Las Vegas Mass Shooting: At least 50 Dead and Hundreds Injured

(Photo: Metro.co.uk)

At least 50 concert-goers in Las Vegas are believed to have died and hundreds more injured when a gunman opened fire on a country music festival near the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino on the Vegas strip, with poker player Dan Bilzerian caught up in the horrific attack.

The ‘lone wolf’ shooting as described by police took place when country music star Jason Aldean was performing last night at the Route 91 Harvest Festival – automatic gunfire ringing out among the 40,000 strong crowd, the gunman believed to have been firing from an upper floor of the casino.

High-stakes poker player Dan Bilzerian was among those caught up in the attack, the 36-year-old recording as he ran from the scene of the massacre, saying: “holy fuck, this girl just got shot in the fucking head” adding “so fucking crazy” before the recording, shared on Snapchat, cut out.

On his Instagram page Bilzerian continued to discuss what he witnessed in graphic detail:

"It's so crazy, some kind of mass shooting. Guy had a heavy calibre weapon for sure. Saw some girl get shot in the face right next to me, her brains fucking hanging out. This is so fucking crazy. I had to go grab a gun, I'm fucking heading back.”

Police shot dead the assailant on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel, but not before he had fired hundreds of rounds into the crowd, police unwilling to say exactly how many were dead or injured from the attack, but at least 50 losing their lives to the gunman.

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department wrote on Twitter, ‘Confirming that one suspect is down. This is an active investigation. Again, please do not head down to the Strip at this time’, and urged people to not to ‘live stream or share tactical positions of our officers on scene. This may put emergency responders in danger’.

The chaotic scenes during the shooting and in the aftermath saw hospital emergency rooms jammed with victims delivered by ambulance while others loaded the wounded into their cars and drove them to hospitals, according to AP reports.

Jason Aldean, who was performing towards the end of the festival when the shooting began, stated that “Tonight has been beyond horrific,” and that the shooting “hurt his heart”, posting his thoughts and prayers on Instagram…

Tonight has been beyond horrific. I still dont know what to say but wanted to let everyone know that Me and my Crew are safe. My Thoughts and prayers go out to everyone involved tonight. It hurts my heart that this would happen to anyone who was just coming out to enjoy what should have been a fun night. #heartbroken #stopthehate

A post shared by Jason Aldean (@jasonaldean) on Oct 2, 2017 at 1:17am PDT

Among the poker fraternity, Mike ‘The Mouth’ Matusow was one of the first to tweet about the attack, although it’s not clear where his information was coming from…

…although he added information about what was allegedly found in the gunman’s room high up in the Mandalay Bay Hotel…

According to Associated Press reporters in Vegas, ‘SWAT teams quickly descended on the concert and the casino, and officers used explosives to get into the hotel room where the suspect was inside, authorities said. The gunman died at the scene and was identified by Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo as 64-year old Stephen Paddock although his ‘motive was not immediately known’.

Police have also apprehended his room-mate, 62-year old Marilou Danley and are investigating her possible involvement in the shooting. With a huge part of the Vegas strip and beyond put on lockdown as people fleed the scene, Matusow tweeted a ‘poker player’s’ view of what to expect following the attack…

…although the majority of commenters have been focused on those who lost their lives while attending a music concert in what has been described as ‘the worst mass shooting in US history’, pulling Matusow up about his tweets…