Last night a crazy single "white" male went on a shooting spree with an illegally acquired fully automatic rifle at a concert in Vegas, Nevada. I want to share some information about the incident to help my fellow Steemians.
A video taken by someone at the concert gives you a good example of how these incidents begin. Many people said they thought it was fireworks, but that is clearly automatic gun fire. The long reload times tells you the shooter isn't very skilled with the weapon either.
If you hear that in a large crowded space, immediately drop to the ground and seek cover.
Cover is something that is bullet proof. If there is none near you, look for concealment instead. Then after you have done that, you need to identify the direction of fire. Once you know where the shooting is coming from by both listening and looking (if you decide to take the risk), move out of the area as quickly as possible away from the threat. As you leave the area, watch out for other shooters too. A lot of these incidents involve multiple attackers.
Until you are completely clear of the area, do not let your guard down.
An unidentified woman was escorted out of the concert apparently for walking around telling people "you're all going to die." Don't ignore such warnings. Sure, it could simply be a crazy person, but it could also be a real warning. If I had heard that woman's rant, I probably would not have stayed at the concert.
From what the news is reporting, the man had a history of problems. As usual with these situations, nothing was done about him. The police knew about him already, he obtained his weapon unlawfully, and he shouldn't have had it because of mental illness issues.
There is no way to defend against these types of attacks.
Even being armed and pinpointing the shooter's location doesn't help. You could not have responsibly shot back at the hotel. You can understand how best to respond to them when they occur though. They do not happen very often, and the likelihood of you being involved is very low. However, please keep the above tips in mind, for they may save your life.
Updates:
Running feed with updated information can be found at https://twitter.com/i/moments/914727306199003136. The man killed himself as police made entry to his hotel room.
Zerohedge has a good article up with more background information: http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2017-10-02/who-was-las-vegas-shooter-stephen-paddock-and-what-was-his-motive
Thanks to @jinmi17 for this update. ISIS has apparently taken credit for the shooting saying the man converted months ago. That seems pretty far fetched, but anything is possible: http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/isis-claims-responsibility-for-las-vegas-killings-calls-shooter-one-of-its-soldiers/article/2636251
The shooter's father was on FBI's 10 most wanted list and was a convicted bank robber:
https://twitter.com/DelWilber/status/914888668262871040/photo/1?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw&ref_url=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.zerohedge.com%2Fnews%2F2017-10-02%2Fwho-was-las-vegas-shooter-stephen-paddock-and-what-was-his-motive
- DelWilber
According to the updated ZeroHedge article above, the shooter was a heavy gambler.
