Mandalay Bay Resort Shooting (October 1, 2017)
Mandalay Bay Resort Shooting (October 1, 2017)
On October 1, 2017, at 10:08 p.m., [undefined] a mass shooting took place at the fourth-annual Route 91 Harvest country music festival on the Las Vegas Strip in Paradise, Nevada. During a closing performance by singer Jason Aldean at a packed outdoor concert, a gunman located on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel and casino across Las Vegas Boulevard fired into the festival crowd. [undefined] [undefined] [undefined] [undefined]
The shooter was identified as 64-year-old Stephen Craig Paddock, a real estate millionaire who lived in Mesquite, Nevada. Paddock was found dead in his hotel room; he had killed himself with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. With at least 60 fatalities and over 500 injuries, the mass shooting is the deadliest by a single gunman in modern United States history. [undefined] [undefined] [undefined] [undefined]
Background
Route 91 Harvest is a country music festival that is held in Paradise, Nevada.
It has been held every year since 2014 at Las Vegas Village, on a 15-acre (6.1-hectare) lot on Las Vegas Boulevard across from the Luxor Las Vegas hotel, resort and casino. On October 1, 2017, singer Jason Aldean gave the closing performance of the third and final day of the festival. The event was attended by approximately 22,000 people. [undefined] [40] [undefined] [undefined] [undefined]
Shooting
During Aldean's performance, at approximately 10:08 p.m. local time on October 1, 2017, Stephen Paddock began firing a weapon from an upper floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel into the crowd attending the festival, 360 yards (330 meters) from the hotel, across South Las Vegas Boulevard.
Many people in the crowd initially mistook the gunfire for fireworks.
Based upon sound recordings of long bursts of gunfire during this incident, analysts suspect that a fully automatic rifle was used. Between 18 and 20 firearms were found in Paddock's hotel room; some were fully-automatic weapons. Among the weapons found were two tripod-mounted rifles with telescopic sights. [undefined] [40] [undefined] [undefined]
At 11:58 p.m. local time, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department stated that one suspect was "down".
Paddock was found dead in a 32nd floor Mandalay Bay hotel room, having shot himself just before the police entered.
Dan Bilzerian Video
Footage by Dan Bilzerian running away from the shooting as he says that a girl next to him was shot in the head.
A video by Dan Bilzerian on his Instagram story sees him running away from the show as gunshots can be heard from behind him. As he runs, he states that he saw a girl get shot in the head. At the end of the video, Bilzerian says that he's going to get his gun and head back. [undefined]
Victims
Police release a bodycam video (recorded during the Las Vegas mass shooting)
A list of victims the from the mass shooting shows they were of colorful backgrounds, ranging from veterans to nurses.
At least 59 people were killed, including an off-duty police officer, and two Canadians.
[40] [undefined] At least 527 people were injured, some of whom were sent to hospitals that included the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada and Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center. [40] [undefined]
The incident is the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, surpassing the 49 fatalities of the 2016 Orlando shooting. [undefined] [40] [1]
Aftermath
A large portion of Las Vegas Boulevard was shut down as police SWAT teams combed the venue and neighboring casinos, hotels, and businesses.
McCarran International Airport, lying immediately south-east of the festival site, was closed until the following day and multiple flights were rerouted or cancelled in response to the shooting.
Some of those escaping the shooting entered airport property as they fled.
Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval called the shooting "a tragic and heinous act of violence that has shaken the Nevada family".
President Donald Trump tweeted, "My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting.
God bless you!"[undefined]
In a public press conference the following morning, he declared the shooting an "act of pure evil", a "senseless murder" and a "terrible, terrible attack".
He praised the "miraculous" quick response of first responders and announced he would visit them in Vegas on October 4, along with victims' relatives and police.
Jason Aldean, who was performing when the shooting started, posted his condolences on Instagram and noted that all of those working with him on the show had survived the attack.
At 2:45pm, a state of emergency was issued by Clark County.
Shares of firearm manufacturers rose on the day following the mass shooting, which often occurs in the wake of mass shootings in the US.
Hours after the shooting, the Islamic State of Iraq and Levant (ISIL) claimed responsibility, though this was later refuted by an FBI spokesperson as the claim lacked any credible evidence. [undefined]
On October 3, police released body camera footage of the incident at a news conference.
In the video, officers tried to figure out the location of the gunman and shuttle people to safety.
One can hear an officer yell, “They’re shooting right at us.
Go that way!”[undefined]
Hoaxes and Misinformation
In the immediate hours after the shooting, false information about the shooter's identity and motive went viral on social media. The fake news was circulated by political fringe websites and Internet forums such as 4chan. [undefined]
The right-wing website The Gateway Pundit misidentified the shooter, naming a different man, Geary Danley, and describing him as a Democrat and anti-Trump. [undefined] The false news story was also posted by an Everipedia editor, but was quickly corrected by the community to clear Geary Danley's name. [undefined]
The 4chan thread on which this misinformation was based was briefly featured in the "Top Stories" section of a Google search for Geary Danley's name.