Death Toll Rises Above 50 in Las Vegas Shooting

Ololade Adeyanju/
The death toll in the Las Vegas shooting has risen above 50.
The number of injured has also climbed above 200 as the US reels from the worst mass shooting in its history.
A lone gunman had unloaded hundreds of rounds of shots on a country music festival on Sunday night.

Police identified the shooter as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, a resident of nearby Mesquite, Nevada.
The sniper opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay resort and casino, located across a junction from the event.
Officers say Paddock was shot and killed after they breached a room in the hotel, where he had stashed an “arsenal” of weapons used during the massacre.
Investigators are now raiding the Mesquite home he shared with Marilou Danley, described as his “companion”.
Police located Danley early Monday morning. They initially called her a person of interest, but now say they don’t believe she was involved in the shooting.
Sheriff Joseph Lombardo, of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, said investigations are still ongoing and police have not yet determined a motive.

Police are also trying to locate two vehicles that they say belonged to the shooter: a Hyundai Tucson, license plate 114 B40, and a Chrysler Pacfica, license plate 19D 401.
They advised everyone in the area to continue sheltering in place until their safety can be guaranteed.
Two police officers who engaged the shooter have been hospitalised – one in critical condition, one less severely wounded. They have not been identified.
At least two other police officers are believed to have died in the crowds, having attended the music festival while off duty. They have also not been identified, but were said to be roommates.
All of the ambulances in the area had been deployed to the location, and victims taken to two hospitals.
One witness at the concert told DailyMail.com that a woman had entered the crowd with a male companion and screamed: “They’re all around… You’re all going to f***ing die today” just 45 minutes before the gunfire broke out.
The woman was described as being Hispanic and in her 50s; she and the man were escorted out of the venue by security.
Witness, Brianna Hendricks, who is in Vegas celebrating her 21st birthday, said: “There was a lady who came running up behind us in the concert and she started to play with people’s hair acting crazy and she told us that we’re all going to f***ing die. She said they’re all around us and we were going to die.
“She was Hispanic, probably about 5ft 5, brown hair. It felt like she had knowledge of what was about to happen, her and her boyfriend who was also Hispanic.
“The woman was saying her boyfriend couldn’t breathe so they could get through the crowd.
“It seemed she was telling us to either warn us or she was part of it and she was telling us because she knew we were going to die, it was so scary.”
Video footage of the shooting shows performer, Jason Aldane, on stage as the automatic gunfire rings out.
Aldane continues performing for ten seconds as the gunfire rings out constantly, only stopping after screams begin to rise from the crowds.
People in the crowds argue over whether they just heard gunshots as the lights on the stage dim and Aldane and his band leave. He and his team were confirmed safe.
Witnesses said that the crowd initially got calmly down on the ground, but as more people fell to the gunfire, mass panic took hold and people began to stampede from the scene.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump paid his respects on Monday morning after the shooting, writing on Twitter: “My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting. God bless you!”

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