RIP, Victims of Las Vegas Mass Shooting

I will talk in more detail about the Las Vegas shooting later, likely in the days and perhaps weeks to come.

 

It was shocking how quickly this shooting went from a violent incident where a few were confirmed dead and dozens injured, then to 20 and over 100 injured, and then to over 50 with over 200 injured. The last count had 59 people confirmed dead, with over 500 injured, either from the shootings themselves, or being trampled on as people tried to make their escape.

 

The news seemed sketchy at first, but the facts are beginning to grow clearer as the day goes on.

 

This happened at a country music festival, the final act of a three-day event. We usually here that people at first thought it was firecrackers, and that was the case again this time. There was confusion, and people were not certain what to make of it. I heard that the music stopped briefly, and then even resumed for a short while.

 

But then, it became clear that this was a deadly situation. People would hit the ground when the shootings would start - and periods of sustained shooting. There were moments when it would stop, presumably as the shooter, Stephen Paddock, would reload. During those moments, people would try to make their way out of the fenced in area where the concert was being held, and then they would crouch down again once the shootings would resume.

According to reports from what people who were there were saying, the shooting last quite a long time. I read estimates of anywhere between seven to ten minutes, and some people on the original new reports in NPR were suggesting that it felt like 10 to 15 minutes, that it just kept going and going for what seemed like forever.

 

Paddock has checked into his room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel, right on the Las Vegas Strip, on Thursday evening. He broke the windows and then shot upon the mass of people down below. There was no prior indication of mental instability, violence, or criminal activity. Nothing to indicate that he was about to commit such an act. His family expressed shock, and also suggested that there were no real indications that he was about to commit anything like this at all. He had seemed totally normal, and his brother even suggested that Stephen had possibly not even gotten so much as a parking ticket.

 

Now, he will go down in history, or rather, in infamy, as the man responsible for the biggest mass shooting in modern American history...for now.

 

My heart and thoughts go out to the victims, their friends, and their family.