October 1 Monday at 10pm PT marks one year since 58 lives were abruptly taken and hundreds injured during a shooting spree of a man named Stephen Paddock who checked in a room at the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino and mercilessly shot people at random while they were at a Route 91 Harvest music festival performance by country artist Jason Aldean.
The Las Vegas Strip casinos' neon lights and the Las Vegas sign went dark for three minutes to commemorate the victims as their names were read out loud at 10:05pm (a style similar since 9/11) at the Las Vegas Community Healing Garden in downtown Las Vegas.
Until now, the motive to America's deadliest shooting incident in modern history is still unknown.
Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said they were unable to determine a motive, "What we have been able to answer is the questions of who, what, when, where, and how. What we have not been able to definitively answer is the why Stephen Paddock committed this act."
FBI special agent Aaron Rouse who is in charge of the investigation of the October 1 massacre vowed to find out as to why the 64-year-old Stephen Paddock kept an arsenal of deadly weapons inside his Mandalay Bay suite and opened fire on the crowd at the music festival below. The FBI is still working on it and it is expected to release its own findings before this year's end.
As for MGM Resorts, owner of Mandalay Bay, they opted not to organize any remembrance events that day and so business at the South Strip property went on as usual. The gaming operator has received intense criticism and public acrimony due to its legal decisions that have ended up extending, rather than ameliorating, the pain and anguish of victims and their loved ones.
Several events around Las Vegas were held on Monday in remembrance of the victims and survivors. A total of 58 crosses with the names and pictures of each individual who perished were displayed near the Welcome to Fabulous Las Vegas sign approximately half a mile south of Mandalay Bay.
The public, along with Metro Police and the Clark County Fire Department gathered at 6:30 am PT at the county government center for a sunrise commemoration. A tribute service was then held at the Las Vegas Healing Garden at 6:30 pm, before the 10:05 pm name-reading ceremony meant to symbolize the time the victims were shot dead one year ago.
Stephen Paddock's shooting spree started at 10:05 pm and it lasted around 10 minutes before he killed himself in his Mandalay Bay suite.
For those who survived the nightmarish shooting, their suffering continues. Bridge Consulting CEO David Robeck said that many of them are reaching out only now, "We're seeing more people who thought they had it under control, but now realize they need help."
Psychologist Jordan Soper said, "Many people are very resilient and will say, ‘I can do it myself with self-medication and avoidance and distraction.' Over time, those avoidance techniques don't have the same influence,"
The venue of the festival that became a horrendous massacre ground has not been used since the unfortunate incident. MGM Resorts, the owner of the property, did not say if or when it will reopen.
Source:
https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/las-vegas-goes-dark-to-mark-one-year-since-mandalay-bay-attack-in-which-58-people-died-a3950826.html
