Las Vegas Tragedy

[JPL]

To all of the people in Las Vegas our thoughts and prayers go out to you. It is just so mind boggling how anyone could do anything like this. Why? We will probably never really know.

LV Teacher we are still planning on being out there about the 11th. Hope that we can still hook up for a cool one. We will be in Mesa this morning  (w/o the 5er) and back to ABQ thurs. Then on to Vegas so we hope this" Heart Breaking Tragedy" can still let us get there.

Again our thoughts and prayers are all of the people of Las Vegas.    Pat

 

 

The Old Sailor  

[SuiteSuccess]

I agree. Prayers are with the families. 

[Bobi and Dick McKee]

Both of our kids were at the concert.  When our son stood up to see what he thought were fireworks the and next him was shot in the head. They are ok, but I worry and pray about the long term affect it will have on our son and his wife.  Our daughter and her fiancé left a little early to avoid the crowd. When the they all called last night and I knew they were ok I got on my knees and thanked the Lord for protecting them.  I was a officer in Las Vegas for 30 years and am so proud of all the first responders.

[Vegas Teacher]

Hello All!

I did not know anything about what happened until I woke up this morning. I am O.K. and my family is O.K. I think stuff like this makes us stop and think about how our lives can change in a heart beat even when we feel safe. 

JPL looking forward to that cold one!

Also I can't talk for all of Las Vegas but your thoughts a prayers for the tragedy that happened and to those poor families dealing with this is greatly appreciated. The Vegas community will make it through this we are resilient.

Later,

Vegas Teacher - Cory Ossana 

[sclord2002]

This is a terrible tragedy. Our prayers go out to all affected by it.  I have not seen anything about the weapons used, but the on the videos, it sure sounds like an AK-47 to me. Time diminishes some things but the sound of an AK is not one of them.

 

Charlie

[LindaH]

A reporter on MSNBC just said he had in excess of 10 rifles in the room, some of which were outfitted to be automatic.

[Sculptor]

3 hours ago, Bobi and Dick McKee said:

Both of our kids were at the concert.  When our son stood up to see what he thought were fireworks the and next him was shot in the head. They are ok, but I worry and pray about the long term affect it will have on our son and his wife.  Our daughter and her fiancé left a little early to avoid the crowd. When the they all called last night and I knew they were ok I got on my knees and thanked the Lord for protecting them.  I was a officer in Las Vegas for 30 years and am so proud of all the first responders.

That must have been terrible for you and them.  I  hope that your experience on the street will be helpful to you all.  I hardly know what to say about the tragedy itself.

[cactus]

5 hours ago, Bobi and Dick McKee said:

  I was a officer in Las Vegas for 30 years and am so proud of all the first responders.

Dick, am  VERY proud to say thank you for your service .

But saying it in this message means more to me than other peoples thoughts and opinions.

And maybe save a little space for others to say thanks.

I am fortunate to live in a community, Draper Utah, where we have a very pro-active Dept and some great officers.

We are proud and supportive of our guys and ladies in Blue.

 

P.S. following your brake refit. Great job.  Used to have a place in Golden Shores (Topock) many a moon ago.

[Mark and Dale Bruss]

I think the people of Vegas in general did themselves proud.  Nobody trampled. People helped strangers to the hospital. 

What a country.

[Darryl&Rita]

[rickeieio]

Yes, there are always a few helpers, and even more who only worry about their own sorry butts.  When Susan and I ran for the local volunteer life squad, there always a few helpful people, but even more who just wanted to see the blood.

I haven't seen a lot on the news about the helpers in Vegas, but apparently many stepped up to do the right thing.  Good on 'em.

[LindaH]

The blood banks in Vegas have been busy...lines stretching for blocks.  Some (maybe all?) stayed open late to accommodate those willing to give.

[eddie1261]

On 10/2/2017 at 3:15 PM, sclord2002 said:

 I have not seen anything about the weapons used, but the on the videos, it sure sounds like an AK-47 to me. 

 

Charlie

I said that very thing about the AK47. Photos show a few of the guns NOT AK47s but they said he had a lot of long guns. I believe there is still a lot to learn.  He may have even been a fall guy for someone else doing this for all we know. I have a lot of questions but I won't get into them here, or yet, just  that I think 2 shooters. Some of those bursts sounded like more than one gun. Possibly echoes, but the echo has a different sound to it. We'll see as more accurate information comes in. I am only believing what I am hearing from the police. The horrible media who all want to be the one who scoops some big breakthrough just print assumption and innuendo, mixed with a little opinion and assumption. Note how the gun count is different in every story, and that number has not changed since Sunday.

To everyone with personal connections to this, hope it all works out t eh best way possible for you.

[Sinbad5024]

On 10/2/2017 at 1:30 PM, LindaH said:

A reporter on MSNBC just said he had in excess of 10 rifles in the room, some of which were outfitted to be automatic.

Best wishes and prayers to all involved in this. There were no automatic weapons used. Some of the rifles were reported to be outfitted with a bump stock. 

[eddie1261]

Have they released an inventory of what they found yet? I don't know your background or your familiarity with firearms so I will not comment on bump stocks (which I have fired). The steady pulse of the shots fired, from the videos that were posted, indicate to me that he had automatic rifles that were mounted. A rifle with a bump stock has to be held against the shoulder. The pressure against the shoulder is what allows the recoil to be captured and provides the impetus for the next trigger pull. Again, I don't know your familiarity with firearms so I may be telling you something you know. Having heard AK47s in Vietnam, I know that sound. Some sounds you don't forget. It may have even been the German MP5. Those bursts were at least 100 round bursts, which is why I though AK47 with the round magazines.

I have an AR-15 but no bump stock. Unless you have money to buy ammo by the truckload they are a waste, because it takes a good deal of practice to maintain any kind of accuracy and to find the trigger "sweet spot" to use them. I have no desire to fire automatic so I never investigated beyond shooting one that belongs to a friend. I am a very good shot in semi automatic. With the bump stock, in 30 rounds I barely hit the target at 50 yards. That recoil is horrible.

[LindaH]

Excerpts from this article:  https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/2017/10/03/what-gun-used-las-vegas-shooting/726743001/

The hotel suite used by the Las Vegas gunman to rain deadly rounds down on concertgoers below revealed an alarming arsenal of 23 weapons and accessories, including semiautomatic rifles, scopes and hundreds of rounds of ammunition — much of which could be legally purchased in Nevada. 

Photos of the hotel crime scene on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino tweeted out Tuesday by Boston 25 News showed what appeared to be a semiautomatic rifle equipped with a bipod and a scope laying on a carpeted floor surrounded by rounds of ammunition. The weapon also appears fitted with an irregular stock. 

An undisclosed number of the weapons at the crime scene are believed to have been modified with technology known as a "bump-stock'' that allows for rapid firing, similar to a machine gun, two people familiar with the matter said.

[eddie1261]

They are going to leverage the bump stock argument to puss the anti gun movement (last time it was high capacity magazines) but factually the bump stocks had little to do with this. The guns mounted on bipods would be fired standing behind them, not held against the shoulder. For THAT much fire, his shoulder would have been beat to death if he hand held and used a bump stock equipped rifle. To hit that many people, he would have had to fire many thousands of rounds, Automatic fire tends to raise the barrel, so they should be looking for shells in whatever was above the crowd.

When I said "inventory", I didn't mean "bunch of guns". I meant "Were they AK47s, MP5s, AR-15s...." and "What calibers of ammo were there? Was there 2.23 and 7.62?"

One thing that struck me off, and without knowing the proximity to the firing position to where he was found it is meaningless at this point, was that there should have been a LOT more expended casings than what showed in photos. I mean like a veritable carpet of brass. And those rifles firing on automatic would expend such hot cartridges that there would be burn sin the rug.

One theory that has been floated is that he carried so much firepower up into the room that he may have been selling guns. Note that he also flies. He may have been a gunrunner. Have they announced yet that EVERY serial number came back to him? If not, maybe he was buying guns, thus he didn't carry them all up. Also, for the people not familiar with firearms, using my AK-15 as an example, that breaks down into pieces so small that I could fit 5 or 6 of them into a suitcase. Had he carried them up in rifle cases, SURELY someone would have noticed, because a rifle case is quite unique and not likely to be confused with any other case. Still WAY too much we don't know, and with all the  horrible sources out there, we can never know what is official. I am trusting ONLY what comes from the police department.

The attachment is a picture of an AR-15 case. It's a fairly unique case. Can there really be much doubt as to what is in there? It is sitting on a box of laminate flooring, 54 inch planks. Yet, broken into lower and upper receiver, it will go in a gym bag.

I truly hope they get to the bottom of this. Obviously lives lost can't be replaced, and those injured may be affected by this for the rest of their lives, but it is important for closure to know if this guy acted alone, if he even DID it or was a patsy, and what would make a guy with an almost spotless record suddenly do this. No signs whatsoever that he would do this. And why THAT day? That's what always makes me wonder. Why THAT day? If this is bigger than just him, it's important that we know.

Thoughts to all the injured and wishes for speedy and complete recovery. Lots of people stepped up to help move folks out of the hot zone or this could have been even worse. Thanks out to all of those folks!