More than 20 people were killed when a gunman opened fire into a country music festival from the 32nd floor of Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on Sunday night, police said.
Sheriff Joseph Lombardo told reporters in a news conference that more than 100 people had been injured.
Police responded to reports of the shooting just after 10 p.m. (1 a.m. ET), and later killed the suspected gunman in Mandalay Bay Resort, he added.
Police were searching for a woman who had been traveling with the unnamed suspect — a local resident, said Lombardo.
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Earlier, police shut down the area and urged the public to stay away. Flights in and out of the airport were temporarily halted.
The final night of the three-day Route 91 Harvest Music Festival was taking place at Las Vegas Village, an outdoor venue, when police said they were investigating reports of an "active shooter near/around Mandalay Bay Casino." The concert was being held across the street from the casino.
Las Vegas police stand guard outside the grounds of the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival on Oct. 1. David Becker / Getty Images
Meghan Kearney was at the festival when the shooting broke out.
“We heard what sounded like firecrackers going off. Then all of a sudden we heard what sounded like a machine gun. People started screaming that they were hit… When we started running out there were probably a couple hundred [people] on the ground,” she told MSNBC.
People run from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival near Mandalay Bay after apparent gun fire Sunday night in Las Vegas, Nevada. David Becker / Getty Images
"People kept dropping and dropping… People were getting shot one foot away from us," she said. “People were trying to save their friends. There were gunshots everywhere. Helping them would’ve meant that we got shot too.”
Keep us in your thoughts - its a very difficult and tragic evening for a lot of people #prayforvegas, #PrayForLasVegas #vegasshooting #vegas pic.twitter.com/7WjYRdHhx1 — Clark County Nevada (@ClarkCountyNV) October 2, 2017
Jon Bessette said he was attending the festival when he heard gunshots around 10:00 p.m.
"The band ran off stage and it was pandemonium," said Bessette. "Everyone was running, people were getting trampled."
Several artists performing at the music festival also reported hearing gunshots.
Gun shots!!! Vegas. Pray to god. Love you guys. Love you Pearl. — Jake Owen (@jakeowen) October 2, 2017
Active shooter at @Route91Harvest in Vegas. We're safe. Love you guys. — Luke Combs (@LukeCombsMusic) October 2, 2017
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
drfrazercrane on October 2nd, 2017 at 07:41 UTC »
If you are a tourist with nowhere to go right now, they are opening up the Thomas and Mac center for you
Roy_G_Biv_Mika on October 2nd, 2017 at 07:15 UTC »
Automatic gunfire from a high vantage point into a huge crowd of innocent people. That's just evil.
mjst0324 on October 2nd, 2017 at 07:07 UTC »
Good point by MSNBC just now: some of the reports of armed men entering casinos are probably SWAT or cops entering hotels to clear them and being called in by (understandably) panicking civilians.