Agency
Los Angeles: A gunman killed at least 58 people and wounded more than 500 others when he opened fire on a country music concert in Las Vegas in the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history.
Police said the gunman, a 64-year-old local resident named as Stephen Paddock, had been killed after a SWAT team responded to reports of multiple gunfire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay, a hotel-casino next to the concert venue.
Revelers screamed and fled in panic as a steady stream of automatic gunfire rang out at the venue shortly after 10:00 pm local time (0500 GMT Monday), footage captured on smart phones showed.
“We are looking at in excess of 50 individuals dead and of 200 individuals injured at this point,” Las Vegas Metro Police Sheriff Joseph Lombardo told a pre-dawn press conference on Monday in the Nevada gambling hub.
“Obviously this is a tragic incident and one that we have never experienced.”
Lombardo said that police and FBI were still looking into Paddock’s background but they had “located numerous firearms within the room that he occupied” in the hotel.
Police said that Paddock had opened fire on the crowds below from the 32nd floor of the giant hotel located on the famous Las Vegas Strip.
Paddock’s female companion, who had earlier been named as a person of interest by police, is believed to have been located, Lombardo added.
Thousands of fans were attending the concert next to the Mandalay Bay which was part of a three-day country music festival known as Route 91.
Donald Trump was briefed on the “horrific tragedy”, the White House said, and the US president took to Twitter to offer his “warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families.”
Witnesses told how Paddock opened fire with an initial long burst, and then appeared to reload as he continued his spree.