IndiaToday.in | Edited by Dev Goswami
New Delhi, October 2, 2017 | UPDATED 21:23 IST
The mass shooting in Las Vegas is the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. A 64-year-old man gunned down at least 58 people near Las Vegas's Mandalay Bay casino in a country that has grappled with an unfortunate history of mass shooting.
More than 50 people were killed after a gunman rained fire on a 22,000-strong concert crowd in Las Vegas, Nevada on Sunday REUTERS/Las Vegas Sun/Steve MWith at least 58 people killed and 515 injured, the Sunday night (US time) mass shooting in Las Vegas, Nevada has become the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.
The shooter literally rained fire on his targets - a group of concert goers in Las Vegas, the town known for its vibrant nightlife and 24x7 casinos. The shooter, identified as 64-year-old resident of Nevada Stephen Paddock, was perched on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas.
From there, Paddock rained fire on a 22,000-strong crowd gathered at a concert across the street. The shooting began at around 10:08 pm Sunday night (US time) and Paddock targeted a a performance by country music star Jason Aldean at the Route 91 Harvest Festival.
Distressing videos from the Las Vegas mass shooting showed concert goers inadvertently becoming sitting ducks as lied down on the ground, not realising that the bullets were coming from up above.
VIDEO: A concertgoer captures the moment when a gunman opens fire on a concert in Las Vegas, killing more than 50. https://t.co/dorpLMQR7F
- The Associated Press (@AP) October 2, 2017
An unceasing barrage of gunfire was heard in at least one of the videos, underscoring the sheer deadliness of the mass shooting near Mandalay Bay casino. At least 58 people were killed and an estimated another 515 were injured, officials said.
The shooter - Paddock - killed himself before SWAT teams that stormed the casino could reach the room he was in. It was earlier reported that Paddock was eliminated in police action, however, officials later clarified that the Las Vegas shooter had killed himself by the time police entered the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino room.
The death toll, which has crossed 50, is the worst for a mass shooting in modern US history. The US has a history of mass shootings, which critics say is because of the country's lenient gun laws.
US mass shootings.Las Vegas, 2017: 50+ killedOrlando, 2016: 50 killedVirginia Tech, 2007: 32 killedSandy Hook, 2012: 27 killedSan Ysirdo, 1984: 21 killedSan Bernadino, 2015: 14 killedEdmond, 1986: 14 killedFort Hood, 2009: 13 killedColumbine, 1999: 13 killed
- The Spectator Index (@spectatorindex) October 2, 2017
Sunday's shooting in Las Vegas will undoubtedly reignite debate over America's gun laws. What will perhaps make the debate more heated is the fact that the Mandalay Bay casino mass shooting was the deadliest in modern US history.
Before this, the June 12. 2016 Orlando massacre, classified by American authorities as a terrorist act, was the worst mass shooting in modern US history. Omar Mateen, a 29-year-old American, opened fire at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida, killing 49 people and wounding more than 53.
Nearly a decade earlier, 32 people were killed on the campus of the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University in Blacksburg, Virginia. 23-year-old student Seung-Hui Cho went on a shooting spree on April 16, 2007, killing 32 people before turning the gun on himself.
The most enduring mass shooting in US history, however, is the Sandy Hook massacre. Adam Lanza, barely out of his teens, shot dead 20 children between the ages of six and seven and six adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Connecticut on December 14, 2012. Lanza killed himself moments after gunning down the children and school staff.
Other mass shootings in US that claimed a significant number of lives include the 1991 murder-suicide at a cafe in Texas that killed 24 people, including the shooter, and a mass shooting at a McDonald's outlet in California that resulted in the deaths of 21 people.
The Texas tower shooting of 1966 is another incident that remains etched in America's history of mass shootings.
That shooting was eerily similar to Sunday night's Las Vegas mass shooting. A student of the University of Texas clambered on to the top of a tower that housed the institute's library and rained fired on his victims on the ground. The shooting resulted in the deaths of 16 people.
Another mass shooting that attracted lasting headlines in the US was the June 17, 2015 shooting at a African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina. Dylann Roof, 21, shot and killed nine members of the church and was later sentenced to death in the shootings.
The Charleston shooting particularly stood out because it combined two issues that continue to vex the US till this day: race and guns.
(With inputs from agencies)