More than 20 dead, 100 injured in mass shooting on Las Vegas Strip John Locher AP
AP
Police officers stand at the scene of a shooting near the Mandalay Bay resort and casino on the Las Vegas Strip,
Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017, in Las Vegas. Multiple victims were being transported to hospitals after a shooting late Sunday at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip.
A gunman on the 32nd floor of a Las Vegas Strip casino opened fire Sunday on an outdoor music festival, killing at least 20 people — including two off-duty police officers — and wounding more than 100, authorities said.
Officers confronted the suspect on the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay, across the street from the concert, and he was killed, Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said. Authorities did not release the suspect’s name but said he was a local resident.
Lombardo said police believe it was a “lone wolf” attack but said they were looking for a roommate of the dead suspect for questioning. Police identified her as 52-year-old Marilou Danley.
They were also looking for two vehicles, a Hyundai Tucson with Nevada license plate 114-B40 and a Chrysler Pacifica Touring with Nevada plates 79D-401, police said.
Marilou Danley Metro Police
Dozens of patrol vehicles descended on the Strip after authorities received reports of an active shooter near the Route 91 Harvest Festival. Las Vegas police later said one suspect was down.
Concert-goers reported seeing muzzle flashes from the upper floors of Mandalay Bay, across Las Vegas Boulevard from the country music festival, and the sound of what they described as automatic gun fire.
Twenty-six people were admitted to the hospital, University Medical Center spokeswoman Danita Cohen said. Of those, at least two died, 12 were in critical condition and the rest were being evaluated, she said.
Witnesses said they saw
multiple victims as they fled the gunfire raining down on the concert venue. Some later huddled in the basement of the nearby Tropicana.
“All I heard was a lot of bang, bang, bang, and everybody hit the ground, and everybody started running,” said Patrick Martin, a Southern California resident.
He, his wife and son were watching the concert. “You’re talking 50,000 to 100,000 people; everybody is running.”
He said his son had stayed behind and was helping people evacuate the festival grounds.
Some officers took cover behind their vehicles while others carrying assault rifles ran into Mandalay Bay.
Authorities shut down part of the Las Vegas Strip and Interstate 15.
Some flights destined for the McCarran International Airport were diverted because of the shooting.
Witnesses said country singer Jason Aldean was playing near the end of the concert when gunfire began.
Kodiak Yazzi, 36, said he and his girlfriend were watching Aldean’s performance when he heard what sounded like fireworks. The music stopped temporarily and started up again before another round of pops sent the performers ducking for cover and fleeing the stage.
Thousands fled as bursts of gunfire could be heard for more than five minutes, Yazzi said.
“We were all dancing, we were having a good time, all of a sudden I heard all of these shots,” said Candace LaRosa, 48, of Huntington Beach, Calif. She said that she thought it was a part of a fireworks show. “It was just mass, mass, blood everywhere.”
She said she was sitting near a VIP section when the gunshots went off. “I hope they kill them,” she added about the shooter or shooters.
Witnesses said they saw multiple victims and dozens of ambulances near the concert venue.
“We were watching the concert having a great time, then we heard what sounded like firecrackers,” witness Joe Pitz said. “I guess it was an automatic weapon going off but it literally sounded like firecrackers.”
“Then soon enough there was commotion on the Mandalay Bay side of the stage. They were motioning for medics to come and safety people to come and Jason Aldean ran off the stage,” he said.
“Everybody in the vicinity went down. I don’t know if they were ducking or if they were but it was chaos,” Pitz said.
Another witness, Monique Dumas, said, “I was thinking it was fireworks, but then you realized that’s not what it is because people are crouched and they’re screaming. We just wanted to stay together so we held hands and ran together. Then every time we would hear shooting we would duck and keep running.”
Gabe Allen, who identified himself as a restaurant manager from Boise, Idaho, said a friend standing within arm’s length of him was shot in the knee by what sounded like automatic gunfire from Mandalay Bay.
Waiting outside Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center, where his friend was being treated, Allen said he initially thought the gunshots were fireworks, but when the second stream of shots rang out it, became clear the crowd was being fired upon. He videotaped much of the violence on his phone — the segment lasted about five minutes.
Allen said he began trying to aid people who’d been hit, including a man bleeding badly from the head.
He said it appeared the man died, so Allen moved on to help others. As he was leaving, he said, he stopped to give aid to a man who was bleeding badly from the head. The man appeared to be dead, he said, so he moved on to other injured people.
Asked how he was coping with the tragedy emotionally, Allen said, “I’m honestly not really feeling anything right now. It was just all so surreal.”
Allen was one of several festival goers who streamed into Sunrise, some of them bleeding and brought to the hospital by private vehicles.
The Strip will be closed down until at least 7 a.m., a Metro officer said.
The Associated Press and Reuters contributed to this story. This is a breaking story. Please check back for more information.