WATCH: A young B.C. man and an Alberta woman among 59 dead in Las Vegas mass shooting, worst mass shooting in U.S. history. Tess van Straaten reports.
At first, concert-goers say they thought it was fireworks or part of the show. But then, the true horror of the situation set in as a hail of gunfire rained down on them.
“We just thought we were going to die,” one man said. “I thought the shooting would never end.”
“The shooter was spraying the crowd,” added another. “I mean, you just saw people dropping left and right.”
While some people tried to hide, others ran for their lives.
“Everyone’s telling us to run, run as fast as you can and my husband and I ran out toward our car and there were people hiding under my car for cover,” one emotional concert-goer said.
But there was no easy escape and the shooter ? from a room high up at the nearby Mandalay Bay Hotel ? kept on killing.
By the time the shooter took his own life, at least 59 people were dead and more than 500 injured.
Two of the dead were Canadian, including 23-year-old Jordan McIldoon of Maple Ridge, in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.
“It was an act of evil,” U.S. President Donald Trump told reporters. “To the families of the victims, we are praying for you and we are here for you.”
The shooter, identified as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, had at least 20 guns in this room but there’s no apparent motive.
“It makes no sense,” Paddock’s brother Eric said. “He’s never hit anybody. It’s like he’s shot us, we’re so surprised.”
Nevada’s gun laws are among the least restrictive in the United States, leaving many to question whether that needs to change.
“I don’t know when we will wake up to the challenges of gun violence in our country and do something about it,”Senatorr Bob Menendez said.
Sadly, the senseless act of violence is the 273rd mass shooting in the U.S. this year alone ? a horrific reality that make it all the more tragic.
Tess van Straaten
