Las Vegas vigils chime for lives cut short in mass shooting
October 3, 2017 by admin
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A motion graphic explaining how the events unfolded when Stephen Paddock opened fire from his hotel room on concert goers at the Route 91 Harvest music festival near the Mandalay Bay resort and casino on the Las Vegas Strip.
Ramon Padilla, Janet Loehrke George Petras, Jim Sergent USA TODAY
LAS VEGAS — Fifty-nine times the gong sounded, each bellow echoing off the sharp white walls of the Guardian Angel Cathedral on the Las Vegas strip. Some beats were harsh, like there was anger in the mourner’s swing. Others were faint, as if they could barely muster the strength.
But every beat of the gong, loud or soft, represented the same thing – a life cut short.
“This evening, I am grateful to all who we have all come together,” said Bishop Joe Pepe, of the Diocese of Las Vegas, as he wiped away tears Monday night. “In the face of this tragedy, we need each other.”
This gong was sounded over and over in front of about 300 mourners at a multi-faith vigil in Las Vegas just one day after the deadliest mass shooting in American history. Gunman Craig Paddock, 64, opened fire on a country music festival from a hotel room window on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay resort, killing at least 59 and injuring over 500 people.
At least a few of the people at Monday’s vigil had been at the festival when the gunshots began, and most knew someone who had. Through dozens of conversations with Las Vegas residents, it became clear that most everyone knew someone – a loved one, a co-worker, a friend of a friend – who had been hurt in the attack.
“It was a 50-50 chance we could’ve been a that concert last night,” said Tobi Thomas, whose daughter had a friend that narrowly escaped. “It’s devastating. It’s sad. It’s scary. I’ve just been in bed all day.”
The vigil offered a comfort to residents like Thomas. Mourners sat among tall stained glass windows and colorful murals as they listened to religious leaders from the city’s Catholic, Jewish, Protestant and Muslim communities.
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The cathedral sits sandwiched between the massive Encore casino and a strip mall with a hookah lounge, a souvenir shop and an all-you-can-eat buffet. An all-gold Trump tower loomed across the street, glistening in the sunset as the vigil began.
This was Las Vegas in a nutshell, and community leaders urged the mourners not to let it change.
Stephen Sisolak, Clark County Commission chairman, insisted that the heavy-armed gunman could have attacked anywhere, but it was preparedness of Las Vegas Metropolitan police and casino security had prevented a tragedy far worse. Sisolak praised the city’s first responders, but also its everyday folk, who had responded so generously that “now you can’t get an appointment to donate blood until next week.”
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But Sisolak drew the largest applauds of the night when he announced that a Go Fund me page designed to raise money for the families of the shooting victims had raised more than $1.8 million as the time of the vigil.
“Las Vegas will never be quite the same as a result for this,” Sisolak said during the vigil. “But it doesn’t matter if this is Las Vegas, Los Angeles, Little Rock or Lansing, Michigan. This could have happened anywhere. … We cannot let the heinous acts of one individual effect our lives.”
Another vigil, this one at City Hall, opened in prayer.
“It’s a heavy heart we are gathered today,” began Pastor Troy Martinez. “We combine strength and salvation and look to Jesus. He is the Shepard that will carry the sheep.”
Surrounded by various city, religious and public safety leaders, Mayor Carolyn Goodman addressed her city and the dozens who had come out weep together and pray for those who had been killed and injured in the shooting.
“Our city has a broken heart,” Goodman said. ”Everyone in his community has been touched by the loss of these lives and the horror at Mandalay Bay by a sick, horrible human being.”
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She said she is grateful to see the citizens give back in the dire times, along with leaders from across the country, including the governor of Connecticut where the Sandy Hook shooting occurred and the Mayor of Orlando where the shooting at Pulse nightclub had happened.
“These are my folks,” said U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nevada, telling the crowd that her office will continue to act as a clearinghouse of information to the public.
The community will “grieve today” before moving forward and “start talking about why we don’t need one more moment of silence in Congress for victims of gun violence,” Titus said.
Clark County schools Superintendent Pat Skorkowsky said the decision to hold school Monday was to make sure students had resources available to them.
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A woman working at the Route 91 Harvest in Las Vegas describes the scene as shots rang out, turning a country concert into the deadliest mass shooting in recent U.S. history.
USA TODAY
“It was about not having students sit at home alone watching TV and not having someone to talk to, … not having an adult to which they could come to grips with the tragedy,” Skorkowsky said.
The district has offered counselors to the community, he said, to assist victims to process the events that unfolded at Mandalay Bay and to also help parents speak to children about what happened.
Maria Aguilar, 59, watched as the leaders spoke. Though she is originally from Mexico, Aguilar said Las Vegas is her home. Her niece works at Mandalay Bay but was luckily off on Sunday when the shooting happened.
“Words can’t explain my relief. But of course, I am still devastated,” Aguilar said, adding that she had come to city hall to show respect for those who were not as fortunate as her family.
Her granddaughter, she said, had tried to buy tickets for the festival. She was unsuccessful. It was “another blessing.”
Chelsea Maidman was working at Planet Hollywood when she suddenly saw droves of people running by the hotel. Then they went into lockdown, she said.
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Sean Bean, of Livermore, Calif., hugs his girlfriend, Katie Kavetski, of San Leandro, Calif., left, as Travis Reed, of Mexico, Ind., right, comforts his girlfriend, Anna Travnicek, second from right, on Las Vegas Strip. All attended the concert where the mass shooting occurred.
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Rumors swirled. There were two shooters on the loose. There was a bomb. People were repeating unverified information they heard on police scanners, causing chaos, Maidman said. While hiding in the basement, she texted all her friends who could have been on the strip during the time of the shooting.
“I felt sick to my stomach. We had no idea what the truth was,” she said.
One by one, Maidman received texts from those who said they were alright.
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42 guns, loaded high-capacity magazines found in Vegas shooter’s hotel room and Nevada home
October 3, 2017 by admin
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A total of 42 guns were found in the suspected Las Vegas shooter’s hotel room and house, police said Monday night.
Las Vegas Police Department Assistant Sheriff Todd R. Fasulo said that 23 guns were found in the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino room where suspected shooter Stephen Paddock fired into a crowd, and 19 were discovered out of his Mesquite, Nevada home.
Multiple loaded high-capacity magazines were found in the hotel room, law enforcement sources said earlier on Monday.
Among the guns and ammunition police found the in the room being used by Paddock were some high-powered rifles considered capable of penetrating police armor. There were also some handguns in the room.
The additional ammunition indicates that the shooting, which left 59 people dead and injured over 500, could have been worse, had police not intervened when they did. Police believe that Paddock took his own life.
A modified bump stock rifle was also found, which allows a gun to simulate rapid automatic gunfire. Law enforcement officials are still in the process of examining firearms to determine if they were capable of firing automatically.
One official said Paddock had a camera mounted in the room, apparently to record himself.
In a separate location searched by authorities, tannerite, an explosive used in target practice, was found, sources said.
Earlier, Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said there were at least 10 rifles in the room but noted that the investigation was still underway.
The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives released a statement announcing that it is “currently conducting an urgent trace on firearms recovered from the scene in Las Vegas.”
The shooting is the deadliest in modern U.S. history.
John Locher/APA gun shop owner in Mesquite confirmed to ABC News that he sold guns to Paddock, but he did not specify how many and whether they were the ones used in the shooting.
“We mourn for this tragedy and our thoughts and prayers are with the families of the lost and injured,” said Christopher M. Sullivan, the general manager of Guns Guitars, Inc.
“Mr. Paddock was a customer and purchased firearms from our store; however, all necessary background checks and procedures were followed, as required by local, state, and federal law. He never gave any indication or reason to believe he was unstable or unfit at any time. We are currently cooperating with the ongoing investigation by local and federal law enforcement in any way we can,” Sullivan said.
Guns Guitars, Inc., sells semi-automatic weapons but not fully automatic weapons.
Another gun store owner confirmed to ABC News he also sold a shotgun to Paddock in February.
Chris Michel, owner of Dixie Gunworx, told ABC News Paddock came into his store three times total. “He was an average everyday Joe Blow guy,” said Michel. “I remember his face, his name, him coming in.”
The purchase was “legal in every way,” Michel added, saying he is in touch with law enforcement.
John Cohen, a former Department of Homeland Security undersecretary who previously worked as a police officer, said that recordings of the shooting suggest that the shooter used an automatic weapon.
“Listening to the video, it sounds like the weapons were fully automatic,” said Cohen, who is now an ABC News consultant.
He said that when a gun is automatic, that means “you pull the trigger once and rounds are fired in rapid succession.”
“[The bullets] were coming out very quick, and you heard a large number of shots very quickly. That would be very difficult to do with anything other than an automatic weapon,” Cohen said.
“It’s not legal to purchase a fully automatic weapon, but it’s not that difficult to convert legal semiautomatic weapons so that they are fully automatic,” he said.
ABC News’ Pierre Thomas, Jack Date, Mike Levine and Lauren Pearle contributed to this report.