********* — There was ***** at ******** Bay Hotel and Casino as SWAT teams used explosives to get into the hotel room where the suspect behind the deadliest **** ******** in modern U.S. history was inside.
The ****** perched on the 32nd floor of a ********* casino last night, unleashing a shower of bullets on an outdoor country music festival below and ******* at least 50 people as tens of thousands of concertgoers ran for their lives. More than 400 ******* have been taken to the hospital, authorities said.
SWAT officers using explosives stormed the ******’s hotel room and found he had ****** himself, authorities said.
There was no immediate word on the motive for the ******. The U.S. Homeland Security Department said there was no “specific credible ******” involving other public venues in the U.S.
Country music star ************ was performing Sunday night at the end of the three-day ******** Harvest Festival in front of a crowd of 22,000 when the ****** opened **** from inside the ******** Bay Hotel and Casino.
The ****** was identified as Stephen Craig *******, 64, of Mesquite, NV.
Two Canadians who witnessed a **** ******** at an outdoor ******* in ********* say that at first, they thought the sound of ******** was fireworks.
Monique Dumas of B.C. says she was six rows from the front of the stage when the ******** broke out.
She says she thought she heard a bottle breaking, and then a burst of popping sounds she thought was fireworks.
Ashley Fowler of Newfoundland told the radio station K-Rock in St. John’s, N.L., that everyone in the crowd thought the noise was fireworks until the performer on stage dropped his microphone and ran.
Global Affairs Canada did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the number of Canadians who may have been affected by the ********.
According to the ********* Visitor Authority, visitors from Canada made up nearly half of international tourists who arrived in the city by air last year.
As the bullets ran rampant, thousands in the crowd fled in every direction. Dumas said it was “organized *****” as everyone fled. “It took four to five minutes and all that time there was *******.”
In addition to *******, ****** said they located a woman who may have been his roommate: **************, 62.
****** shut down the usually busy ********* Boulevard and authorities across the state and federal ranks converged on the scene as dozens of ambulances ferried those struck by *******. Nearby Interstate 15 and flights at McCarran International Airport were briefly closed.
********** has revised its ticketing policy for customers booked on affected flights to facilitate changes to bookings, in effect all day today, Oct. 2. “Those customers wishing to make alternate travel arrangements can do so without penalty, space permitting, using our online rebooking tool: check your alternate travel options currently available; re-book yourself and check in before arriving at the airport. Prior to leaving for the airport, please check your Flight Status, or call **********’s automated flight information system at 1-888-422-7533. ********** Vacations Customers must contact ********** Vacations directly for rebooking or for travel alternatives at 1-800-296-3408.”
WestJet is advising all passengers travelling to or from ********* Oct. 2 – 4 to check the status of their flight prior to leaving for the airport.
Jose Baggett, 31, of *********, said he and a friend were in the lobby of the Luxor hotel-casino – directly north of the festival – when people began to run, almost in a stampede.
He said people were crying and as he and his friend started walking away minutes later, they encountered ****** checkpoints where officers were carrying shotguns and ******* rifles.
“There were armoured personnel vehicles, SWAT vehicles, ambulances, and at least a half-mile of ****** cars,” Baggett said.
With files from The Associated Press and The Canadian Press
