Silence. Then screams erupted: How panicked fans scrambled for their lives as gunman sprayed hundreds of bullets into 20,000-strong Las Vegas concert crowd
By Chris Pleasance
Daily Mail·
4 mins to read
Subscribe to listen
Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Chaotic scenes as gunfire stops a concert and people flee for their lives
Warning: This article contains distressing images
One moment they were dancing at a country music concert, they next they were fleeing for their lives from the worst mass shooting in US history.
Haunting videos captured the moment joy turned to bloody tragedy for thousands of music fans as they werecut down by staccato volleys of machine gun fire in Las Vegas.
The wounded were rushed to safety on office chairs, in wheelbarrows, and in trucks and cars as the carnage unfolded, the MailOnline reported.
Russell Bleck, who witnessed the attack on the Route 91 Music Festival, told how some people plugged bullet wounds with their fingers.
Haunting videos captured thousands of country music fans attempting to flee the carnage in Las Vegas after Stephen Paddock, 64, opened fire on the Route 91 Harvest Festival. Photo / Twitter / Snapchat
Hundreds of rounds of gunfire were reported by witnesses on the scene; one woman said that there was a shooter on the 32nd floor, and that they had killed a security guard. Photo / Getty
A man lays on top of a woman as others flee the music festival grounds. She appears to be alive and moving. Photo / Getty
He told NBC News: "I saw a lot of ex-military jump into gear and start plugging bullet-holes with their fingers.
"While everyone else was crouching I saw police officers standing up as targets, just trying to direct people and tell them where to go.
"The amount of bravery I saw there, words can't describe what it was like."
Speaking about the moment gunman Stephen Paddock opened fire, he added: "He was just spraying the crowd, it was relentless, there was no stopping, maybe five or eight seconds to move from cover to cover to try and get out as he reloaded."
Police say at least 58 people died and more than 515 were injured after Paddock, 64, attacked concertgoers with an "arsenal" of weapons from a room inside the Mandalay Bay Resort.
The wounded were rushed to waiting ambulances on anything that concert-goers could find, including a wheelbarrow. Photo / AP
A man in a wheelchair, apparently in distress, is taken away from the festival in the wake of the shooting. Photo / Getty
People assist a wounded woman at the Tropicana hotel, which is located close to where the Route 91 festival was being held. Photo / AP
First responders and bystanders carry an injured person to an emergency station located at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Ave - one block north of the shooting. Photo / Getty
People scramble over barriers to get to safety as the gunfire rages on at the Las Vegas event. Photo / Getty
Paddock was shot dead after police breached the room and got into a firefight with him.
Two officers were wounded, one of whom required surgery.
Footage from the scene shows people hitting the ground near the front of the stage, either wounded or in an attempt to hide, as gunfire is heard in the background.
The shots can be heard getting louder and quieter as Paddock indiscriminately sprays a stream of bullets from side to side.
A police officer takes cover behind a police vehicle during the shooting near the Mandalay Bay resort; people take cover at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival. Photo / AP / Getty
Other videos show thousands of people streaming away from the venue. Those unable to escape curl up behind whatever cover they can find.
Some described watching their loved ones die in their arms.
Brianna Hendricks, who was at the concert earlier in the night but had returned to the Mandalay Bay before the massacre took place, told Dailymail.com: "It was terrifying, we heard constant gunfire."
Another witness, who asked not to be named, added: "I was in room 135 and I heard over the police scanner that the shooting came from room 137.
Derek and Karen Bernard, from Los Angeles, California, were in town for the Route 91 country festival and were close to the stage when the shooting began.
"We were inside," said sales manager Derek, 53. "All of a sudden, we saw the band disappearing - they were like running off the stage.
"We were off to the left side of the stage, we were running off there and there were staff security there.
"There was a woman bleeding - that's when we realised it was real shots. She just fell. She was shot. There was a lot of blood.
"It was so many - it sounded like 4th of July - just pop, pop, pop, pop, pop. So many. I didn't think it was real because I couldn't see or feel anything. I was so panicked."
People carry a person at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after the gunman opened fire. Photo / Getty
Police officers stop a man who drove down Tropicana Ave, near Las Vegas Boulevard, which had been closed after the mass shooting.
Karen Bernard, a retired teacher, added: "We heard shots fired, it sounded like firecrackers. We thought it was part of the concert.
"People were saying get down, get down and so we did. It was like mass havoc, panic; people were trampling over each other trying to get down.
"People were saying get behind the stage, get down and we crawled behind the stage. The shots started coming much louder and closer."
Describing their escape, she added: "We jumped behind the stage. Someone made a ramp up to the top of the wall - we crawled, jumped and they caught us. We didn't know where to go. There was just an exodus of people."
