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| Crime scene tape surrounds the Mandalay Bay hotel following the deadliest mass shooting in US history |
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| The damaged windows on the 32nd floor room that was used by the shooter in the Mandalay Hotel |
The damaged windows on the 32nd floor room that was used by the shooter in the Mandalay Hotel
After fleeing in terror from a massacre of music fans, Ralph Rodriguez returned to his hotel room to discover that America's deadliest shooting had been carried out under his feet.
After a weekend at Las Vegas' Mandalay Bay hotel, Rodriguez had been enjoying a Sunday night concert by country music star Jason Aldean when gunfire began crackling around the open-air venue.
In an interview with AFP, Rodriguez recounted the terrifying moment the crowd realized they were being raked with bullets by a gunman stationed on the 32nd floor of his hotel.
Rodgriguez, an IT consultant, was staying in the room directly above the shooter Stephen Paddock who murdered at least 58 people before turning a weapon upon himself.
"He (Aldean) had only done two or three songs when we heard what we thought were firecrackers, to the right of the stage. But then it started and it just didn't stop," said Rodriguez, who is from the Pomona Valley, near Los Angeles.
"We saw the lights go out on the stage and the band run off. Just then, all the people that had been standing in the festival area came running, crushing towards us.
"People started grabbing their loved-ones and just strangers, and trying to help them get out of the way.
"It was a horrible experience, but everybody was helping somebody.
"I saw people picking up kids that weren't theirs, I saw people pushing wheelchairs for some people they didn't know. They did whatever they could to get those people out of there," he said.
- 'Incredibly chaotic' -
"Our problem was we didn't know we know where the shots were coming from, so we were running but we didn't know where we were running. It was incredibly chaotic," Rodriguez said.
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