At least 50 people have been killed with over 200 more injured during a mass shooting at Las Vegas music festival Route 91 Harvest Festival, Sheriff Joe Lombardo confirmed.
A gunman, who has been identified as a 64-year-old white man Stephen Paddock, opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel toward an open-air music festival.
Police also confirmed that the gunman has been shot dead by police. However, they also confirmed that they are searching for a “person of interest” who was a companion travelling with the suspect.
Sheriff Joe Lombardo said police believed the shooting was a “lone wolf” but are looking for an Asian female named as Marilou Danely.
“We do have a suspect down” police confirm during latest update on #LasVegas shooting, where there are “numerous victims” pic.twitter.com/79iP8uMVbf
— Sky News (@SkyNews) October 2, 2017
Marilou Danley is being sought for questioning re the investigation into the active shooter incident. If seen please call 9-1-1! pic.twitter.com/Z83XvcHejH
— LVMPD (@LVMPD) October 2, 2017
An eyewitness Bryan Heifner told CNN how he witness the tragic events unfolding: “Mostly I heard the shots, just so many shots — I just thought it was a semi braking with the air brakes, but then I went downstairs and saw people running and looking for family,” he said.
“I immediately went back to my room, locked the door, turned the lights off.”
Another witness , Mike Thompson from London, told the BBC that he saw people running in total panic: “One man had blood all over him and that’s when I knew something was seriously wrong,” he said.
“People were running and there was chaos.”
Footage captures gunfire, sirens and screams during the deadly Las Vegas shooting (AUDIO) https://t.co/EDAZkUlsTc pic.twitter.com/MtXWGYWIuU
— RT (@RT_com) October 2, 2017
WATCH: Las Vegas shooting eyewitness describes to @mattgutmanABC how a young man “died in his arms.” https://t.co/xEYmw25IVL pic.twitter.com/LIlw9BssBj
— Good Morning America (@GMA) October 2, 2017
Country singer Jason Aldean was performing at the time of the attack which took place outside the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino showed. The festival, which had been running since Friday, was in it’s final night of the three-day event when gunfire began to rain down.
Several SWAT teams arrived at the hotel and quickly found the gunman before killing the suspect. “Confirming that one suspect is down. This is an active investigation. Again, please do not head down to the Strip at this time,” the police tweeted.
Harrowing video of mass shooting during @Jason_Aldean set of #Route91Harvest Festival in #LasVegas. #MandalayBay https://t.co/gaXgDBbZKV
— Evan Schreiber (@SchreiberEvan) October 2, 2017