![\"\"](\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/aranzazushrine.ph\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/o-POPE-FRANCIS-PRAY-facebook.jpg?resize=434%2C217\")
(AP Photo\/Riccardo De Luca)<\/p><\/div>\n
According to the Las Vegas Police department, an more than 500 people have been hospitalized after the incident.<\/p>\n
The death toll, which police say is only preliminary, tops last year\u2019s massacre at a nightclub in Orlando, which left 49 dead. It was also reminiscent of a deadly shooting in Paris in November 2015 that killed 89 people as part of a coordinated attack by the Islamic State that left a total of 130 people dead.<\/p>\n
The festival, which took place along the Las Vegas Strip, was sold out, and had drawn thousands of participants to see top performers such as Eric Church, Sam Hunt, and Jason Aldean.<\/p>\n
Identified as Stephen Paddock, 64, the shooter opened fire from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel, raining bullets on the open-air music festival happening below. Although the local sheriff department has not given an exact number of casualties, two of the at least 50 killed were off-duty officers.<\/p>\n
The Associated Press reports that Paddock shot and killed himself as police tried to enter his room. Officers believe he acted alone, but are unsure of his motive. They are also currently pursuing a female Asian companion, reported to be Paddock\u2019s roommate, as a \u201cperson of interest\u201d in the incident.<\/p>\n
In a tweet sent this morning, U.S. President Donald Trump offered his \u201cwarmest condolences and sympathies\u201d to victims and families affected by \u201cthe terrible Las Vegas shooting.\u201d<\/p>\n
Various other global leaders have also voiced support and condolences, including representatives from the UK, Australia and Sweden.<\/p>\n
In separate tweets, Cardinal Sean O\u2019Malley of Boston also offered his support to victims, their families and emergency workers, asking that \u201cGod grant strength and faith to families affected by last nights violence; Lord welcome the dead into your loving embrace.\u201d<\/p>\n
He also prayed that God would bless all first responders \u201cas they care for the victims of last nights\u2019 violence.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bishop Edward Burns of Dallas, Texas, also tweeted-out support, saying \u201cOur prayers and concerns are with all those affected by the horrific mass shooting in Las Vegas. May God, the giver of all life, sustain us.\u201d\u00a0CATHOLIC NEWS AGENCY<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n[\/et_pb_text][et_pb_post_nav admin_label=”Post Navigation” in_same_term=”off” hide_prev=”off” hide_next=”off” prev_text=”PREVIOUS ARTICLE” next_text=”NEXT ARTICLE” use_border_color=”off” border_color=”#ffffff” border_style=”solid” \/][\/et_pb_column][\/et_pb_row][\/et_pb_section]\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Deeply saddened to learn of the shooting in Las Vegas, Pope Francis sends the assurance of his spiritual closeness to all those affected by this senseless tragedy.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":725,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"on","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31277","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vatican-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p8Ootw-88t","jetpack_likes_enabled":false,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/aranzazushrine.ph\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/06\/o-POPE-FRANCIS-PRAY-facebook.jpg?fit=2000%2C1000&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31277","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31277"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31277\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31278,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31277\/revisions\/31278"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/725"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31277"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31277"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/aranzazushrine.ph\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31277"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}