"Large-scale tragedy": Events marking the anniversary of the Las Vegas shootings at the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival



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LAS VEGAS –

A dark sunrise ceremony began Monday in Las Vegas with survivors, families of victims, first responders and elected officials remembering the lives lost a year ago when an armed man opened fire on a crowd attending a concert in modern American history.

Several hundred people gathered in an outdoor amphitheater at an event that began with a prayer and words from Nevada Governor Brian Sandoval.

"Today, we remember the unforgettable.Today, we comfort the inconsolable," said Sandoval. "Today, we are reminded of the pain that never really disappears."

Remember the victims of the Las Vegas shootings

Among the participants who offered prayers, songs and speeches at the event, there was Mynda Smith.

She remembered her sister, Nyesa Davis Tonks, who pronounced her name "Neesha" and who was a 46-year-old single mother from the Salt Lake area and raised three boys in Las Vegas. Smith said that his sister was energetic, adventurous, a fan of all kinds of music.

"I want to get the message out of life to the fullest," Smith said. "We are very grateful to our community, the love and support we have received and being" Vegas Strong "."

Smith has created a scholarship fund for victims' children and says she has reached relatives of almost all the dead. Thirty-three were from California, six from Nevada, four from Canada and 12 from other US states.

"It was a grief every time," Smith said. "It was a great tragedy, we have a long way to go, but we have to move forward with love and light."

Many people who cheered Jason Aldean's title on the Las Vegas Strip at the end of October 2017, later said that they thought the crack-crack-crack that they were hearing was a fireworks.

On the other side of neon-lit Las Vegas Boulevard, a player became a shooter with what the police later called a meticulous plan, but an unknown reason fired for 11 minutes from the 32nd floor windows of the building. Mandalay Bay Hotel. . Police said that he then put a gun in his mouth and committed suicide.

Medical examiners then determined that the 58 deaths were due to shots. Another 413 people were injured and police said at least 456 people were injured fleeing the carnage.

A group of 58 doves will be released at the Daybreak Memorial, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo was also scheduled to speak, but he was not to provide answers to what prompted Stephen Craig Paddock to shoot. of fire.

Lombardo said that the police investigation had ended in August. He published a report saying that hundreds of interviews and thousands of hours of investigative work found no motive, no plot and no other shooter.

A final report from the FBI, including a behavioral analysis of Paddock, is expected by the end of the year.

Another report, released last month by the Federal Emergency Management Agency, concluded that the communications were noisy and that police, firefighters and doctors were overwhelmed by 911 calls, misinformation and number of victims.

The Las Vegas police continue to publish weekly documents collected as a result of the court-ordered attack as part of a lawsuit against the media. Included are investigative materials, 911 sound recordings, police reports, witness statements and many hours of video footage shot by the police officer.

Unanswered in the 21 lots posted so far: What prompted a former accountant, real estate investor, small plane pilot and video poker player at the 64-year limit to mount an arsenal and attack a concert crowd?

Paddock was characterized by the police as a loner without religious or political affiliation who became obsessed with guns, spent over $ 1.5 million in the two years preceding the shooting and distanced himself from his girlfriend and his family.

A forensic accountant recently valued the value of Paddock's estate at just under $ 1.4 million. Paddock's mother said that the money should go to the victims. A disbursement plan has not yet been established.

Paddock's gambling habits have made him a sought-after casino client. For several days, Mandalay Bay employees easily let him use a service lift to bring suitcases after $ 590 per night for free. The room had a breathtaking view of the Strip and the concert grounds of Route 91 Harvest Festival, just across the street.

After opening the windows, Paddock fired 1,057 shots in 11 minutes, police said.

Arson shots hit the airport fuel tanks but did not catch fire. He sprayed gunshots through the door of his suite, injuring a hotel security guard in the leg. Paddock may have seen the guard arrive with a camera on a service cart in the lobby, police said.

On Las Vegas Boulevard, uniformed policemen were squatting near patrol vehicles in the heat of fire. Windows is broken. An officer was hit on the arm. Another was shot in the neck. Both survived.

Officer Charleston Hartfield, who was out of duty to attend the concert, was killed.

Sixty-four minutes after the shooting stopped, an SWAT officer charged with explosives blew the door off the Paddock hotel room. The agents found him dead on the ground with pistols and scattered ammunition clips. The curtains floated beside broken windows.

The sirens cried. Foreigners took wounded spectators in vans driven by volunteers who snuck through traffic jams to hospitals.

Paddock left life-saving equipment and thousands of ammunition in the room and bomb-making equipment in his car parked in the Mandalay Bay jail area. Police said they did not leave any suicide note or manifest.

(Copyright © 2018 by Associated Press Inc. All Rights Reserved.)

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