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Chinese consulate in US protects overseas Chinese after Vegas shooting

(CGTN)    15:51, October 04, 2017

The Chinese Consulate General in San Francisco continued to protect overseas Chinese in Las Vegas after Sunday’s mass shooting, which resulted in at least 59 dead and more than 500 injured, making it the deadliest massacre in US history.

A working team dispatched by the consulate on Tuesday visited local police stations and hospitals where the injured were sent to. The staff members met with Kevin McMahill, Undersheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department as well as officials from hospitals and emergency offices, and said they will keep in close contact with local authorities, especially regarding possible casualties among Chinese.

So far over 30 victims have been identified but there is no report of Chinese citizen casualties yet. The Chinese consulate said they will continue to follow the progress of the investigation and offer consular protection to overseas Chinese.

Shooting lasts 9 to 11 minutes

Las Vegas police on Tuesday night revealed more details from the deadly shooting at a briefing and confirmed the shooter, Stephen Paddock, fired into a music crowd for between nine and 11 minutes.

McMahill told reporters that the first emergency call came at 10:08 p.m. local time (GMT 0508 Monday) and the shooter ceased fire at 10:19 p.m.

He noted that authorities are "days away" from processing all the evidence in Paddock's room at the Mandalay Bay hotel, saying "nobody wants answers more than the police and the victims' families.”

McMahill said that patrol officers who had been managing the music festival quickly entered the hotel and began working their way up to the 32nd floor, where Paddock was located, evacuating each floor as they went, but that police couldn't act until the SWAT team arrived.

SWAT raided the room at 11:20 p.m., which the undersheriff deemed as acceptable because Paddock was no longer shooting and was barricaded in.

The undersheriff said this in response to a cited report that said it was 72 minutes before the SWAT team entered the room.

The sheriff also hailed the “remarkable response” of officers and security guards and played dramatic body camera footage at the press conference, showing police trying to locate the shooter.

Shooter’s arsenal revealed

The police confirmed the killer had stocked 47 firearms from three different locations, including in the gunman’s hotel room and homes.

Jill Snyder, special agent-in-charge of the San Francisco office of the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, said at a press conference that the dozens of rifles, shotguns and pistols had been recovered from his hotel suite, his home in Mesquite, Nevada, and another undisclosed location.

Snyder said the firearms were purchased in four states: Nevada, Utah, California and Texas.

Paddock also set up two cameras in the hallway outside his hotel room so he could watch security approach. 

Gunman’s girlfriend left for US

Joseph Lombardo, sheriff of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD), said the FBI was bringing back Paddock’s girlfriend Marilou Danley to the US for questioning as investigators try to determine the shooter’s motivation behind the killing.

Danley, who the US authorities said is a “person of interest” in the investigation, arrived in Manila in September and left on Tuesday evening, police and immigration sources told Reuters.

"Her trip back to the US was coordinated with FBI authorities," a police official said, adding that she would be met by FBI on her arrival in the US.

Lombardo said investigators have been speaking with Danley and “we anticipate some information from her shortly,” adding he was “absolutely” confident authorities would find out what set off Paddock.

(For the latest China news, Please follow People's Daily on Twitter and Facebook)
(Web editor: Chen Lidan, Bianji)

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