More than 50 people have died with over 400 injured in the deadliest mass shooting in United States history. A “lone wolf” gunman opened fired on a outdoor country music festival in Las Vegas, Nevada around 10:00 pm local time on Sunday, October 1. The shooter sat in a sniper’s nest on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay resort and Casino.
Jason Aldean’s performance was interrupted by the sound of automatic gun-fire when 64-year-old Stephen Paddock from Mesquite, Nevada began shooting into the crowd.
“We heard what sounded like firecrackers going off. Then all of a sudden we heard what sounded like a machine gun. People started screaming that they were hit… When we started running out there were probably a couple hundred [people] on the ground,” witness Meghan Kearney told MSNBC.
“People kept dropping and dropping… People were getting shot one foot away from us,” she said. “People were trying to save their friends. There were gunshots everywhere. Helping them would’ve meant that we got shot too.”
Jason Aldean’s wife Brittany reports that the band escaped from the stage unharmed. “The gunshots lasted for 10-15 minutes. It didn’t stop,” she said. “We just ran for our lives.”
SiriusXM Country radio host Storme Warren was on the stage during Aldean’s performance when the shooting started. “I thought it was fireworks going off and maybe it mistriggered, and then it happened again. And when it happened the third time, we knew something was wrong,” he said. “The shells were hitting the deck of the stage when I was on it.”
The Las Vegas Police Department has been searching for Paddock’s companion, 62-year-old Marilou Danley. Las Vegas Sheriff Joseph Lombardo announced Monday morning that Danley is believed to be traveling with the suspect.
“We’re confident but not 100% sure we’ve located the female person of interest,” the sheriff said in a statement.
Marilou Danley is being sought for questioning re the investigation into the active shooter incident. If seen please call 9-1-1! pic.twitter.com/Z83XvcHejH
— LVMPD (@LVMPD) October 2, 2017
The sheriff also stated that multiple off-duty police officers attending the concert were killed in the shooting.
Early Monday morning police reported that Paddock was dead. An ongoing investigation has found no known connections between the suspect and any terrorist organizations. The suspect was not known to federal authorities, but he was known to local law enforcement agencies/ Authorities do not consider this to be a terrorist attack.