Las Vegas Shooting Leaves at Least 50 Dead, More Than 400 Injured

Police identify suspect as 64-year-old local resident Stephen Paddock

At least 50 people are dead and more than 400 injured after a gunman opened fire on a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip in the most deadly shooting in U.S. history.

Police said the suspect, identified as 64-year-old local resident Stephen Paddock, was located on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino when he took aim at the nearby Route 91 Harvest Festival.

Local television news reports showed crowds of people in Las Vegas ducking for cover as the sound of rapid gunshots rang out, while dozens of patrol vehicles descended on the Strip.

Police said the Las Vegas shooter killed himself prior to their entry into the hotel room. Earlier, Joseph Lombardo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department had said the suspect was shot dead by officers. He said police found numerous firearms in the room the suspect occupied and that officers were also at his residence. Authorities said they were confident there was no longer a threat.

“Obviously this is a tragic incident and one we’ve never experienced in this valley,” Mr. Lombardo said. The shooting is the deadliest in the U.S., surpassing the 49 people killed at a nightclub in Orlando in June last year.

Police also said they wanted to talk to the suspect’s female companion, named as Marilou Danley, who they think they have now located.

Danita Cohen, a spokeswoman for the University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, said that her hospital had received approximately 50 patients from the scene, two of whom had died, and “several” were in critical condition.

The Mandalay Bay is at the far southern end of the Las Vegas Strip, the four-mile-long bustling tourist corridor lined with casinos, restaurants and other attractions. The resort and surrounding area is adjacent to McCarran International Airport.

The airport temporarily suspended all flights because of the incident before partially reopening, it said in posts on its verified Twitter account. Authorities also shut down part of the Las Vegas Strip and Interstate 15.

MGM Resorts International, which operates the Mandalay Bay, New York-New York, MGM Grand and other casinos in the area, said in a statement its resorts in the vicinity are on lockdown. A spokeswoman for Caesars Entertainment Corp., which also operates many Strip casinos, said its resorts in the area are only open to guests staying on the property.

President Donald Trump has been briefed on the shooting and the White House is monitoring the situation closely and offers its full support to state and local officials, spokeswoman Sarah Sanders said in a statement.

“All of those affected are in our thoughts and prayers,” she said.

The president wrote on Twitter: “My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting. God bless you!”

A spokesman for the U.S. Department of Homeland Security wrote on Twitter that Acting Secretary Elaine Duke had been briefed on the shooting and that the department was working with local and state authorities. The department said it had “no information to indicate a specific credible threat involving other public venues” in the U.S., but “increased security in and around public places and events may be experienced as officials take additional precautions.”

Concertgoers reported seeing muzzle flashes from the upper floors of the Mandalay Bay across Las Vegas Boulevard from the country music festival and the sound of what they described as automatic gunfire.

Witnesses said they saw multiple victims as they fled the gunfire raining down on the concert venue, where country singer Jason Aldean was playing near the end of the concert

Some later huddled in the basement of the nearby Tropicana hotel-casino, while some officers took cover behind their vehicles and others carrying assault rifles ran into the Mandalay Bay.

The wounded included two on-duty Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department officers, the department said on Twitter. One was in stable condition after surgery early Monday and the other sustained minor injuries, the police said.