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)
At least 58 people are dead and more than 500 injured after a lone gunman unleashed a barrage of bullets into a crowd of concert-goers at a Las Vegas music festival late Sunday, Oct. 1, police say.
Stephen Paddock is responsible for firing his automatic weapon into a crowd of concert-goers in Las Vegas on Oct. 1. (Image courtesy of Facebook)
Gunshots rang out around 10 p.m. as country music star Jason Aldean was performing at the three-day Route 91 Harvest Music Festival, sending the audience into a frenzy as fans fled to escape the deadly gunfire. The gunman, identified as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, opened fire from inside a room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino just across the street.
The Vegas incident has been dubbed the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S history, topping the Pulse Night Club shooting in Orlando last year, which left 49 people dead.
Amid the chaos, witnesses fleeing danger and helping to get fellow concert-goers to safety posted videos showing the moment the violence unfolded. Harrowing photos of the deadly aftermath have since flooded social media, spurring the hashtags #thoughtsandprayers and #guncontrol. Las Vegas was the number one trending topic on Twitter by Monday morning.
Las Vegas Shooting:
• At least 50 killed; more than 400 injured
• Stephen Paddock named as shooter and confirmed dead
• Deadliest shooting in US historyhttps://t.co/EseZTTDatO pic.twitter.com/tAoDfhYqex— BuzzFeed News (@BuzzFeedNews) October 2, 2017
Las Vegas tragedy #PRAYERSFORVEGAS pic.twitter.com/GKj9T1Hq33
— 1Phaster (@Phaster1) October 2, 2017
Shots fired from 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay during Las Vegas concert. 50+ killed, at least 200 injured. Shooter dead. Video: vincestagramen pic.twitter.com/NYksGEIIMP
— Andrea Henderson (@AndreaKDVR) October 2, 2017
https://youtu.be/bFA2-2mdnRM
Authorities said Paddock killed himself after the shooting, the Associated Press reported. A motive still has yet to be determined but initial reports claimed the Nevada man may have been motivated by terror group ISIS after converting to Islam a few months ago.
The FBI has since disputed those reports, saying Paddock wasn’t affiliated with the terrorist organization.
*This story will continue to be updated.
