Las Vegas Mass Shooting: Canton Resident Describes Chaos

CANTON, GA — Metro Atlanta residents were among those on the Las Vegas strip Sunday, where more than 50 people were killed and 400 injured when a lone gunman fired upon a crowd of music festival attendees from a room on the 32nd floor of a hotel. The suspect, identified as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock of Mesquite, Nevada, died from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound soon after firing up on the concert-goers.

Canton resident Lisa Phelps is vacationing in Las Vegas with her husband, Kenny, and two friends. She described the events on her Facebook page Monday morning. The two couples were walking along the road when "we started seeing a lot of ambulances and police cars flying down the strip."

"It was about a mile away from us," she said (SIGN UP: Get Patch's Daily Newsletter and Real Time News Alerts. Or, if you have an iPhone, download the free Patch app).

Also See: Couple Describes Witnessing The Shooting

Phelps said they went back to the casino area at Caesars Palace when someone started screaming, "shooter!"

"Everyone was running, and they escorted us outside by the pool where they called it their safe place for Caesars Palace," she added.

In her Facebook post Monday morning, Phelps encouraged her friends to "please pray for all the injured and the families that have lost there loved ones!!"

Country music star and Georgia native Jason Aldean was on stage for about 20 minutes around 10:08 p.m. Sunday when the shots rang out on the final night of the Route 91 Harvest Country Music Festival. More than 22,000 people had gathered at the 15-acre lot across from the Mandalay Bay for the show. The barrage lasted for about 30 seconds and then there was a pause before the shots started again. People climbed over each running for safety as people were shot around them.

Las Vegas Sheriff Joe Lombardo said it appears Paddock acted alone in the shooting and that he killed himself before police entered the hotel room at The Mandalay Hotel and Casino from where he allegedly unleashed bullets onto the crowd.

Read more: Las Vegas Mass Shooting: More Than 50 Dead, 400 Injured In Worst Shooting In U.S. History, Says Sheriff

Phelps said the SWAT team descended onto Caesars Palace and guests had to stay outside from 11:30 p.m. to about 3:30 a.m. Following the chaos, Phelps said the group allowed three women from Scotland to crash with them throughout the night.

Those women, who had a room at the Luxor Hotel (which is right next to Mandalay Bay), were on a shuttle bus and the driver had to let them off at Caesars Palace, as officers had the road blocked. Officials at Caesars initially were not going to allow them to stay at the hotel, but the Phelpses intervened and helped their fellow tourists.

"They were scared to death," she added. "We just couldn’t leave them there alone, so we let them stay with us 'til Monday morning."

Police on Monday were searching Paddock's room to give them an idea of what caused him to go on the shooting spree. Lombardo also added two of his officers were shot during the incident. One of those officers is in critical condition while another has been treated for non-life threatening injuries.

On Monday, Aldean, who was not injured in the shooting, and other Georgia country music artists were speaking up, sending condolences and love to the victims of what's being described as the deadliest mass shooting in United States history.

"Tonight has been beyond horrific ...," Aldean wrote on Instagram. "It hurts my heart that this would happen to anyone who was just coming out to enjoy what should have been a fun night."

Read more: Las Vegas Shooting: Georgia Country Artists React

Caption: A wounded woman is moved outside the Tropicana during an active shooter situation on the Las Vegas Strip in Las Vegas Sunday, Oct. 1, 2017. Multiple victims were being transported to hospitals after a shooting late Sunday at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip. (Chase Stevens/Las Vegas Review-Journal via AP