2017 Las Vegas shooting
On October 1, 2017, a mass shooting occurred when 64-year-old Stephen Paddock opened fire on the crowd attending the Route 91 Harvest music festival on the Las Vegas Strip in Nevada from his 32nd-floor suites in the Mandalay Bay hotel. He fired more than 1,000 rounds, killing 60 people[a] and wounding at least 413. The ensuing panic brought the total number of injured to approximately 867. About an hour later, he was found dead in his room from a self-inflicted gunshot wound. The motive for the shooting is officially undetermined.
"Las Vegas shooting" redirects here. For other uses, see Las Vegas shooting (disambiguation).2017 Las Vegas shooting
Paradise, Nevada, U.S.
Audience of the Route 91 Harvest music festival
- 14 .223-caliber AR-15-type rifles
- Eight .308-caliber AR-10-type rifles
- .308-caliber bolt-action rifle
- .38-caliber revolver
61 (including two victims who died in 2019 and 2020, and the perpetrator)
≈ 867 (413+ by gunfire or shrapnel)
Unknown
The incident is the deadliest mass shooting by one gunman in American history. It focused attention on firearms laws in the U.S., particularly with regard to bump stocks, which Paddock used to fire shots in rapid succession, at a rate similar to that of automatic firearms.[4] Bump stocks were banned by the U.S. Justice Department in December 2018, but the constitutionality of the ban remained under review until 2022, when the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear the case, leaving the ban in place.[5][6]
Background
Location
The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard immediately south of the city of Las Vegas in Clark County, Nevada. The Strip is known for its concentration of casinos and resort hotels, including the 43-story Mandalay Bay southwest of its intersection with Mandalay Bay Road, in the unincorporated town of Paradise.[7]
Las Vegas Village, a 15-acre (6-hectare) lot used for outdoor performances, was located diagonally across the intersection to the northeast and owned by MGM Resorts International.[7][8] From 2014 onward, the venue hosted the annual Route 91 Harvest country music festival. The 2017 festival ran from September 29 to October 1, with over 22,000 attendees on the final day.[8][9][b]
Victims
Dead
There were 60 deaths, not including that of Paddock. The immediate dead comprised 58 victims—36 women and 22 men—all of whom died from gunshot wounds.[64] The oldest was 67, and the youngest was 20.[65][66] Thirty-four were from California; six from Nevada; four from Canada; two from Alaska and Utah; and one each from Arizona, Colorado, Iowa, Minnesota, Massachusetts, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Washington, West Virginia, and Wisconsin.[67] Thirty-one of the victims were pronounced dead at the scene, while twenty-seven died from their wounds at the hospital,[16] with the last of those dying on October 3, two days later.[1] Paddock's suicide was the only death at the Mandalay Bay Hotel.[64][68][69]
A 57-year-old woman from California, who had been paralyzed in the shooting, died more than two years later on November 15, 2019.[70][71] On August 24, 2020, the San Bernardino County medical examiner officially attributed her death to the shooting, though the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) declined at the time to include her in the official death toll.[1] The LVMPD also initially declined to include a 49-year-old Nevada woman who died from complications of a leg wound on May 26, 2020.[2] The department revised its decision, however, and on October 1, 2020, included both women in the count.[3] In 2023, a probate case determined that the shares of Paddock's estate would be distributed among the families of 61 victims, though the attorney who handled the case declined to disclose the identity of the 61st person or how they died.[72] The Las Vegas Review-Journal reported that the 61st person was a survivor who died by suicide after the shooting.[73]
The incident is the deadliest mass shooting committed by an individual in the United States, exceeding the death toll of the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting, in which 49 people were killed.[64][74][75]
Injured
Approximately 867 people were injured, at least 413 of them with gunshot wounds or shrapnel injuries.[29][76] In the aftermath, many victims were transported to area hospitals, which included University Medical Center of Southern Nevada, Sunrise Hospital & Medical Center, and at least one of the six hospitals of Valley Health System.[77][78][79] Sunrise Hospital treated the largest portion of the wounded: 199 patients,[80] 150 of whom arrived within about 40 minutes.[81] University Medical Center treated 104 patients.[82] Additionally, six victims sought medical treatment in Southern California; UC Irvine Medical Center treated four and Loma Linda University Medical Center treated two.[83] Many victims of the shooting required blood transfusions, which totaled 499 components in the first 24 hours of treatment. This blood was rapidly replaced by available blood from local and national blood banks.[84]
University Medical Center, the Level I trauma center in Las Vegas, was difficult to access for the more than 50 percent of patients transported by private vehicles because Interstate 15, the most direct route from the shooting location, was closed to the public. Also, an erroneous emergency services announcement made one hour after the shooting reported UMC had reached capacity and was on diversion. This confusion persisted for several hours and led to most patients being transported to Sunrise, a Level II trauma center.[84]
On the morning after the shooting, lines to donate blood in Las Vegas stretched for blocks, and wait times were as much as six hours or more.[85] In Las Vegas alone, 800 units of blood were donated to the local blood bank in the days following the shooting, and the American Red Cross reported a 53% increase in blood donation in the two days following the shooting.[84] It was later reported that over 15% of the blood donated in Las Vegas after the shooting went unused, prompting questions about the benefit of widespread calls for blood donation following mass shootings.[86] Millions of dollars have also been raised to help victims and their families.[87]
Recipients of Awards for Bravery
Civilian
Martin Heffernan, Assistant Scoutmaster, was honored by Boy Scouts of America for demonstrating unusual heroism and extraordinary skill in saving or attempting to save a life at extreme risk to self with the Honor Award with Crossed Palms.[88]
Brittany Speer, an EMT at UCLA, received a Medal of Courage from the University of California Police Department (UCPD) for her bravery in setting up a triage area and treating victims while the shooter was still active. She is the only civilian in medical services to receive this honor.[89]
Military
Trooper Ross Woodward, a British soldier from the 1st The Queen's Dragoon Guards, who was off-duty at a nearby hotel when the shooting began, was awarded the Queen's Commendation for Bravery for his actions during the event.[90] His citation stated that "he consciously, deliberately and repeatedly advanced towards danger, moving people to safety and treating casualties".[90]
Matthew Cobos, a U.S. Army soldier, received the 2018 Single Act of Heroism Award from the Congressional Medal of Honor Society for shielding and providing life saving medical treatment to injured concert-goers. An image of Cobos protecting a young woman, by photographer David Becker, went viral and he was later identified by the Army.[91][92]
Sgt. Austin Cox and Sgt. Michael Vura, helicopter mechanics with the U.S. Marines at Camp Pendleton, received the Navy and Marine Corps Medal, the highest noncombat decoration awarded for heroism by the Department of the Navy, for braving gunfire to save victims and get them out of the line of fire.[93]
Petty Officer First Class Brian Mazi, with the U.S. Navy, who was attending the event with his wife, was awarded the Navy and Marine Corps Medal for his actions.[94]
Sgt. Chasen Brown with the Utah Army National Guard was awarded the Medal of Valor for saving at least half a dozen other concert-goers. For 60–90 minutes after the shooting stopped, he continued to assess and aid casualties.[95]
Police
Detective Conor O'Donnell of the Rhode Island State Police, who had attended the event with his girlfriend, was awarded a service ribbon.[96]
The San Diego Police Department honored nine officers and two detectives from their department who were vacationing separately in Las Vegas. Detective Michael Vo and Officers Thomas McGrath, Mark Williams, Max Verduzco and Richard Barton received the Medal of Valor for their actions in treating the wounded, creating escape routes, and shielding concert-goers. McGrath was also presented the Lifesaving Medal by Jonathan Smith, a civilian who survived a gunshot wound to the neck due to McGrath's quick actions. Detective Scott Gosnell and Officers Caitlin Milligan, Eric Hansen, Bryan Johnson, William Hernandez Jr. and Braden Wilson received the department's "Exceptional Performance Citation" for assisting concert-goers and helping them escape the venue.[97]
Investigations
Early reports
Officials from the FBI and the ATF responded to assist in the investigation.[98] According to authorities with the Clark County Commission, the name "1 October" was declared the official title for investigations into the mass shooting.[99]
Investigators found hidden surveillance cameras that were placed inside and outside the hotel room, presumably so Paddock could monitor the arrival of others.[100] The cameras were not in record mode.[101] Police said a handwritten note found in the room indicated Paddock had been calculating the distance, wind, and trajectory from his 32nd floor hotel suite to the concertgoers he was targeting on the festival lot.[102][103]
At a press conference on October 4, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo stated there was evidence—which he declined to discuss—that Paddock intended to escape the scene, and that he may have had assistance from an accomplice.[104] Investigators searched Paddock's room and found a "bulletproof vest" and breathing apparatus, neither of which was used by Paddock.[105]
There have been several changes in the official account and timeline of Paddock's shooting of hotel security guard Campos. Police officials described these adjustments as "minute changes" that are common in complex investigations.[38]
In their first statement about the incident, police officials inaccurately reported that Campos arrived on the scene after Paddock began firing into the crowd. In a second statement, police officials reported, again inaccurately, that Campos was shot six minutes before Paddock began firing into the crowd. That report had been based on a 9:59 p.m. notation in a hotel security log, which in a third statement was determined to have been the time when Campos encountered the barricaded door.[37][39]
Sheriff Lombardo dismissed allegations that the changing timeline was the result of some kind of conspiracy between the police department, the FBI, and MGM Resorts International saying, "Nobody is attempting to hide anything in reference to this investigation. The dynamics and the size of this investigation requires us to go through voluminous amounts of information in order to draw an accurate picture."[37]
Preliminary investigation
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department released a preliminary report on the event on January 18, 2018.[9]
Police speculate that Paddock acted alone and have not determined his motive. No links have been identified to any hate groups, terrorist groups or ideologies, and he did not record a reason for his actions.[106]
On February 2, 2018, Douglas Haig, an Arizona ammunition dealer, was charged in a Nevada federal court with "conspiracy to manufacture and sell armor-piercing ammunition without a license" after his fingerprints were discovered on unfired armor-piercing ammunition inside Paddock's suite.[107] He was sentenced in June 2020 to 13 months in prison.[108]
Final investigative report
On August 3, 2018, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo held a press conference on the release of the LVMPD Criminal Investigative Report of the October 1 Mass Casualty Shooting. He said the 10-month investigation had revealed no evidence of conspiracy or a second gunman, and that the gunman's motive had not been definitely determined. Lombardo said "What we have been able to answer are the questions of who, what, when, where and how... what we have not been able to definitively answer is why Stephen Paddock committed this act."[109] A report published by the FBI's Behavioral Analysis Unit in January 2019 said that "there was no single or clear motivating factor" for the shooting.[110]
Aftermath
Misinformation, fake news, and conspiracy theories
Following the shooting, misinformation and fake news about the shooter's identity and motive went viral on social media: