Las Vegas Massacre

The saying "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas" is, for now, inapplicable.  Once again, we all woke to the news of another mass shooting.  A deranged man named Stephen Craig Paddock began shooting at a crowd from his hotel room on the 32nd floor at the Mandalay.  The people present were there for a Country music concert.  Performer Jason Aldean was onstage as the shooting began.  On video taken by participants at the concert, one can hear what sounds like numerous firecrackers exploding in the background.

Participants had no idea what was going on until about 30 seconds had passed according to some interviewed by the media.  At first, they believed the sounds were part of the show.  Jason Aldean himself was not sure what was going on and was looking back at the band, possibly to check if it was a sound feedback problem.

In the end, over 50 people were killed and over 500 injured.  The tragedy was called "evil" by President Trump. He ordered flags to be set at half-staff until Friday.  Many took to social media to debate the topic of gun control after the tragedy. Others, criticize the actions of Jason Aldean who ran off stage instead of leading concert goers know via the microphone that there was a shooting taking place.  For a time, a woman named Marilou Danley was a person of interest. Her photo was posted online with requests to locate her.  It is not clear what her connection to the shooting is.  At first, she was located and news reports stated that she was no longer a person of interest.  However, the latest police presser stated that she is a person of interest and is in the Philippines.   Conflicting reports claim that she had warned concert goers that they were going to die. However, it is not clear if this was Danley or another woman.

The brother of Paddock, Erick Paddock is shocked at what his brother did.  He stated that Paddock had no religious affiliation; possibly an atheist, and just had fun gambling and staying at hotels.  He is said to have gambled tens of thousands a day at casinos.  He was retired, but also has an arrest record for being a bank robber.  To date, there is no information on what his motive was.  Earlier reports claimed that ISIS took credit for the shooting.  However, the authorities refuted those claims stating that there is no Islamic terrorism involved.  Paddock was found dead from an apparent self-inflicting gunshot wound. 

A Gofundme was set up to help victims of the shooting. To donate, go to: https://www.gofundme.com/dr2ks2-las-vegas-victims-fund. 

I will update this post as I learn more details.  Let us pray for all involved. This news is just heartbreaking.





Source:

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/las-vegas-police-investigating-shooting-mandalay-bay-n806461/

http://abcnews.go.com/US/las-vegas-shooting-death-toll-rises-59-apparent/story?id=50223240

https://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/las-vegas-shooting/stephen-paddock-las-vegas-shooting-suspect-identified-n806471

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/10/02/us/stephen-paddock-vegas-shooter.html

https://www.axios.com/suspects-brother-he-had-no-religious-or-political-affiliation-just-hung-out-2492022978.html

https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/4592774/las-vegas-shooting-marilou-danley-with-stephen-paddock/

http://wjla.com/news/nation-world/police-woman-of-interest-connected-with-mass-shooting-in-las-vegas-believed-to-be-located

https://coconuts.co/manila/news/police-locate-filipino-american-woman-named-person-interest-las-vegas-mass-shooting/

http://www.syracuse.com/us-news/index.ssf/2017/10/las_vegas_shooting_die_tonight_woman.html

https://www.gofundme.com/dr2ks2-las-vegas-victims-fund