Two survivors of the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history have described how concert-goers tried to shield themselves from the line of fire.
Stephen Paddock, 64, has been named by US police as the gunman who massacred at least 59 people and injured 527 others after opening fire on a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip from his room on the 32nd floor of a hotel.
Caren Mansholt said some people initially thought the sounds of the first rounds of ammunition were fireworks.
Las Vegas: Newly-released video shows the moment concert stops as people become aware of gunshots targeting audience pic.twitter.com/GFGFc3RQbI
— RTÉ News (@rtenews) October 3, 2017
She told BBC Radio 4's Today programme: "People were running and screaming and trying to get out of there. I literally just went down right in front of my seat and I was trying to crouch as low as possible and just stay out of any line of fire."
Rusty Dees said he thought the biggest problem for many was that he did not see anyone returning fire.
He said: "What many people did in the open environment they were in, the floor seating if you will, was they all took shelter by just kneeling down.
"What they didn't know was that for someone 32 storeys above that they were just sitting targets, so it was really like a tragic effort, everyone trying to do the right thing but this crazy person obviously thought all this stuff through."
Everyone was helping everyone, there were people hurt and if they fell down because they were injured people were picking them up ... it was the best and the worst of people, it really was.
Asked if something needed to happen on gun ownership laws, Ms Mansholt said: "I do believe there is a time and a place for gun ownership and I believe that we have the right to protect ourselves as needed and it's so unfortunate that there are people out there, in this instance this man made a makeshift illegal weapon and used it in the worst way possible, and I think that is extremely hard to prevent."
If you can find a gun law that could prevent this from happening I could sign up today, but I am proud of our country's Second Amendment rights and I'm glad we're allowed to defend ourselves.
Read more:
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- 'The shots just kept coming' - eyewitness accounts
- Profile: Gunman behind Las Vegas shooting
- Trump says Las Vegas shooting was an 'act of pure evil'
- Las Vegas mass shooting the deadliest in US history
Meanwhile, an Irish-American businessman has told RTÉ that he does not believe yesterday’s attack in Las Vegas would stop people coming to the city.
Pat Hughes, who is President of the Fremont Street Experience, said the entire community has come together in the wake of the attack and that in future, security would be more visible and more vigilant.
Speaking on RTÉ’s Morning Ireland, he said a lot of foot traffic has returned to Fremont Street, a pedestrianised area in downtown Las Vegas, but that the strip was eerily quiet.
Mr Hughes said concrete barriers had been installed at all of the entrances of the Fremont Street area, following the recent Barcelona attack, to prevent against vehicular attacks.
However, he added there was no way to defend against the type of attack that had been carried out yesterday and that, unfortunately, that it could happen in any city where you "can carry a gun and have a high rise".
His understanding was, he said, that shooter Stephen Paddock had only gone through "about a third of the ammunition that he had".
He praised police who responded to the shooting quickly.
