Police in the U.S. city of Las Vegas say at least 50 people have been killed in what may be the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history.
A lone gunman opened fire with an automatic rifle from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel toward an outdoor country music festival late on October 1, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo told the media in Las Vegas on October 2.
Lombardo named the suspect as Stephen Paddock, a 64-year-old resident of Las Vegas, a prominent gambling and entertainment center in the desert in the state of Nevada. Authorities said he fired for several minutes before he killed himself as officers stormed the room where 10 guns were found.
The extremist group Islamic State (IS) later claimed responsibility for the attack through its Amaq news agency, and said the shooter had converted to Islam “a few months ago.” It provided no evidence.
Lombardo said that Paddock was not believed to have been connected to any militant group.
Authorities said that a total of 406 people were hospitalized. It was not clear whether that figure included anyone who was later pronounced dead.
They said they have located 62-year-old Marilou Danley, who apparently was Paddock's roommate and who was wanted as a person of interest in this incident.
Calling the mass shooting "an act of pure evil," President Donald Trump said that the country is joined together in "sadness, shock, and grief." He also said he would travel to Las Vegas on October 3.
The death toll, which police said was preliminary and tentative, would surpass the record toll of 49 people killed by a gunman at a nightclub in Orlando, Florida in June 2016. The perpetrator of the attack, who was killed in a shoot-out with the police, had pledged allegiance to IS, which later claimed responsibility.
