Vegas shootings shock America
and country music
C
ountry music suffered a blow, as did all
America, when a lone gunman situated
on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel
& Casino in Las Vegas, opened fire on some
22,000 fans at an all-star concert headlined by
Jason Aldean, Oct. 1.
Besides assailant Stephen Paddock, who
committed suicide following his shooting
rampage, there were 58 known deaths and
more than 500 wounded. Artists and attendees
alike scrambled, seeking safety at the outdoor
Route 91 Harvest Festival, which offered scant
space for cover.
Paddock, 64, busted out two of the hotel’s
secured windows with a hammer, enabling
him to fire automatic assault weapons with
telescopic sights into the crowd, located
some 400 yards below. Hotel reps said he had
checked in Sept. 30.
First responders were hampered somewhat
by frightened fans trying to capture the melee
with cell-phones, making it difficult for the
police and rescue teams to determine where
the shots came from.
Assisting the county sheriff and local police
were FBI agents, as victims were rushed to
nearby hospitals for ER treatment. “Tonight
has been beyond horrific,” tweeted Aldean,
Oct. 1. “I still dont (sic) know what to say but
wanted to let everyone know that Me and my
Crew are safe. My Thoughts and prayers go
out to everyone involved tonight. It hurts my
heart that this would happen to anyone who
was just coming out to enjoy what should have
been a fun night.”
Reportedly Paddock was a regular visitor
to the gambling capitol, and was known as a
high roller who bet many thousands of dollars.
He met his girlfriend Marilu Danley, 62, a
Filipino native, there where she had been a
casino hostess. Police learned she had been
in the Far East at the time of the shooting,
traveling on an Australian passport, and
allegedly had recently deposited $100,000 in a
US bank in the Philippines.
She returned Stateside Oct. 4 as ‘a person
of interest,’ undergoing extensive questioning
by officials, hoping to find out what may have
set Paddock off, and perhaps why he had
purchased more than 50 weapons in five states,
including high-powered rifles and machine
guns utilised in his Oct. 1 shooting spree, just
prior to taking his own life.
Younger brother Eric Paddock disclosed
that through real estate sales and his gambling,
Stephen was worth in excess of $2 million
dollars and living with Danley in a Mesquite,
Nev. retirement community some 60 miles
from Vegas, but he also owned property in
Reno, another gambling mecca.
Although ISIS tried to take credit for the
tragedy, authorities indicate it was a more likely
a domestic terrorist act committed by Paddock
alone.
In 2012, he sued another Vegas casino after
slipping on its floor, but a judge threw that suit
out in 2014. As the shooting began, Ald ean
was the final act to perform, and was into his
fifth song - When She Says Baby - as he heard
the popping sound, and scurried off-stage.
On Instagram, Aldean, 40, father of two
daughters and expecting a baby with new wife
Brittany, sent the following message in part:
“Over the last 24 hrs I have gone through
lots of emotions. Scared, Anger, Heartache,
Compassion and many others. I truely (sic)
dont (sic) understand why a person would
want to take the life of another... Something
has changed in this country and in this world
lately that is scary to see... At the end of the
day we arent (sic) Democrats or Republicans,
Whites or Blacks, Men or Women, we are all
humans and we are all Americans and its (sic)
time to start acting like it and stand together
as ONE.”
Aldean returned to the stage on Oct 12 in
Tulsa, OK.
NOVEMBER 2017 - cmp 5