LAS VEGAS (AP) -- The Clark County sheriff says 59 people are dead and more than 500 people injured after a shooting late Sunday at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival on the Las Vegas Strip.
6 On Your Side has confirmed that Jason Hammond of Emmett is one of the injured and is currently awaiting surgery in Las Vegas. Hammond was attending the concert with his wife and friends.
Sheriff Joseph Lombardo says they discovered the gunman was on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel located across the street from the festival and when officers found the room, they found the suspect dead. The sheriff has identified the man as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock from Mesquite, Nevada. Investigators say they found as many as 10 guns in the room. Investigators believe he was the only shooter, describing him as a "lone-wolf" type. Sheriff Lombardo says 18 more guns and "explosive devices" were found at a home Paddock owned in nearby Mesquite, Nevada.
Police had been looking for a person of interest in connection with the attack but they no longer believe she had anything to do with the attack.
The FBI also says Paddock had no connection to an international terrorist group.
The announcement from Special Agent in Charge Aaron Rouse at a news conference this morning comes after the Islamic State group claimed responsibility for the attack without providing evidence. The extremist group claimed that the shooter was "a soldier" who had converted to Islam months ago. It has made exaggerated or false claims in the past.
Authorities have yet to identify a motive for the shooting.
Sheriff Lombardo says one off-duty officer has died, two on-duty officers were also injured.
Authorities have not released any of their identities.
Several officers from California were attending the outdoor festival when the gunman opened fire. A Bakersfield Police officer was shot and taken to the hospital with non-life threatening injuries.
There were an estimated 22,000 people in the crowd when the shooting began.
A concert-goer says he heard what sounded like fireworks while he was watching Jason Aldean's performance at the festival.
Thirty-six-year-old Kodiak Yazzie said the music stopped temporarily and started up again before another round of pops sent the performers ducking for cover and fleeing the stage.
As the 40,000 fans in the crowd began to flee, Yazzie took cover and said he saw flashes of light coming from the Mandalay Bay hotel tower high above.
The bursts of pops would start and stop for more than five minutes. He says he saw dozens of ambulances as he ran for safety. He later got a Lyft driver to take him home to suburban Henderson.
Concert-goers reported seeing muzzle flashes from the upper floors of the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino across Las Vegas Boulevard from the festival and the sound of what they described as automatic gun fire.
For families looking to locate missing loved ones, please call 1-866-535-5654.
— LVMPD (@LVMPD) October 2, 2017
Witnesses say they saw multiple victims Sunday night as they fled the gunfire raining down on the concert venue.
President Donald Trump has extended condolences to the victims of the shooting in Las Vegas and their families on Twitter.
My warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible Las Vegas shooting. God bless you!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) October 2, 2017
White House spokeswoman Sarah Huckabee Sanders said Trump was "briefed on the horrific tragedy in Las Vegas."
Sanders said that "we are monitoring the situation closely."
