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"Deadliest Mass Shooting In US History": At Least 50 Killed, 200 Injured After Shooter Opens Fire At Las Vegas Concert

Update 4 (7:36am): Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said Stephen Paddock, the dead gunman, is believed to have checked into the Mandalay Bay Hotel as a guest. He said: "We've located numerous firearms within the room that he occupied." Lombardo said officers had confronted Paddock on the 32nd floor across the street from the concert. As noted earlier, he also said that authorities are confident they have located 62-year-old Marilou Danley, shown below, who was wanted as a person of interest as Paddock's travelling companion.

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Update 3 (7:20am): According to the Australian, Marilou Danley, the woman wanted by police in connection with the Las Vegas shooting is Australian. The Australian understands that she was the girlfriend of the dead shooter Stephen Paddock. Ms Danley is understood to have shared a house in Las Vegas with Mr Paddock. She holds an Australian passport and is possibly of Indonesian decent. Las Vegas Police said that they had located Danley after earlier issuing her photo and naming her as a person of interest following the shooting.

Marilou Danley, Source: facebook

Some further details: Marilou Danley is a former “high-limit hostess” at a casino. The mother and grandmother, whose now deleted Facebook page was full of photos with family members and trips overseas, was described by police as a 4’11” Asian woman. She was described as a “companion” of the still unidentified shooter. Police stopped short of calling Danley a suspect in the early morning hours of October 2, but they said they wanted to talk to her about the carnage.

 

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Update 2 (7:15am): Shortly after the White House said that the president was being briefed on the Vegas mass shooting tragedy, Trump tweeted: "My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting. God bless you!"

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Update 1 (6:45am):  In a press briefing, Las Vegas Sheriff Lombardo said that the death toll from the gruesome shooting has risen to at least 50, with more than 200 injured. Additionally, Lombardo said that the now deceased shooter was identified as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, resident of Mesquite, Nevada. The sheriff added that “we are confident but not 100% sure that we have located the female person of interest.”

According to the AP, the revised death toll makes the Las Vegas concert tragedy was the deadliest shooting in the United States since 49 people were killed at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida in June 2016.

 

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At least 20 people were killed and more than 100 wounded after a gunman on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay casino opened fire on an outdoor music festival on the Las Vegas Strip late Sunday, according to the WSJ.  Police said they were first alerted to reports of an incident at 10:08 p.m. and then determined there was a shooter on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino who was targeting the nearby Route 91 Harvest Festival.

Officers confronted the suspect at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino across the street from the concert, Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said.

Authorities say the man died. Police did not release the suspect's name but said he was a local resident.

Lombardo said they believe this was a "lone wolf" attack but said they were looking for a roommate of the dead suspect as a person of interest. The two slain off-duty officers were attending the concert, Lombardo said. An on-duty officer was in critical condition and another was wounded, Lombardo said.

Concertgoers reported seeing muzzle flashes from the 32 floor of the Mandalay Bay across Las Vegas Boulevard from the country music festival and the sound of what they described as automatic gunfire.

Chilling Video footage captured the moment an active shooter opened fire at the concert on the Las Vegas strip.

Mandalay Bay Las Vegas Shooting October 1, 2017

 

Witnesses said they saw multiple victims as they fled the gunfire raining down on the concert venue. Some later huddled in the basement of the nearby Tropicana hotel-casino.

Police are also trying to locate a female companion, who they named as Marilou Danley, who was traveling with the suspect.

“We are comfortable that the primary aggressor in this event has expired, or passed away, and is no longer a threat,” Sheriff Lombardo said. “We are pretty confident there is no longer a threat.”

In a statement, the Mandalay Bay said that "law enforcement requested that we put hotels in the vicinity on lockdown to ensure guest safety."

University Medical Center of Southern Nevada spokeswomna Danita Cohen said that her hospital had received approximately 50 patients from the scene, two of whom had died, and “several” were in critical condition. Local television news reports showed crowds of people in Las Vegas ducking for cover as the sound of rapid gunshots rang out, while dozens of patrol vehicles descended on the Strip.

The Mandalay Bay is at the far southern end of the Las Vegas Strip, the four-mile-long bustling tourist corridor lined with casinos, restaurants and other attractions. The resort and surrounding area is adjacent to McCarran International Airport. The airport temporarily suspended all flights because of the incident before partially reopening, it said in posts on its verified Twitter account.

Jose Baggett, 31, a Las Vegas resident, said he and a friend were in the lobby of the Luxor hotel-casino — directly north of the festival — when people began running. He said people were crying and as he and his friend walked away, they encountered police checkpoints where officers were carrying shotguns and assault rifles.

"There were armored personnel vehicles, SWAT vehicles, ambulances, and at least a half-mile of police cars," Baggett said.

Some officers took cover behind their vehicles while others carrying assault rifles ran into the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino. Authorities shut down part of the Las Vegas Strip and Interstate 15.

Witnesses say country singer Jason Aldean was playing near the end of the concert when gunfire rang out. Hours after the shooting, Aldean posted on Instagram that he and his crew were safe and said the shooting was "beyond horrific."

Several officers from California were attending the music festival. A Bakersfield police officer was shot and taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.

Kodiak Yazzie, 36, said he and his girlfriend were watching Aldean's performance when he heard what sounded like fireworks. The music stopped temporarily and started up again before another round of pops sent the performers ducking for cover and fleeing the stage. Thousands fled as bursts of gunfire could be heard for more than five minutes, Yazzie said.

Source
Las Vegas