Tragedy at an outdoor country music venue, the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, Nevada Sunday night October 1st. Bursts of an automatic weapon submachine gunfire reportedly was heard for more than five minutes coming from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino on the "strip". There are 100+ plus injuries, currently 20+ deaths among the possible 30,000 concert goers, including some police officers.
A Clark County Sheriff's news conference announces the shooter is dead, he is a local Las Vegas resident they believe to be the sole actor, name withheld -- that there are no bombs -- motivation not known. Sheriff is seeking search warrant so they can search the shooter's home. The public's assistance is requested to locate a named Asian female of interest who is his friend or companion and identified two automobiles they want help locating.
Consult your news source for updates and final accounts.
Though now discounted, at one point there had been speculation there was more than one shooter, reports of possible shooting in other hotels. Authorities did shutdown Interstate 15 Freeway which is the primary route east of my community and the primary Southern California route to Las Vegas. Flights to McCarran International Airport were being diverted to our nearby Ontario (CA) International Airport.
Los Angeles TV stations went live from Vegas in their news programs with video and witness accounts of this atrocity just as I was going to retire for the night. I immediately thought of friends coincidentally spending the weekend there to attend their young grandson's performance in a school play. I am confident they and their musician son's family are not at risk as they would not have been attending this festival, but does bring home how fragile life can be.
Once again I'm baffled by the prevailing gun culture in the States and how normal it is for people to own not just a gun but a whole heap of firearms. The murder-by-gunfire rate in the States is staggering.
ReplyDeleteI know, Nick, it’s mind-boggling how individuals can so easily obtain an army of weapons with such limited restrictions.
DeleteFifty dead and 200 injured now. I can't believe how often this senselessness is happening! Terrible.
ReplyDeleteNumbers of people just incredible!
DeleteWow, again with a mass shooting! I just woke up and heard about this. Can't wrap my head around it. The world is going to hell for sure.
ReplyDeleteTrue lack of humanity in some among us.
DeleteStill trying to process this as the death total and injured numbers climb. We really need to work on our gun laws. That man had enough firepower to start a war. My heart goes out to the victims and their families.
ReplyDeleteWill this nation finally take action against weapons such as this, is the question, as you ask.
DeleteGun laws
ReplyDeleteGun laws
Gun laws
I hear you, John, Maybe.....this time.....it will be enough for others to hear, too.
DeleteForces are at work on both sides trying to tear our country apart. We need to stop hating each other, & find a way to peacefully coexist. That is the only solution. Stop letting radicals (both sides) and bots (from any source) infiltrate us and make us hate each other. Hate is never the answer.
ReplyDeleteSo true that forces, including at the highest level, are trying to upend our system of government. Extremists on both ends of the continuum are hoping to usurp control over our nation if only they can incite revolution and inject themselves into leadership as often happens in such a violent state. We need to address individual issues not political parties and their ideology which often has different meaning even within their own party. There’s no place for hate.
DeleteIf measures weren't taken after Sandy Hook, they never will be. And now they're proposing silencers on these massacre machines so the killers can't be identified right away.
ReplyDeleteTake back your country from the NRA.
XO
WWW
We have to wonder what actions, if any, will be taken by this Congress whose majority of Representatives are so financially indebted to the NRA. Even one of Congresses own nearly lost his life in an earlier shooting, not to mention one from their opposing political party years earlier. What does it take?
DeleteMy classmates left for Las Vegas last Thursday. Las Vegas is considered Hawaii's 9th island. When we heard about this, it made our blood run cold. We really need to get rid of guns, but I've almost given up since the NRA contributes so much money to Republican congressmen.
ReplyDeleteNews of this shooting really disconcerting and even moreso if you had someone in town at the time, too — wondering about their welfare.
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