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Festival Turns Into Tragedy

Jasmine Tabler
Grace Thomas
This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Texas chapter.

(Source: The Intercept)

 

Thousands of people from across the country attended the Route 91 Harvest Festival – a festival where a variety of country acts, including Eric Church and Sam Hunt, performed over a span of a three-consecutive-day weekend from Sept. 29 to Oct. 1. At around 10 p.m. on Sunday, Oct. 1, Jason Aldean had just started performing “When She Says Baby” when rapid-fire bursts were shot at the crowd of 22,000 people. About 400 feet away from festival grounds, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock was firing from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino. Fifty-eight people were killed and around 500 were injured that night by Paddock, making it the deadliest mass shootings in American history.

 

(Source: ABC News)

 

Six minutes before the mass shooting took place, Paddock shot hotel guard Jesus Campos in the leg through the door of his suite. Officials estimate about 200 rounds were shot into the hallway and said Paddock had cameras mounted outside his hotel suite. He first shot at Campos when the guard appeared to check up on an alert for an open door on another guest’s room. After being shot, Campos called hotel officials to warn them about the gunman.

 

When police got to the hotel, rooms were searched one-by-one, starting on the 29th floor, for the suspect. When they were finally able to locate the room Paddock was in, he had already fired his final shot at the crowd two minutes prior and had killed himself.

 

Stephen Paddock

(Source: New York Times)

 

Investigations led to the discovery of 23 firearms in Paddock’s suite and an additional 19 in his home, along with some explosives, several thousand rounds of ammo, and ammonium nitrate, a substance that can be used to make bombs. Some of the firearms found in Paddock’s suite were modified to become fully automatic according to Sheriff Joseph Lombardo of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department. Rapid-fire sounds heard in videos posted by witnesses indicated at least one weapon was fully automatic. Also found in the suite was what officials described as a stockpile of survivalist equipment, which included a bullet-resistant vest and tracer rounds.

 

According to Gun Violence Archive, there have been 278 mass shootings in the United States this year, which is only six short from being equal to one mass shooting every day of 2017. After this unexpected tragedy in Las Vegas, there is more pressure on passing gun control laws to prevent another mass shooting to this degree from taking place again. Celebrities and political figures have made it known what their opinion on the already controversial debate, most in favor of the gun control laws.

 

A perfectionist majoring in Journalism and Public Relations at the University of Texas at Austin. Loves BTS, traveling to new places, and sleeping.
Grace is a Philosophy and Economics double major and a Government minor at the University of Texas at Austin. Most of her writing focuses on politics and civic engagement, characteristically intertwining her journalism with op-ed takes (usually nonpartisan; depends who you ask). Grace enjoys reading philosophy, reading and discussing politics, gushing over her dog, and painting in her spare time. As a true economics enthusiast, she also loves graphs.