At least 58 dead, more than 515 hurt in Las Vegas concert attack

LAS VEGAS: At least 58 people were killed and more than 515 injured when a gunman opened fire at a country music festival in Las Vegas Strip on Sunday, raining down bullets from the 32nd floor of a hotel for several minutes before he was shot dead by police.

The death toll, which police emphasised was preliminary, would make the attack the deadliest mass shooting in US history, eclipsing last year’s massacre of 49 people at an Orlando nightclub.

Some 22,000 people were in the crowd when the man opened fire, sending panicked people fleeing the scene, in some cases trampling one another, as law enforcement officers scrambled to locate and kill the gunman. Shocked concert goers, some with blood on their clothes, wandered the streets after the attack.

At least 406 people were taken to area hospitals with injuries, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police said.

Police identified the gunman as area resident Stephen Paddock, 64, and said they had no information yet about his motive.

He was not believed to be connected to any militant group, Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo told reporters.

“We have no idea what his belief system was,” Lombardo said. “We’ve located numerous firearms within the room that he occupied.”

Authorities had earlier regarded Paddock’s roommate, Marilou Danley, as a person of interest, but later on Monday said they no longer regarded her as related to the case, CNN and Fox News reported, citing police sources.

Police had located two cars that belonged to the suspect.

The dead included one off-duty police officer, while at least one other officer was critically injured, Lombardo said. Police warned the death toll may rise.

‘Just kept going on’

Video taken of the attack showed panicked crowds fleeing as sustained rapid gunfire ripped through the area.

“It sounded like fireworks. People were just dropping to the ground. It just kept going on,” said Steve Smith, a 45-year-old visitor from Phoenix, Arizona, who had flown in for the concert. He said the gunfire went on for an extended period of time.

“Probably 100 shots at a time. It would sound like it was reloading and then it would go again,” Smith said. “People were shot and trying to get out. A lot of people were shot.”

Las Vegas’s casinos, nightclubs and shopping draw some 3.5 million visitors from around the world each year and the area was packed with visitors when the shooting broke out shortly after 10 p.m. local time (0400 GMT).

Mike McGarry, a 53-year-old financial adviser from Philadelphia, was at the concert when he heard hundreds of shots ring out.

“It was crazy - I laid on top of the kids. They’re 20. I‘m 53. I lived a good life,” McGarry said. The back of his shirt bore footmarks, after people ran over him in the panicked crowd.

The shooting broke out on the final night of the three-day Route 91 Harvest festival, a sold-out event attended by thousands and featuring top acts such as Eric Church, Sam Hunt and Jason Aldean.

“Tonight has been beyond horrific,” Aldean said in a statement on Instagram. “It hurts my heart that this would happen to anyone who was just coming out to enjoy what should have been a fun night.”

'We're horrified’

The suspected shooter’s brother, Eric Paddock, said the family was stunned by the news.

“We have no idea. We’re horrified. We’re bewildered and our condolences go out to the victims,” Eric Paddock said in a brief telephone interview, his voice trembling. “We have no idea in the world.”

US President Donald Trump offered his condolences to the victims via a post on Twitter early Monday.

“My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting. God bless you!” Trump said.

Trump decried the massacre as an "act of pure evil", but refrained from addressing calls for gun control or an unproven claim of responsibility from Daesh.

Delivering televised remarks from the White House, Trump ordered that flags be flown at half-staff until sunset Friday, offered prayers for the victims and announced he would visit Las Vegas on Wednesday.

Trump did not address a Daesh propaganda agency´s unverified claim that one of its "soldiers" who had "converted to Islam" months ago was responsible.

White House officials also refused to comment on that claim "at this point" saying the local authorities´ investigation was "ongoing." The FBI says it has so far found "no connection" between international terrorist groups and the Vegas attack.

Calling for unity, Trump instead tried to console the nation -- an act that has become a grim rite of passage for modern US presidents as each mass shooting rekindles the divisive national debate on gun control.

"In moments of tragedy and horror, America comes together as one -- and it always has," Trump said.

"Our unity cannot be shattered by evil. 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."

But in the immediate aftermath of the shooting, that unity was difficult to find.

The rampage was reminiscent of a mass shooting at a Paris rock concert in November 2015 that killed 89 people, part of a wave of coordinated attacks by terrorists that left 130 dead.

The concert venue was in an outdoor area known as Las Vegas Village, across the Strip from the Mandalay Bay and the Luxor hotels.

“Our thoughts & prayers are with the victims of last night’s tragic events,” the Mandalay Bay said on Twitter.

Shares of US casino operators fell in premarket trading on Wall Street, with MGM Resorts International, which owns the Mandalay Bay, down 5 per cent. Melco Resorts & Entertainment Ltd, Wynn Resorts Ltd and Las Vegas Sands Corp each fell 1 to 2pc.

Shooting ´shocking in its cruelty,´ Putin tells Trump

Russian President Vladimir Putin on Monday expressed his condolences in a message to US leader Trump, saying a deadly mass shooting in Las Vegas was "shocking in its cruelty."

"The crime that has taken the lives of tens of peaceful civilians is shocking in its cruelty," Putin said according to a statement from the Kremlin.

It said the Russian president had expressed the words of support to the families of the victims.