Las Vegas Massacre Death Toll Climbs to 50 with More Than 200 Injured

Las Vegas Massacre Death Toll Climbs to 50 with More Than 200 Injured
People run from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after gun fire was hears on Oct. 1, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (David Becker/Getty Images)
10/2/2017
Updated:
10/2/2017

A gunman fired from the 32nd floor of a hotel tower at an outdoor concert crowd in Las Vegas, killing at least 50 people and wounding over 200 in what is now the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, ABC News Reported.

The shooter has been identified as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock. He was killed when police swarmed Mandalay Bay Hotel.

Police have also apprehended Marilou Danley, a companion of Paddock who is not believed to be an accomplice in the shooting.

The Las Vegas massacre death toll eclipsed the Orlando nightclub attack in 2016 which was deadliest mass shooting in the United States.

“We have no idea what his belief system was,”Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said. “Right now, we believe he was the sole aggressor and the scene is static.”

The Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada, June 15, 2004. REUTERS/Ethan Miller/File Photo

Police were also searching for two cars that belonged to the suspect.

He said rumors of other shootings or explosives such as car bombs in the area were false. Video taken of the attack showed panicked crowds fleeing as sustained rapid gunfire ripped through the area.

Las Vegas’s casinos, nightclubs and shopping are a major draw for 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.

Las Vegas Metro Police and medical workers stage in the intersection of Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard South after a mass shooting at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. October 1, 2017. REUTERS/Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus

Mike McGarry, a 53-year-old financial adviser from Philadelphia, said he 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.

Police warned the death toll may rise.

“I don’t want to give you an accurate number because I don’t have it yet,” Lombardo said.

At least one police officer was hospitalized with critical injuries, Lombardo said.

Las Vegas Metro Police officers work near the concert venue after a mass shooting at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. October 1, 2017. REUTERS/Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus

The shooting broke out on the last 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.

U.S. media, including Fox News, reported that Aldean was performing when the rampage began but that he had been bundled safely off stage at the event outside the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in the Nevada gambling resort. CNN reported all the performers were safe.

Lombardo said the gunfire came from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay, where the gunman was killed.

Police have disclosed no information that would suggest a motive for the shooting or revealed the identify of the suspect.

An ambulance leaves the concert venue after a mass shooting at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. October 1, 2017. REUTERS/Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus

Even so, the rampage was reminiscent of a mass shooting at a Paris rock concert in November 2015 that killed 89 people, part of a coordinated attack by Islamist militants that left 130 dead.

A witness named Christine told CNN both she and her husband had separately taken shooting victims to two hospitals, the University Medical Center and the Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center.

“The shots just kept coming,” she said. “Everyone was telling us ‘run, run as fast as you can’.”

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

Las Vegas Metro Police officers gather near the intersection of Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard South after a mass shooting at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S. early October 2, 2017. REUTERS/Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus

The Mandalay Bay hotel is near McCarran International Airport, which said on Twitter it had temporarily halted flights after the shooting. Later, the airport said that some flights had resumed.

The United States has seen a series of deadly mass shootings in recent years. Prior to Orlando, the deadliest occurred in April 2007 when a gunman killed 32 people at Virginia Tech university and in December 2012 a man killed 26 young children and educators at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut.

Police officers stop a man who drove down Tropicana Ave. near Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Ave, which had been closed after a mass shooting at a country music festival that left at least 2 people dead nearby on October 2, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The man was released. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

Some of the people attending the concert stayed behind to help the injured, Fox News reported.

“Everybody I saw breathing, I helped.” a concertgoer told Fox News.

The music stopped temporarily and restarted again, before another round of pops was heard, according to Kodiak Yazzi, 36. As the crowd began to flee, Yazzi took cover and saw flashes of light coming from the Mandalay Bay Casino tower.

The entire area is on lockdown by police. All clubs and casinos have been shut down.

A spokeswoman for the University Medical Center said that the hospital was taking in injured people.

A concertgoer named Zack told Fox News that he saw his sister get shot in the head.

“Gun shots!!! Vegas. Pray to god,” country singer Jack Owen wrote on Twitter. “Love you guys. Love you Pearl.”

A Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officer stands in the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Ave. after a mass shooting at a country music festival nearby on October 2, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada.(Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officers run down Tropicana Ave. near Las Vegas Boulevard after a mass shooting at a country music festival nearby on October 2, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
An injured person is tended to in the intersection of Tropicana Ave. and Las Vegas Boulevard after a mass shooting at a country music festival nearby on October 2, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. A gunman has opened fire on a music festival in Las Vegas, killing over 20 people. Police have confirmed that one suspect has been shot dead. The investigation is ongoing. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
A cowboy hat lays in the street after shots were fired near a country music festival on October 1, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. A gunman has opened fire on a music festival in Las Vegas, leaving at least 20 people dead and more than 100 injured. (David Becker/Getty Images)
People run from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after apparent gun fire was heard on October 1, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (Photo by David Becker/Getty Images)
People flee the Route 91 Harvest country music festival grounds after a active shooter was reported on October 1, 2017 in Las Vegas, Nevada. (David Becker/Getty Images)
A man lays on top of a woman as others flee the Route 91 Harvest country music festival grounds after a active shooter was reported on October 1, 2017 in Las Vegas. (David Becker/Getty Images)
Reuters contributed to this report.