Tragedy in Las Vegas: the worst mass shooting in U.S. history. The shooter, 64-year old Stephen Paddock, apparently kept his finger on the trigger as automatic gunfire rained down on the crowd below in what police call a “lone wolf” attack. He was located and killed by police in a hotel room 32 floors up:
At least 50 people were killed in a mass shooting overnight on the Las Vegas Strip, police said, the deadliest in modern US history.
A hailstorm of bullets and the subsequent stampede left more than 200 people injured, officials said. The crowd was watching a concert by country music superstar Jason Aldean, Las Vegas Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said Monday morning.
The gunman, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, was firing from the 32nd floor of the nearby Mandalay Bay hotel, Lombardo said. Paddock was eventually killed by police.The sheriff also said authorities think they have found Marilou Danley, the woman 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.The massacre started around 10:08 p.m. Sunday (1:08 a.m. ET Monday) at the Route 91 Harvest festival, Lombardo said.
Police don’t believe there are any more shooters. “Right now, we believe it’s a sole actor, a lone-wolf-type actor,” the sheriff said.
Two Las Vegas police officers are being treated at a local hospital for injuries they sustained during the shooting, Lombardo said. One is in critical condition, and the other sustained minor injuries.
In addition, the sheriff stated that there were off-duty officers attending the concert who may have died. The identities of those officers have not been released.
“Pray for Las Vegas,” the city’s mayor, Carolyn Goodman, tweeted. “Thank you to all our first responders out there now.”
Nevada Gov. Brian Sandoval said on Twitter that a “tragic & heinous act of violence has shaken the #Nevada family” and offered prayers to all those affected by “this act of cowardice.”
CBS News:
A shooting at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip killed at least 50 people and wounded more than 200 others late Sunday, Clark County Sheriff Joeseph Lombardo said.
It was the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
He said the man authorities think was the sole gunman was killed by police on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino across Las Vegas Boulevard from the Route 91 Harvest Festival, a country music festival.
“We believe it’s a solo actor. A lone wolf,” Lombardo said.
He said the gunman is an area resident.
Law enforcement sources told CBS News a search warrant has been issued for the home of the shooter, identified as Stephen Paddock, 64, of Mesquite, Nevada.
Two law enforcement sources told CBS News senior investigative producer Pat Milton that at this point, it doesn’t appear the shooting was an act of terrorism. The suspect was known to police in Mesquite and had a criminal history, the sources said.
Lombardo said authorities believe they had found a traveling companion of the deceased gunman they were seeking, who Lombardo identified as Marilou Danley, 62. Law enforcement sources tell Milton that Danley was Paddock’s wife.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.