Quick action prevented a thousand deaths in Las Vegas
9 Oct 2017 10:22 PM IST
New York: A handful of quick-thinking Las Vegas police officers may have prevented a thousand deaths after they stormed a hotel and killed the lone shooter, the Sheriff of America's gambling hub, who had visited Mumbai to study the 2008 terror attack, has said.
Stephen Paddock, 64-year-old wealthy former accountant and high-stakes gambler has been identified by police as the man behind the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history when he opened fire from the Mandalay By Hotel and Casino on October 1, killing 58 people and wounding nearly 500 others, before turning the gun on himself as police closed in.
Recalling the dreadful night, Joseph Lombardo, Sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said Paddock was firing into a crowd of 22,000 concert-goers using powerful guns.
Lombardo said a small team of Las Vegas police officers — two K-9 officers, a detective and a SWAT team member — converged on the Mandalay Bay Hotel and minutes later, they breached the gunman's hotel room door on the 32nd floor. It was specialised training that allowed them to act so quickly, Lombardo told CBS' 60 Minutes. Lombardo had traveled to Mumbai after the November 2008 terrorist attacks on hotels.
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