Las Vegas Strip shootings leave 2 dead and 24 hurt

Reports on a shooting incident at the Mandalay in Las Vegas were still coming in as we went to press Monday morning, with local media reports indicating that at least two people had been killed and 24 injured.

The shootings occurred late Sunday night Vegas-time as the Route 91 Harvest Festival of country music neared completion near the Mandalay Resort Casino, with initial accounts from witnesses describing muzzle flashes from the upper floors of the hotel and casino across Las Vegas Boulevard from the festival, and the sound of prolonged automatic gunfire.

With the G2E conference and expo starting this week in Las Vegas, many online gambling people are in the city.

Police quickly established control of the surrounding area, locking the precinct down whilst emergency teams arrived on the scene to attend to the wounded.

Some flights destined for McCarran Airport were diverted due to the reported shooting, according to the airport.

Video footage posted by members of the public on social media showed panicking crowds, with the sound of automatic gunfire in the background.

Reportage on the incident continues.

UPDATE:

Several police press conferences later, reporters were informed that the shooter was a 64-year-old man resident in nearby Mesquite named Stephen Paddock.

He was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound in a 32nd floor room at the Mandalay, where he had been staying since 28 September. Police reported that he had 8 firearms in the room.

The casualty list was also steadily updated and had reached over 50 dead and over 406 wounded by dawn Monday Las Vegas time…the largest mass shooting in US history.

The FBI is assisting local police in investigating the incident and trying to establish what motivated the shooter.