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A lone gunman showers concertgoers attending “Route 91 Harvest Festival” with a barrage of gunfire killing at least 59 attendees and leaving another 527 wounded shortly after 10pm Sunday night on the Las Vegas strip, abruptly ending a night of country music with sheer chaos and terror as spectators trample one another in attempt to flee the ruthless reign of evil, unwarranted violence.
Identified shooter Stephen Paddock, 64, of Mesquite, Nevada hailed a storm of gunfire from his 32nd story hotel room at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino into a crowd of about 22,000 people in attendance for the country music festival just outside the hotel, deeming this tragic occurrence the deadliest mass shooting in American history. Law enforcement officials are investigating this as a “lone wolf” attack and said that Paddock does not have any ties to any international groups of terror, nor have they identified a motive for this heinous act of violence.
Authorities later discovered Paddock dead from a self inflicted gun wound in the 32nd floor hotel room along with an entire arsenal of over a dozen high power firearms. He allegedly used a hammerlike object to shatter the hotel windows so he could open fire on the masses below.
The assailant’s brother, Eric Paddock described his brother as “just a guy” to the Daily mail , and supposes “something happened, he snapped or something.” Then later confirms Stephen Paddock didn’t have any political or religious affiliation, ruling out an act of terror as any active motive for the Sin City slaying.
“This individual was described as a lone wolf; I don’t know how it could have been prevented” Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo told reporters during a press conference on the following Monday. “We didn’t have any prior knowledge to this individual. It wasn’t evident that he had any weapons in his room.”
The unpreventable nature of this fateful bloodbath poses a great deal of stress and paranoia for any largely populated gathering. Las Vegas has yet to announce what they plan to do to prevent situations like this from reoccurring, but organizers for the Tennessee based music fest Mempho Music Festival have decided to further review their security and safety policies in light of the massacre in Las Vegas. “In light of the events in Las Vegas, were reviewing our plans to make sure we’ve taken every step to ensure visitor safety” organizers said in a joint statement released by Mempho and Shelby Farms Park.
With a fully loaded festival agenda in Las Vegas and across the U.S, it is expected that security measures and procedures are due to be revised and enhanced to prevent future catastrophe from ensuing in such settings.
