People hug and cry outside the festival grounds in the wake of the shooting.Ethan Miller/Getty Images
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People take cover after the gunfire was heard.David Becker/Getty Images
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Concertgoers flee the scene amid the shooting.David Becker/Getty Images
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A Las Vegas Metropolitan Police officer stands in the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Ave. after the shooting, one of the victims of which lies on the ground behind him.Ethan Miller/Getty Images
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A victim lies on the festival grounds.David Becker/Getty Images
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People tend to the wounded outside the festival grounds.David Becker/Getty Images
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Concertgoers carry a victim away from the scene after the shooting broke out.David Becker/Getty Images
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A man in a wheelchair is taken away from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after the shooting began.David Becker/Getty Images
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A victim's body lies on the festival grounds.David Becker/Getty Images
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People scramble for shelter after shots were heard.David Becker/Getty Images
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An abandoned cowboy hat lays in the street after the concertgoers fled the scene.David Becker/Getty Images
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Las Vegas police stand guard along the streets outside the the Route 91 Harvest country music festival grounds.David Becker/Getty Images
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A body lies under a sheet as fire and rescue personnel gather at the intersection of Las Vegas Boulevard and Tropicana Ave.Ethan Miller/Getty Images
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A man lays on top of a woman as others flee the festival.David Becker/Getty Images
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An injured person is tended to in the intersection of Tropicana Ave. and Las Vegas Boulevard just after the shooting.Ethan Miller/Getty Images
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A person takes cover at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival.David Becker/Getty Images
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People are directed to rides outside the festival grounds after the shooting.Ethan Miller/Getty Images
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People tend to the wounded in the wake of the shooting.David Becker/Getty Images
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A body lays covered in the driveway of the Desert Rose resort on Reno Ave. in the aftermath of the shooting.Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
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Discarded personal items covered in blood sit on Kovaln Lane in the aftermath of the shooting.Marcus Yam/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
The Most Powerful Images From The Las Vegas Shooting
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On Sunday night, a gunman named Stephen Paddock opened fire on the crowd attending the Route 91 Harvest Festival in Las Vegas, killing more than 59 and leaving at least 527 injured. The event is now the deadliest mass shooting in American history.
Shortly after 10 p.m., Paddock began firing hundreds of bullets into the crowd from a 32nd-floor window at the nearby Mandalay Bay hotel, reports CNN.
"The gunshots lasted for 10-15 minutes. It didn't stop," concertgoer Rachel De Kerf told CNN. "We just ran for our lives."
Another witness, Taylor Benge, told CNN that Paddock fired between 200 and 300 bullets. "My sister, being as noble as she is, threw herself on top of me and said, 'I love you, Taylor,' Benge said. "Even after an hour and 30 minutes, I didn't know if I was safe."
Not long after the shooting began, Las Vegas police located Paddock's room in the Mandalay Bay hotel. They exchanged gunfire with Paddock before preparing to breach the door. When they entered, they found Paddock dead and a cache of 23 weapons in the room. Authorities believe that Paddock killed himself prior to the officers' entry.
As of now, officials have little to report on the 64-year-old Nevada man, a retired accountant, and his motives. He has no prior criminal history and appears to have no connection to any terror groups foreign or domestic.
"Right now, we believe it's a sole actor, a lone-wolf-type actor," Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Sheriff Joseph Lombardo told CNN.
Whatever his motives, Paddock has now committed the deadliest mass shooting in American history. See some of the most powerful images of the devastation above.
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John Kuroski is the editorial director of All That's Interesting. He graduated from New York University with a degree in history, earning a place in the Phi Alpha Theta honor society for history students. An editor at All That's Interesting since 2015, his areas of interest include modern history and true crime.
