Las Vegas shooting kills 59; couple recalls nightmare trying to save themselves

At least 59 people were killed and 525 others injured after a gunman opened fire on Sunday night, at a country music festival across the street from the 32^nd floor Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip, authorities said.

According to a report in the Los Angeles Times, the FBI says there is no evidence of a connection to international terrorist groups, despite a claim of responsibility by Islamic State. The suspect, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock of Mesquite, Nevada, was found dead when a SWAT team burst into the hotel room from which he was firing at the crowd. The suspect’s brother said the family is in shock and that Stephen Paddock ‘has never even drawn a gun.’

Although police are yet to determine the reason for the killings, officials who searched the gunman Paddock’s property in Mesquite found 19 additional firearms, some explosives and several thousand rounds of ammo, along with some electronic devices are being evaluated at this point. They also found ammonium nitrate in his car.

President Donald Trump called the incident ‘an act of pure evil’ and has called for national unity. Several celebrities also took to social media to pay tribute to the victims of the Las Vegas attack. A GoFundMe page has also been started by Steve Sisolak, the Clark County Commission Chair from Las Vegas, who also spent time with the victims and their families at the level-one trauma centre.

Speaking to The Los Angeles Times, Chino couple Anthony Crisci and Jessica Leonard recall the horror they went through at the music festival in the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history – At first they thought it was firecrackers, and it was only when singer Jason Aldean ran off the stage did they realize what was happening. Anthony yelled at his fiancé to get down, and then threw himself on top of her to protect her; they were two of the thousands of concertgoers on the ground, too shocked to move a muscle. The atmosphere was quiet for a moment, and then they heard shots being fired again. Anthony instructed Jessica to run, but she was too scared and kept pulling him down, after which he turned around and saw a woman being shot in the stomach.

“We have to run, we have to get out of here, otherwise we’re sitting ducks”, he said. The pair then ran among a sea of abandoned shirts, purses, hats and other belongings, and took shelter behind a water cooler. The shooting then started hitting the cooler, and the couple decided it was time to start running again. In the process, Jessica tripped and fell. Anthony stopped to pull her up and they started running again, which is when Anthony realized that he had been shot and was bleeding from his left thigh. Jessica too was shot above her right rear pocket, which left her with a blood-coated phone. When Anthony could no longer move, Jessica, with the help of two strangers, dragged him by his arms and made it to the streets.

As the ambulance pulled up, some men got out and lifted Anthony into the pickup bed with at least 15 other people, most of who were also injured. Anthony also saw a woman with brown curly hair, eyes shut, and later on realized she was dead – an image that has been continuously haunting him. The ambulance was so crowded that his legs dangled off the doors as it made its way past busy streets to the Desert Springs Hospital Medical Center. Even as the couple will eventually recover and get back to their normal lives, the events keep replaying in their heads.

The incident has left 58 dead and over 500 injured. The deceased include a nurse, a special needs teacher, a Manhattan Beach Police records’ technician, a lawyer, and a Disney employee.