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At Least 59 Dead, 527 Injured In Las Vegas Massacre; 23 Guns Found In Shooter's Hotel Room; Band Front Man Hid In Freezer With Concertgoers; Overworked Hospitals Racing to Save Lives; Remembering Las Vegas Shooting Victims. Aired 1-2a ET

Aired October 03, 2017 - 01:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

[01:00:00] ERIN BURNETT, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Erin Burnett live in Las Vegas tonight. Welcome, to our viewers in the United States and indeed around the world tonight. The breaking news as we continue covering the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history at this hour; 59 people confirmed dead, 527 wounded, to a dozen of them in critical condition at this hour. A gunman, raining bullets from his hotel windows -- at the hotel behind us -- onto a crowd of country music fans at a concert. Inside his 32nd floor suite at the Mandalay Bay Hotel, which is the hotel you see behind me tonight. Police say, yet an arsenal of 23 guns in that room, that included rifles, it also included a handgun.

The man is 64-year-old, Stephen Paddock, he then shot and killed himself as police moved in after exchanging up to -- shots with those police. He then killed himself from a self-inflicted wound. In his car, investigators have found several pounds of ammonium nitrate, which, of course, can be used to make explosives -- it's a fertilizer that can be used that way. At his house, 80 miles away from where we're standing tonight, in Mesquite, Nevada, 19 more firearms, explosives, and several thousand rounds of ammunition were found in that house.

The carnage from this mass shooting is horrific, and the video is very graphic and disturbing. Of course, people were filming the concert, and so there is a video record of the horror that unfolded here last night. There were bodies everywhere, witnesses say. There was blood everywhere. Dozens were shot. And people were trampled in the (INAUDIBLE). There were 22,000 people in this concert venue. 22,000 people and they were all trying to run away, but, of course, they couldn't really tell where the gunfire was coming from. And we still, at this hour, do not have any answer as to why not even the tiniest inkling of an answer to that question. Paddock's brother describes him as well off. He says he's mystified as to how this could happen. Here he is.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

ERIC PADDOCK, BROTHER OF THE GUNMAN: We're -- we're lost. I don't understand. It makes -- there's no anything. Not an avid gun guy at all. The fact that he had that kind of weapons is just -- where the hell did he get automatic weapons? He's not -- he has no military background or anything like that. You know, I mean, when you find out about him, like I said, he's a guy who lived in a house in Mesquite, drove down and gambled in Las Vegas.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: And so far, we don't have any facts to counter out his brother's version of things -- no military record, no police record, nothing that we are aware of this time. In Las Vegas and around the world tonight people are paying tributes and vigils to those who lost their lives here Sunday night. As you see here, in this city alone, there are nine separate vigils, including one at city hall with the mayor of Las Vegas and the governor of Nevada, another was held at the University of Nevada's Las Vegas campus as you see here, and then in Nashville, Tennessee, of course, the country music capital of the world. Keith Urban, Amy Grant, and Austin Crouse, and other, all performing at a candlelight vigil there. Witnesses say that this entire massacre lasted 10 to 15 minutes. And here's a look at how it all unfolded.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: Just after 10:00 p.m., Sunday night, gunfire rained down on a crowd of 22,000 country music fans out in the open along the Las Vegas strip. 10:08, the first 911 calls to police.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I'm inside the Mandalay Bay on the 31st floor, I can hear it the automatic fire coming from one floor ahead, one floor above us.

BURNETT: As can you see here, the crowd is some 400 yards away from the sniper's nest at the Mandalay Bay Hotel, completely exposed in an open field. Authorities believe the shooter used a hammer to smash out the windows in his room on the 32nd floor.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: The gunshots lasted for 10 or 15 minutes like it didn't stop.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Everyone said, hit the floor. So, everyone was just like, literally, laying on top of each other trying to get out of the way. The shots just kept coming.

[01:05:11] BURNETT: At first, confusion in the crowd. Then, panic, chaos. Thousands of people literally running for their lives.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Get down. Get down. Get down.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: What is it? Make it stop. Why is there a blood? Is he shot?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: No matter which direction you went in, no matter where you took cover there are at least two to three bodies that were a part of it, and you didn't know where you were safe.

BURNETT: Within minutes dozens lay dead, hundreds more injured.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: People were climbing at the fences, pushing their way through the barricades and were coming. People were screaming and crying. Everybody was just trying to get home. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We had a man come running up to us, blood down his shirt, saying his friends were dead, his friends are dead.

BURNETT: Las Vegas first responders were quick to the scene but faced with an overwhelming task. The gunman holds up somewhere inside a 43- story hotel with more than 3000 rooms. The (INAUDIBLE) to 911 calls from inside the hotel, officers were able to locate him quickly.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have sight on the suspect door. I need everybody in that hallway to be aware of it and get back. We need to pop this and see if we can get any type of response from this guy, to see if he's in here or if he actually moved out somewhere else.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breach, breach, breach.

BURNETT: 11:28, almost an hour and a half after this nightmare began, police blow the shooter's door. Inside 64-year-old, Stephen Paddock laid dead. Police believed, Paddock, shot himself seconds before. Also, in the room, at least 10 rifles.

PADDOCK: He was my brother. It's like an asteroid fell out of the sky.

BURNETT: Eric Paddock, seemingly in disbelief that his brother could be behind the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history.

PADDOCK: There's not even anything I can say. I mean, how do you -- I mean, my brother did this? This is like it was done -- like he shot us.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: Martin Savidge joins me now. And Martin, there are so much questions because every time we get an update, we learn more. The arsenal is bigger, then there are explosives. We keep learning more and more but the one thing that we simply don't have an answer to at all, and I know it's early but usually by this point there's some sort of inkling, we don't have any inkling as to the motive or why.

MARTIN SAVIDGE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: No, none at all. In fact, if the authorities have it, they are not revealing what it is, but you get the sense from them that no they have no clear idea or even an interest at what may have led to this madness that took place. And they gave the indication late tonight in their final briefing of the day that we may not know for some time, they may not know for some time. This is a person who did not appear on anybody's radar, and I'm talking law enforcement, I'm talking about his family, those who were closest to him, even the neighbors who called him a gentle giant. Nobody saw any indication of what was to come. And as you point out, he didn't have a criminal record, he seemed to have money, he seemed to have everything in his life going his way.

There was nothing to indicate he was going to have this kind of horrific end result. So, that's what's is so baffling and in many ways, that is what is also so frightening, what in the world could have triggered a man to do something as horrific as he has carried out? And then, you learn the weaponry that he had inside the hotel, 23, that was located. There are weapons including a handgun inside of a hotel room. So, those had to be transported up to the hotel. No one apparently knew or saw that. And then, on top of that, there were an additional 19 weapons that were found inside of his home and thousands and thousands of rounds of ammunition, and there was also explosives and electronic devices. This man could have done more than what he already did, and we still don't know why. Erin.

BURNETT: All right. Martin, thank you very much. We still don't know why and we don't know if there was a broader plan or what triggered it now. We just simply don't know. All right. Martin Savidge, thank you very much. Well, the band, Elvis Monroe, played at the festival and member of the band were actually in the audience watching the headliner. They had been at backstage and decided to go and watch with everybody else, and then the shooting began. The lead singer, Bryan Hopkins, took this video while hiding in a freezer with others that he helped from the crowd.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BRYAN HOPKINS, LEAD SINGER, ELVIS MONROE: Don't know what's going on out. We're in this ice cooler right now. It's some sort of shooting or something at the Jason Aldean concert.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: Bryan also described seeing people who were shot right in front of him as he was helping others in getting to safety. And Bryan is with me now, what happened when it started?

[01:10:03] HOPKINS: Well, for starters, we didn't play yesterday. We were just supporting our friends and we were backstage. I'm seeing this footage for the first time. I haven't seen any footage at all because I've been running around. And the angle that I just saw is exactly where I was standing. Where you see Jason Aldean and that screen, I'm right there. And what happened was, when you heard the sprays, like that, we see a guy right in front of us goes down and then another person goes down, and guys. I turn, bang, bang, two girls go down behind us.

BURNETT: Right where you're standing?

HOPKINS: Right where I'm standing. They're like 10 feet, four feet. And then my guitar player grabs my shoulder and says, let's go. So, I grab the two girls that are standing in front of me and grab them and took them with me because there's a massive crowd. It's turning and running at us and they're coming at all angles. Ben gets run over and he's running after a friend of ours, Jojo, a local deejay, hear his wife. And when he got knocked down, he lost her, and couldn't her, he just took off. And I took those girls and said, in anybody who would follow me, and ran. Because I just came from backstage so I knew --

BURNETT: So, you know how to get backstage?

HOPKINS: Exactly. So, I took a beeline, but it was like -- it was like not sprinting. It was let's go. Let's -- you know, it's like we're going to do this calmly and with all this going on --

BURNETT: It was calm.

HOPKINS: And so, we go through the gate and I stop and I look, and I said let's go, and bang, bang, bang, and you're hearing it coming off the metal. You can hear it coming off the -- because now the angle of the stage is right above me. So, we're running down, there are thousands of people this way, between the wall. We're backstage now, there's catering, and I remember when we played there, the artist entrance is in the corner. So, let's make our way to the corner, let's go.

BURNETT: That's where you headed, there.

HOPKINS: So, we go around and go around, we hit around the tent and we hit fences that are this high. And the girls start crying and people -- they're not getting over this fence. And I would've been gone and over the fence. So, I see a trailer about four feet high. The door is open and I see somebody in it. Let's go --

BURNETT: So, you brought everyone in there.

HOPKINS: Let's get in the trailer. Let's go, let's go, let's go. Lifting people up in the trailer, we get inside, pull the door, people are jumping in with us. And they're trying to get in, and now people are scared, don't let anybody in, because they don't know if the shooter is running around, they have no idea. So, we peek, let them in, another person gets in, we shut the door, ow trying to keep everybody calm. You have one guy in the video --

BURNETT: We can see how crowded it is, too. I mean, you, guys, are packed in there and you're saying it's --

HOPKINS: Yes. And we're all -- and it's a freezer, it's a freezer. We're in a refrigerator. So, everybody's cold and everybody is scared. And I'm sitting there trying to, everybody is going to be OK, we're going to be OK, we're going to be OK. The two girls took that persona on and started telling the girl who was freaking out, you're going to be OK, they're lying to her, you're going to be OK. Her husband or boyfriend or whatever, he's the one throwing the rock sign in front, he's pounding on the walls, he's going to take on whoever, and were asking me I had to stop the video. I was going to -- that was for my parents. I was going to make that for my parents, put it in my pocket, just in case. And I stopped it and just said, hey, man is that your girl? He said, yes. I said these two young girls are consoling your girl. You need to take responsibility, so they can --

BURNETT: So, everybody teamed together?

HOPKINS: Yes, exactly. So, then, what happened, I go to the door and I hear a pop, pop, pop. As I go to open the door again. It's about maybe a few minutes. And I'm like thinking to myself, as I look at a friend in a corner, this is not where I'm going. Not here. Not without -- I'm not going to let somebody just run up and open up on us as we're sitting in here. So, it's silent, I opened the door with my buddy who just happened to be there, a toad who runs stonies. He opened the door. And there, somebody had put a ramp on the fence, some sort of steel ramp.

BURNETT: And then you were able to get out?

HOPKINS: Well, a guy jumps over the fence, gone. Another guy jumps, and I said, please don't leave, help these ladies. So, I jumped on the other side and we started getting them up. I just stood there getting everybody up, and everybody went except me and the two girls. They never left me. And they are 24 or 23, I didn't know them, but they never left my side. So, they tried to go up, I couldn't get them, I grabbed their arm, and I will never forget this, because, as I said let's run, and I look right, left, a police officer is straight running right at me, sweating, screaming, this way, this way, this way. As soon as I pass him, he's not behind me, he's running to where everybody else is. He's running to the fire. He's running into it.

BURNETT: So many heroes.

[01:15:27] HOPKINS: Yes. And so, I'll never forget that. So, we're running, and it is body, body, body. And the girls then -- the one in the middle, Nicole starts shaking and wanted to call her dad and she's freaking out, and I'm like, run, run, don't let -- just run. Come on, and the seven, they start following me. We get to the end and then somebody had got shot in the stomach and his friends were on top of him trying to get him a ride. And then, we ran past them and we hit the street and see how black it is up there right now.

I said run to the dark. We're running to the dark, which I didn't know was directly in sight, but I just said we're running to the dark, let's go. And people started following me, but in the middle of the street, there's a car, all by itself. And there are people hiding behind it and there's somebody shot in the passenger seat. And we just ran into the dark and it went on from there. There were people out there even helping us get through the gate. Pulling the gate, got me through, so I could hold it for everyone else to come through, and then we ran to Hooters. The (INAUDIBLE) still continued there.

BURNETT: Well, it's amazing what you did. And I know one of those girls, Nicole, is actually going to be with us.

HOPKINS: Oh, really.

BURNETT: Later tonight, she's going to be here. And she'll be able to tell her story, so.

HOPKINS: She is incredible. She was, she was -- the two of them were so calm, and when they go home, they called me and said thank you. Her dad cried. But he, I called him to say howdy, like you guys listen to everything I said and you never left my side. They never left.

BURNETT: She's going to be with us later tonight, and thank you so much. I know, I know you need to get some rest.

HOPKINS: I've got a lot more of these, I haven't slept yet.

BURNETT: Thank you so very much. And thank you for the story that you're sharing.

HOPKINS: It's Vegas strong, though.

BURNETT: Yes. And we are going to take a brief break. When we come back on the other side, we're going to have more about the arsenal that we are learning tonight. Right now, that number has been going up higher and higher. Well, the gun we found out that he had both in his hotel room here at the Mandalay Bay and also at his home. Next, how he seemed to have prepared for his rampage. We'll be right back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:20:03] VINCE CELLINI, CNN ANCHOR: I'm Vince Cellini with your CNN WORLD SPORT headlines. As Spain tries to prepare for their World Cup qualifier, Friday, against the Albania, the focus is still on the Catalonia independence referendum. Barcelona and Spanish international defender, Gerard Pique, says he will retire from international football before the 2018 World Cup if his support for Catalonia's independence referendum is being the problem. This comes a day after Barcelona played a closed-door match against Las Palmas in reaction to the widespread violence that marred the referendum.

The 30-year-old described that match as being "his hardest game." Pique has played 91 times for Spain but has become a divisive figure because of his stance on the vote. Many have voiced their displeasure with the violence that marred the referendum, including 16-time grand slam winner, Rafael Nadal. Nadal told reports in Beijing ahead of this week's China Open. He was "stunned and felt like crying" as he wants to advance when the weekend unfold. He went on to say, it was sad a moment and that his heart sank all day.

Elsewhere in tennis, world number one, Garbine Muguruza, retired from the China Open on Monday, falling ill during her match against unseated Barbora Strycova. The Spaniard lost the first set before calling a medical timeout at 2-0 down in the second and retired from the match. And that is a look at your sports headlines. I'm Vince Cellini.

BURNETT: Back now to our breaking news, the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history. 59 people are dead, more than 500 others wounded up to a dozen of them in critical condition here in Las Vegas tonight. A man shooting down from his hotel room on thousands of people at an outdoor music festival. The shooter was high above the crowd, on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort, which is behind where we're standing. But you can see the side here, right there on the 32nd floor, you can see the suite, the windows on both sides. We're going to talk more about that in a moment. We want to play for you the audio, actually, of the moment, though, that law enforcement got into that suite, the suite of the shooter.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have sight on the suspect door. I need everybody in that hallway to be aware of it and get back. We need to pop this and see if we can get any type of response from this guy, to see if he's in here or if he actually moved out somewhere else. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Copy. All unit, on the 32nd floor, SWAT has an explosive breach. Everyone in the hallway needs to move back. All units move back.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Breach, breach, breach.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BURNETT: The suspect, who was 64-years-old, had an arsenal inside of that room. 23 weapons just in that room, that included rifles, a handgun. There were tripods and there were scopes, multiple rifles. Police believe the shooter killed himself as law enforcement broke into that room after the gunfight with them. The motive, still completely unknown.

Joining me now is our Law Enforcement Analyst, Art Roderick, who is here with me in Las Vegas, former Assistant Director of the U.S. Marshal's Office in Denver; joining us, is CNN Law Enforcement Contributor, Steve Moore, former FBI Agent, and I thank both of you. Art, I want to just, there's an image here when you actually look at the outside of the Mandalay Bay, where we are. But when you look at the two windows, one thing we know is there were bursts of shooting, and then there was a break. And at the beginning, a few seconds of shooting, and then a break of up to three or four times that amount. When you look at where those two windows were, part of a suite, that had a vantage point of both sides, you see something very significant.

ART RODERICK, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT ANALYST AND FORMER ASSISTANT DIRECTOR OF THE U.S. MARSHAL'S OFFICE: Yes. I mean, it gave him two different angles. That suite kind of concerned the side of the building. So, that window was blown out on the side of the building and the window in the front. So, it gave two different shooting angles into that parking lot area where everybody was there for the concert.

BURNETT: You can see how far apart they are.

RODERICK: Right. Right.

BURNETT: And those are -- and that is, that is one suite.

RODERICK: Right.

BURNETT: Which would make you believe he chose that, that had planned out that very purpose.

RODERICK: Exactly. He was probably standing in that parking lot where the venue was, where the concert people were standing a couple days prior trying to pick out what location he would fire from. But it gave him two different shooting angles, and when he probably did this he's had weapons set up at each window, so that he could move quickly from one window to the other, fire whatever he had there, and then move back.

BURNETT: What do you think when you hear 23 guns were in the hotel, in the suite, right? And now we know there were nearly that many in one of his home, one of his homes, near here in Mesquite. When you hear 23 guns in that suite alone, what do you think?

STEVE MOORE, CNN LAW ENFORCEMENT CONTRIBUTOR AND FORMER FBI AGENT: Well, unfortunately, it follows kind of a pattern of somebody who's decided that they're going to end their life and they're going take a lot of people with them. When I worked the Jewish Community Center shooting in Los Angeles, a guy came down, converted a rifle to fully automatic, and when we got his van, there were dozens of weapons and thousands of rounds of ammunition in his truck. It's just -- it's almost frustratingly similar to see the same type of behavior.

[01:25:25] BURNETT: What about the ammonium nitrate? Because these are some things here that, if that's what he's planning, he did leave almost 20 guns in his home? And then, he had in his car, we now know not just ammonium nitrate, Art, but we know several pounds of that -- obviously, it's fertilizer that can be turned into an explosive. When you hear several pounds, what does that mean?

RODERICK: The minute I heard ammonium nitrate it took me back to the Oklahoma City bombing. Because that's what he has in the rented truck. It adds a whole another aspect to this case. Was he making bombs? I mean, they found some other explosives in his house in Mesquite. So, you know, this caused law enforcement to take a deeper look. OK. When we go into these homes, are there booby-trapped? Are they bomb-making factories that he was using in these home, at these homes' floor? So, it's a twist in an already twisted story that, you know, was he also planning to the use these explosives?

BURNETT: Right. I mean, Steve, that does raise a big question because he had that in his car, but then he went to his room ostensibly knowing he was never going to come out. Does this indicate to you that this was -- I don't know, that there was maybe some sort of trigger that caused him to do this? That he had planned it but not fully planned it? Or there certainly appeared to some loose ends when you consider what's in that car and what he left in his home?

MOORE: You're right, Erin, there are loose ends and you're not going to find a situation like this where there aren't some loose ends. Because you've got a guy with -- who's an intelligent guy, generally, but he's really weighing different plan on ways he wants to go out. My blink on this is that he probably was trying to determine whether he could get more bodies out of an explosion or bombs being set or the firearms. And I think when it came down to it, you're absolutely right. There came a time when whatever was motivating him took him to the finish line and at that point what he had were his firearms.

BURNETT: He has firearms. Firearms that at least, as we understand, were purchased legally. There's nothing to indicate otherwise at this point. Maybe from a bunch of different places or how one would have that many weapons, I think, is very impossible for a lot of people to understand.

RODERICK: Right.

BURNETT: But it's clear from hearing it, when experts, like, you listen to this that that was an automatic fire.

RODERICK: Oh, definitely.

BURNETT: So, either he had one illegally or he was able to modify a semi to have it operate like an automatic, which would indicate either he knew what he was doing or someone else helped him.

RODERICK: And even more planning. I mean, it indicates more planning. If you're going to take a weapon and modify it, you can go online and figure out how to do it, they've got directions on how to modify these weapons online. You can buy kits to do it. So, yes, I mean, it just shows another layer of planning if he took a regular semi-automatic and modified it. I mean, it just seems to me when you look at this overall situation here and you go back three or four days and all the planning he had done, he took some real heavy-duty time to figure this thing out.

BURNETT: All right. Thank you both very much. Well, Comedian, Carrot Top, was just finishing his show just across the street when the shooting actually happened. And like so many others, he is now trying to help, speaking out, making donations.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARROT TOP, AMERICAN STAND-UP COMEDIAN: I live here in here, and I live in Orlando, so I live in two cities that I've been -- I'm done with it, you know.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:29:04] BURNETT: And as we take a brief break, images of people coming together in the wake of this horrific tragedy. Hundreds of people today, hundreds, waiting in line for hours, waiting for blocks, all to do something, to donate blood, try to help those in need, the 527 injured who are injured tonight. Some of the best of human beings can be after we have just seen the very worst. Stay with us as our coverage continues.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[01:33:31] BURNETT: Welcome back. I'm Erin Burnett, live in Las Vegas tonight, where we are learning more about the man responsible for last night's horrific mass shooting. At least 59 people were killed, more than 500 wounded, as we said, many in still critical care tonight.

Authorities say Stephen Paddock was heavily armed in his hotel room alone in that suite in the Mandalay Bay with 23 guns, some with scopes and tripods. In his home near here, there were additional 19 guns, thousands of rounds of ammunition, more rifles. Still, though, no one knows why.

Our Kyung Lah reporter.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

KYUNG LAH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): When the SWAT team broke down the door of the room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Casino, Gunman Stephen Paddock was already dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

(SHOUTING)

LAH: Leaving investigators to piece together why a 64-year-old retired accountant would gun down a crowd attending the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival.

JOE LOMBARDO, SHERIFF, CLARK COUNTY SHERIFF'S DEPARTMENT: We have checked all the federal databases and local databases and state databases and we had no knowledge of this individual.

LAH: Paddock checked in the Mandalay Bay on the 28th but it wasn't until Sunday night that he broke the windows in his hotel room to begin his murderous rage. Police would find 10 or more guns in the hotel room.

LOMBARDO: This is an individual that was described as a lone wolf. I don't know how it could have been prevented if we didn't have any prior knowledge to this individual.

LAH: The gunman's brother, Eric Paddock, said also he had no warning. He lives in Florida and said the last time they spoke was after Hurricane Irma.

[01:35:05] ERIC PADDOCK, BROTHER OF GUNMAN: He's my brother. It was like an asteroid fell out of the sky. Last time I talked to him was he texted me asking about my mom was after we didn't have power for five days in the neighborhood.

LAH: He said his brother was rich, playing $100 hands of video poker. Paddock was divorced, with no kids.

PADDOCK: Steve had nothing to do with any political organization, religious organization, no white supremacists, nothing, as far as I know. Yes, he had a couple of guns. It's legal to own a couple of guns in the United States. He did not own machine guns that I knew of, in any way, shape, or form.

LAH: The only unusual part of Paddock's family, says his brother, his father. A convicted bank robber, Benjamin Hoskins Paddock, was on the FBI most-wanted list from 1969 to 1977.

PADDOCK: He's dead. Yes, he died a handful of years ago. I was born on the run. That was the last time he was ever associated with by our family.

LAH: Paddock decided to retire in Mesquite, Nevada, a community of 18,000 people about 80 miles from Las Vegas. Police there searching the home he shared with his girlfriend and finding some guns and ammunition, but few obvious clues about a motive.

UNIDENTIFIED POLICE OFFICER: It's a nice clean home. Nothing out of the ordinary.

LAH (on camera): So a picture is becoming more clear that this was something long planned, that he had accumulated all of this weaponry. The hard part is knowing exactly why.

Kyung Lah, CNN, Mesquite, Nevada.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BURNETT: Our thanks to Kyung.

The massacre overwhelmed the city hospitals in Las Vegas. They are still caring for many patients who are in critical condition.

Our Scott McLean is there at the University Medical Center that level- one trauma center where so many people went.

The death number has risen throughout the day. They are doing everything they can with those patients in critical care so that count does not change.

MCLEAN: Yes, Erin, so the University Medical Center didn't get the most number of patients, but it did get some of the most critically injured patients. It got 104 victims in total. It's amazing just how quickly nurses and surgeons were able to get here and get into surgery. At one point, they had eight surgeries happening simultaneously.

One of those people in surgery was Taylor Barr (ph). She's 22 years old. Came out here from California with a group of about 20 people. Four of them ended up being shot. All of them are OK.

I spoke to her sister and boyfriend as they were leaving the hospital visiting her earlier this afternoon. They were still wearing the same blood-soaked clothing they wore at the concert and still very much processing what had happened.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

AMBRY BARR (ph), SISTER OF TAYLOR BARR (ph): I can't stop shaking. I'm not even cold but I feel like I can't stop shaking. It replays in my head every second, the noises, everybody screaming. The noises, the gun, it will never leave my mind.

DEAN KALANKA (ph), BOYFRIEND OF AMBRY BARR (ph): I've been praying and thanking God all day today. I'm amazed we walked out of there with no injury whatsoever. I'm just super thankful and feeling super lucky.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

MCLEAN: So Taylor and her parents ended up getting separated from the rest of the group. They ended up at different hospitals. Taylor was shot in the arm. When she got here, she was rushed into surgery. She's now recovering. She does have movement in her hand but doesn't have a whole lot of feeling. Doctors say it will take two or three more surgeries to repair all the nerve damage done here.

Now, Taylor was brought here in the back of a pickup truck. Her and her parents want to find the people driving that truck, they know it was two males and a woman in a white pickup truck. That's all they know though. They want to say thanks because they think, given the amount of blood she had lost and the amount of time that had passed since the initial shooting, that if those Good Samaritans who drove them here weren't there, she might not be alive today -- Erin?

[01:39:24] BURNETT: There's so many who helped save lives and so many heart-broken they weren't able to save more. But thank God for all those heroes and the first responders.

Thank you so much, Scott.

We have more on this mass shooting in Las Vegas, as we were learning more, including how President Donald Trump is reacting to the tragedy.

Before we go, though, we want to show you the symbols of solidarity around the world. In New York, the tower of One World Trade Center lit with an orange band to honor the victims of gun violence. In Paris, the Eiffel Tower dark in remembrance of the victims of the mass shooting and a weekend knife attack in Marseilles. In Israel, Tel Aviv city's tall building displaying the U.S. flag, showing support for the American people and those victims here in Las Vegas.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Welcome back to our breaking news coverage of the deadly mass shooting, the massacre here in Las Vegas. At least 59 are dead, more than 500 injured, many in area hospitals tonight, some in critical condition, after a gunman opened fire on an outdoor concert from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel, shooting down on the people below him.

President Trump held a moment of silence for the victims of the attack, which he called an act of pure evil.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: We'll be going to Las Vegas on a very, very sad -- it's a very sad moment for me, for everybody. No matter where you are, no matter what your thought process, this is a very, very sad day.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

[01:45:09] BURNETT: Joining me now is Brian Claypool. He was at the concert, also a criminal defense attorney, and often a guest here often on CNN.

You were in the front. You had been looking at a couple of police officers and thinking, gosh, you've had a good few days.

BRIAN CLAYPOOL, WITNESS & CRIMINAL DEFENSE ATTORNEY: It was about 20 minutes before the first shots were fired and I was sitting back in my chair and I'm looking at two Las Vegas police officers, chatting with a couple women and a couple guys, and I said to myself, these officers have had the best gig on the planet for the last three days. Because you have a beautiful crowd, country music fans there to celebrate life. So well behaved. I remember looking around seeing smiling faces, people getting along, high fiving. And I said these police officers haven't had to do anything for three days. Then fast forward 20 minutes, shots fired, we're running for our lives, and they're running into, risking their lives.

BURNETT: When it started, you were right near the front and the shots started raining down where you were. I mean --

(CROSSTALK)

CLAYPOOL: Yes. Erin, I felt the power of those shots. It felt like they were right behind my shoulders and my head. Because I was in the VIP section right in the corner of where Las Vegas Boulevard meets Mandalay Bay, so I was right near that corner area. And I felt the heaviness of the shots. And I immediately then laid down on the aluminum steps. Was trying to get out of the VIP area. And I will tell you, it had to be at least 30 seconds of just mass terror. Just one shot after another, boom, boom, boom.

(CROSSTALK)

BURNETT: It went on for 30 seconds.

CLAYPOOL: It went on for -- I feel like it was at least 30 seconds. I was laying there and I didn't feel safe because my head was exposed, my neck was exposed. I felt, for a moment, there's no way I'm not going to get hit by a bullet, there are so many bullets coming.

BURNETT: And they were all in that area.

CLAYPOOL: Oh, they are.

BURNETT: Did you have any idea where it was coming from? Why it was happening? It was complete fight or flight?

CLAYPOOL: That is the worst -- my heart is palpitating when you say that. We had no idea. Was there one shooter, two shooters? I thought there could be three shooters. You had another guest, who mentioned he thought the shooters might come in the arena. That's what I thought, too. We thought they were going to jump the fence. We had no idea they were up in the Mandalay Bay. Imagine that. There was only a five-foot fence next to Las Vegas Boulevard.

BURNETT: It sounds like your instinct was to go down.

CLAYPOOL: Instinct was to go down --

(CROSSTALK)

BURNETT: -- because you thought someone could be coming through, as opposed to run away.

CLAYPOOL: Exactly. I was trying to pull people down because a lot of folks were frozen in the moment. They were sitting up. I was like, my god, get down, please get down. Then there was a break in the shots and you start using your mind. What can I do to put myself in the best position to not be killed, because there was only so much you could do. I want to make sure I did everything I could do to not get killed, and I tried to help others, too. So the minute the shots stopped, I'm like there's a moment of opportunity. I ran. I ran down these stairs out of the VIP, but now I'm in the wide-open area where the shooter can see me. There was a heroic young Hispanic man who channeled about 15 of us into this little room under the bleachers, like a production area. He sent 15 of us in there. It was like pick your poison. Do I go straight? Do I go into the room? I chose the room. And then I get this feeling like I'm going to die like the Orlando shooting. Remember everyone is huddled down, so I'm feeling that as well.

BURNETT: Thank you. We're glad that you're here. And I know you're going to heading home to see your daughter.

CLAYPOOL: Yes, to see my daughter. I didn't want to die and not be able to raise her. So thank God. Unlike other folks who are not going to get to see their families, at least I'll get to see my little girl.

BURNETT: Thank you.

CLAYPOOL: Thank you.

[02:49:19] BURNETT: Like all of the victims, Angela Gomez had so much more to expect from life. She is one of the 59 people who lost their lives in Las Vegas. That's before she even had the blessing of having her own children. We will remember the victims after this.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

BURNETT: Fifty-nine people were killed in the Las Vegas massacre, and we want to remember those who have been named so far. Still only a few names, but so many.

Sonny Melton was a nurse from Tennessee. He was just married, 29-ye r-old old. His wife is a surgeon. She was with him. She survived. She said, "He saved my life, but, at this point, I can barely breathe."

Jenny Parks was a kindergarten teacher from Lancaster, California. A relative says she was one of the most loving people you could ever hope to meet. She always went out of her way to help anybody. Her husband was shot in the arm. He survived.

Rachel Parker was a 10-year veteran of the police department in Manhattan Beach, California. She survived the shooting but died at the hospital.

Sandy Casey was a special education teacher at a middle school in Manhattan Beach. She was much beloved. The school board president says, "We lost a spectacular teacher who devoted her life to helping our most needy students."

[01:55:07] Angela Gomez was just 20 years old. She had just graduated Riverside Valley High School in 2015. They described her as a wonderful young woman and she did have her whole life ahead.

Rhonda Larow (ph) lived in Massachusetts. Her sister said she feels paralyzed. Still cannot believe that her sister is dead.

Susan Smith was a mother, a wife, office manager at an elementary school in Simi Valley, California. People said she was always smiling as you see her.

Niecea Plumb (ph) lived in Las Vegas. She was a mother to three boys. Her employer started a GoFundMe page for her family. They have already raised more than $80,000.

And Bailey Schweitzer (ph) was 20 years old. At the concert with her mother, when she was killed. Friends said she had a heart for people and will be truly missed.

Jennifer Urbine (ph) was an attorney based out of San Diego. In a statement, we're told - a statement was issued to the public to say, "May her unity and strength shine over the darkness."

I'm Erin Burnett, live in Las Vegas. Our coverage of the deadliest mass shooting in modern-American history will continue. We'll be back in Vegas in a moment.