A former Wallaceburg resident is safe, but shaken, after witnessing the chaotic aftermath of the deadliest mass shooting in American history.
Meagan Suisham, a Wallaceburg District Secondary School graduate who now lives in Vancouver, told the Sydenham Current she was on the Las Vegas strip on Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017, when the shooting took place.
“I had come out of a show at the LINQ Hotel and Casino and was walking along the strip when I started to hear about a shooting from people on the street,” she said.
“I started to head back towards my hotel and things became quite chaotic. Everyone started running and I was ushered into the Mirage by security. They were clearing the streets and under lock down. We had to clear the main floor.”
Suisham said a person staying at the Mirage let her stay in their room.
“Since we weren’t staying at that hotel I relied on the kindness of a stranger to stay behind a locked hotel room door, watch the news and gather an understanding of the tragedy that unfolded here,” she said.
“Its a little hard to put in words. Its such a tragedy and my heart goes out to everyone involved.”
Suisham said she was staying several hotels down from the Mandalay Bay Hotel, where the shooting took place.
An estimated 406 people transported to hospitals, 50 dead
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department identified the lone suspect involved in the shooting as 64-year-old, Stephen Craig Paddock, from Mesquite, Nevada.
Las Vegas police officials say Paddock opened fire on a crowd of more than 22,000 concert-goers from his hotel room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel on Sunday evening at approximately 10:08 p.m.
The victims were across the street attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival concert when bullets rang out.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department SWAT responded to the call, breached the hotel room and found the suspect dead.
The Clark County Fire Department estimated that approximately 406 people were transported to area hospitals and 50 are dead following Sunday evening’s shooting.
Reports say the shooting is the deadliest in United States history.
– Photo credit: Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, Twitter
