A gunman who fired upon thousands of people attending a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip has killed more than 50 people and wounded more than 200, police say. At least one of the dead is an off-duty police officer who was attending the concert. The suspect in the case is also dead.
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Gunfire at the multi-day Route 91 Harvest concert was reported around 10:08 p.m. Sunday night, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said at a news briefing. He later added that the shooter, acting as a "lone wolf," has been identified as Stephen Paddock, 64, a resident of Nevada.
The violence is now being called the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, and the tragic death toll seems likely to rise. The June 2016 shooting at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Fla., killed 49 people.
"Obviously this is a tragic incident, and one that we've never experienced in this valley," Lombardo said. One goal now, he said, was to "get our first responders back on their feet" and conducting a full investigation.
The sheriff also shared the number of a hotline people can use to check on their loved ones: a missing persons hotline at 866-535-5654.
President Trump said via a tweet, "My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting. God bless you!"
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Little is known about the suspected gunman. As Casey Morell of member station KNPR reports about Paddock, "He lived in a town called Mesquite — which is about 90 minutes north of Las Vegas" in Clark County.
Officers confronted the suspect on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino and a SWAT team used an explosive to breach the room, Lombardo said. He said multiple weapons were found in the room; he did not identify the guns other than to call them rifles.
Two on-duty police officers were injured during the shooting, the department says, adding, "One is in stable condition after surgery and the other sustained minor injuries."
In the initial hours after the shooting, the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said they were looking for Paddock's female companion, Marilou Danley. Early Monday, the department said, "we are confident we have located the female person of interest." It also located two vehicles associated with Paddock: a Hyundai Tucson and a Chrysler Pacifica.