How to help and find loved ones. Please share #PrayforLasVegas pic.twitter.com/v0xaV3SAIm
— City of Las Vegas (@CityOfLasVegas) October 2, 2017
Last night marked another tragic milestone in the history of gun violence, with the most deadly mass shooting in modern U.S. history unfolding in Las Vegas. There’s a lot of information floating around, so we’ve condensed things down to what you need to know, as well as some info on how you can potentially help out.
The latest total is that at least 50 people were killed in the incident, with over 400 hospitalized (now updated to 58 killed, 515 injured) after gunman Stephen Paddock, 64, opened fire on a crowd of about 22,000 country music festival attendees in Las Vegas, near Mandalay Bay. Paddock was holed up in a hotel room, across the street, on the 32nd floor. There’s no news yet on any motive, but Paddock has been killed (apparently by himself, as police closed in), and it doesn’t currently appear that there’s danger of more violence. Police sought, and located, a woman named Marilou Danley, who does not appear to have been involved in the attack, in connection with Paddock. It seems he simply used her identification to check into his hotel.
To check on friends and loved ones who may have been in the area, police suggest using Facebook’s safety check feature or calling 1-866-535-5654. There’s a family reunification center at the metro headquarters at 400 S. MLK Blvd., building B.
For anyone who would like to help, blood donations are needed for those still struggling with injuries in the hospital:
Where we can go donate blood to help #Vegas victims
Or make an appointment here https://t.co/50wYsYQVKh pic.twitter.com/UYttADh9up— Juan Cardenas (@Desautomatas) October 2, 2017
How to help and find loved ones. Please share #PrayforLasVegas pic.twitter.com/v0xaV3SAIm
— City of Las Vegas (@CityOfLasVegas) October 2, 2017
Meanwhile, Buzzfeed has a hoax tracker to help you keep from falling for false info:
BuzzFeed is tracking all the hoaxes already being spread online about vegas shooting. https://t.co/rE3l63gaD1
— E McMorris-Santoro (@EvanMcS) October 2, 2017
There’s been an outpouring of emotion and analysis on social media, with plenty of criticism of gun laws—and of those who don’t think the aftermath of an incident of gun violence is the right time to talk about solutions to gun violence. It seems that Paddock used an automatic weapon due to the horrifying rate of fire. However, whatever the case of this incident, it’s hard to argue that anything would be improved if gun laws were more relaxed, though the GOP is still at work trying to do just that:
House GOP could pass legislation this week to:
1. repeal restrictions on gun silencers
2. allow concealed carry across state lines
— igorvolsky (@igorvolsky) October 2, 2017
Whatever the solution to gun violence is, we should all be able to agree that it’s not that.
‘No Way To Prevent This,’ Says Only Nation Where This Regularly Happens https://t.co/LMg4mj6LFn pic.twitter.com/FZuB4iWFOi
— The Onion (@TheOnion) October 2, 2017
(image: City of Las Vegas)
Want more stories like this? Become a subscriber and support the site!
—The Mary Sue has a strict comment policy that forbids, but is not limited to, personal insults toward anyone, hate speech, and trolling.—
