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A shooting took place during the 2017 Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas early Monday morning (Oct. 2). At least 50 people are dead and more than 200 were injured.
CNN reports that a single shooter, who has been identified as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, was, police believe, positioned in a hotel room and shooting from above the crowd, gathered outside the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino at Las Vegas Village. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police shot and killed him. Police have also identified a woman who was traveling with Paddock and is believed to be an accomplice in the shooting.
Jason Aldean, who was headlining the final night of the three-day festival, was performing when the shooting began, shortly after 10PM local time. Chris Young and Jake Owen were both also among those at the festival when the incident began. They tweeted out messages to their families and fans while taking cover.
“We were close to the stages — about six rows from the front on the lefthand side, and [Aldean] was just performing,” concert attendee Rachel Dekerf describes to CNN. “The gunshots lasted for 10-15 minutes. It didn’t stop. We just ran for our lives.”
Dekerf’s sister, Monique Dumas, who attended with Dekerf, adds, “The band was rushed off the stage, the floodlights came on the crowd, and you see on the right hand of the stage the person who was injured, so they’re calling for medics, calling for security, then there was gunfire again.
“It seemed there was a pause in the gunfire, and the people in the yellow shirts were telling the people to ‘go, go, go, go’” she adds. “The gunfire never ended. It seemed like it went on and on and on.”
Other artists who performed at the Route 91 Harvest Festival, which ran Sept. 29-Oct. 1, include Sam Hunt, Eric Church, Maren Morris, Brothers Osborne and Luke Combs.
The Boot will update this story as more details are made available.
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