More than a half-dozen Southern California law enforcement and fire department officials were among those injured in the massacre at the Route 91 Harvest Country Music Festival on the Las Vegas Strip, the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.
At least two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department employees, two Los Angeles Fire Department firefighters, an Orange County sheriff’s deputy, a Los Angeles police officer and two Newport Beach employees, including an off- duty police officer, and were wounded in Sunday night’s shooting. A gunman perched on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino unleashed hails of bullets on fans watching the festival as headliner Jason Aldean performed.
Law enforcement officials in Las Vegas said Monday morning at 58 people were killed and 515 wounded by the lone gunman, who was identified as 64- year- old Stephen Paddock of Mesquite, Nevada. An FBI official in Las Vegas said Paddock did not appear to have any connection to terrorism, despite a reported claim of responsibility by the terrorist group ISIS.
Paddock’s ex-wife lives in Cerritos, and she apparently called the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department after news of the shooting broke. The woman, who isn’t speaking publicly, told deputies she was married to Paddock for six years, but they’ve been divorced for more than two decades, sheriff’s officials told reporters at the scene.
One Los Angeles County sheriff’s employee was shot during the melee and was listed in critical condition Monday, while a second was displaying stable vital signs, as was an LAPD officer who was at the event, according to Southern California authorities.
(CNS)
