Las Vegas Killings: Stephen Paddock

LAS VEGAS — Stephen Paddock, a man with no criminal history, rained bullets down into a crowd at a country musical festival on the evening of October 1st, killing at least 58 people and injuring over 500. Nobody seems to know the exact reason why a 64-year-old retiree would fire at thousands of innocent concertgoers from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino before killing himself.

A sheriff from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Joseph Lombardo, said “I can’t get into the mind of a psychopath” Lombardo is the lead investigator on the case. The gunman had a total of 23 guns, including an AK-47, with him in his hotel room. Investigators later on found an additional 19 firearms, thousands of rounds of ammunition and chemical explosives at his home in Nevada. Guns & Guitars, a store in Nevada confirmed that they had sold some of Paddocks weapons to him but all procedures required by law were followed and he “never gave any indication or reason to believe he was unstable or unfit at any time.”Over 22,000 people were at the Route 91 Harvest festival right across the hotel where the shots were fired from. Jason Aldean was playing the last set of the night when Stephen Paddock opened fire on the crowd down below.“People were getting shot at while we were running, and people were on the ground bleeding, crying and screaming. We just had to keep going” said Dinore Merino who was at the concert with a friend.

The death toll was massive, recorded as the deadliest mass shooting in all of American history.A lot of the wounded were not injured by gunfire, but by the chaotic crowd. One 55-year-old woman said she was “trampled” trying to escape what she at first thought were fireworks. Victims were rushed to a nearby hospital which said to have treated over 104 patients.“Those that could be saved, were saved” said surgeon Syed Saquib. “There were a few that came in with devastating, non-survivable injuries.” Police and hotel security immediately carried out a thorough search of multiple floors of the hotel looking for the shooter. He was found still firing bullets from his suite. SWAT officers stormed the room, one of which was shot in the leg. Paddock then killed himself but he was not counted in the death toll.

President Trump ordered that flags be flown at half mast and said he would visit Las Vegas. He praised the work of local law enforcement responding to the shooting, saying their actions saved lives but for those who are mourning the loss of their loved ones, answers for them, he said, would “not come easy.”