s National Security Branch — are aiding local police in the case, according to a person familiar with the matter.

The Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attack on Monday, reporting through its Amaq news agency that the shooter was one of its “soldiers” and had recently converted to Islam, according to the SITE Intelligence Group, which tracks extremist groups.

The group, also known as ISIS, often claims responsibility after attacks, even in cases where it is unclear whether they motivated them or were involved. The actions and statements of local and federal law enforcement officials on Monday suggested that the Las Vegas shooting was not believed to be connected to international terrorism, as ISIS claimed. Investigators haven’t found anything yet to indicate the gunman supported or was linked to international terror groups, according to a person familiar with the matter.

[From the UT Tower to a Las Vegas hotel: The carnage when shooters take aim from above]

Sandra Breault, a spokeswoman for the FBI in Las Vegas, said of the ISIS claim: “We are aware of the claim and take every one seriously. The FBI reviews each allegation for their merit and when warranted conducts further investigation.”

Attorney General Jeff Sessions said he met with FBI Director Chris Wray on Monday morning and spoke with Lombardo, to whom he “expressed my gratitude for the courageous work of his officers through the night and offered him the full support of the FBI, the ATF, and the entire Department of Justice as he takes the lead investigating this incident.”

“The investigation into the horrific shooting last night in Las Vegas is ongoing,” Sessions said. “To the many families whose lives have been changed forever by this heinous act, we offer you our prayers and our promise that we will do everything in our power to get justice for your loved ones.”

Federal homeland security officials said there were no specific, credible threats to other public venues around the country.

The shooting occurred at the end of the Route 91 Harvest festival, a three-day country music concert held over the weekend. The concert grounds are adjacent to Mandalay Bay, a sprawling casino on the southern end of the Strip.

The shots began as Jason Aldean, one of the final performers, was playing. Aldean posted an Instagram message that he and his crew were safe. The scene, he wrote, was “beyond horrific.”

Videos posted from people who said they were at the scene showed people screaming and running for cover amid the sound of gunshots that seemed unending.

[50 years of mass shootings]

“We thought it was fireworks at first or trouble with the speakers,” said Kayla Ritchie, 21, of Simi Valley, Calif. “They had been having technical difficulty all weekend. Then everything went dark.”

Ritchie traveled with Megan Greene, 19, for the concert, and the two were separated when people began fleeing. They found each other hours later.

“Everyone started running for the exit,” said Greene, who hid behind a truck before fleeing into the MGM Grand. “We were in the street and they told us to get down, get down.”

Taylor Benge, 21 was at the concert Sunday night and said he heard a round of pops that lasted for 10 seconds, as if someone was holding down the trigger. When a performer ran off the stage and the lights came on, Benge said, he realized that “about five feet to the left of me there was a man with a bullet wound to his chin.”

“He was just lifeless on the ground,” he continued.

Benge said he and his sister threw themselves on the ground as the gunfire continued and then ran for the exit. “My jeans are covered in someone’s blood, my T-shirt is covered in someone’s blood, my sister’s whole leg was covered in blood,” Benge said.

At least some people were injured in the frenzied effort to flee the gunfire. Tracy, 55, a California woman who declined to give her last name, said she was “trampled” trying to flee.

“We thought it was fireworks,” she said, a dazed look on her face and a bandage on her injured knee and shin. “I looked up at the Mandalay Bay. I could see the green light every time the gun fired. We ran for our lives. We went into Hooters and hid in the bathroom,” she continued. “We felt like sitting ducks there. We went to the second floor conference room and stayed there.”

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