White gunman rains fire on crowd of concertgoers in Las Vegas Strip, killing 58 and wounding 515; Islamic State claims responsibility
A 64-year-old man armed with more than 10 rifles rained down gunfire on a Las Vegas country music festival on Sunday, slaughtering at least 58 people in the largest mass shooting in US history, before killing himself.
A victim lies on the ground covered with blood at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after the shootout. Pics/AFP
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The barrage from a 32nd-floor window in the Mandalay Bay hotel into a crowd of 22,000 people lasted several minutes, causing panic. Some fleeing fans trampled each other as police scrambled to find the gunman. More than 500 people were injured. Police identified the gunman as Stephen Paddock, who lived in a retirement community in Mesquite, Nevada, and said they had no sense of what prompted his attack.
Thousands of panicked people fled the scene, in some cases trampling one another
The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the massacre, but US officials expressed scepticism of that claim. In its claim, IS said the gunman was a recent convert, according to their news agency Amaq. Its claim did not include the gunman's name and showed no proof.
People hug and cry after the mass shooting
Police said they had no information about Paddock's motive, that he had no criminal record and was not believed to be connected to any militant group. Paddock killed himself before police entered the hotel room he was firing from, said Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo. There was reason to believe that Paddock had a history of psychological problems, an official said.
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