STRIP WERE ATTACKED. >>> JUST NOW, POLICE HAVE
IDENTIFIED THE SUSPECT TO NBC NEWS.
HERE WE GO. HIS NAME IS STEVEN PADDOCK.
HE HAD A CRIMINAL PAST. WE'RE WORKING ON DETAILS.
62-YEAR-OLD STEVEN PADDOCK. JOINING US NOW FROM LAS VEGAS,
NBC'S STEVE PATTERSON WITH MORE ON THIS.
STEVE? >> Reporter: GOOD MORNING, MIKA.
WE ARE AT THE CORNER OF LAS VEGAS BOULEVARD AND TROPICANA.
ABOUT AS CENTRAL A LOCATION AS YOU CAN GET ON THE LAS VEGAS
STRIP HERE. WE WANT TO SHOW YOU WHERE WE
ARE. POLICE STAGING BEHIND ME.
WE'VE SEEN THE OPERATION EVOLVE OVER TIME.
ORIGINALLY, IT WAS POLICE IN FULL S.W.A.T. GEAR WITH LONG
GUNS. IMMEDIATELY AFTER THAT CONCERT
FIRING HAD GONE ON, POLICE WERE SWEEPING EVERY CASINO AND HOTEL
IN THIS AREA, GOING FROM DOOR TO DOOR TO DOOR TO MAKE SURE IT WAS
CLEARED. THEN THEY PUSHED EVERYBODY BACK
OUT OF HERE. THEY SWARMED THE SCENE.
THIS IS WHERE THEY'VE BEEN SET UP FOR SEVERAL HOURS.
MEANTIME WE'VE BEEN TALKING TO VICTIMS, PEOPLE HERE ALONG THE
STRIP AND IN IN THAT CONCERT LOCATION AT THAT VENUE AT THE
TIME THE SHOOTING OCCURRED. YOU HEARD JUST WHAT A TERRIBLE,
CHAOTIC SITUATION THIS WAS. YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT A GUY FROM
AN ELEVATED POSITION WITH AN AUTOMATIC WEAPON SHOOTING INTO A
CROWD. PEOPLE FROM THAT CROWD FILTERED
OUT. WE SPOKE TO A FEW OF THEM.
ONE WOMAN SAID SHE HAD TO HIDE INTO A BUSH FOR A BETTER PART OF
AN HOUR, TERRIFIED, NOT KNOWING WHAT WAS GOING ON.
ANOTHER WOMAN WAS IN THE CROWD WHEN THE FIRING STARTED.
IT STARTED, OBVIOUSLY, LIKE FIREWORKS OR SOMETHING THAT WAS
PART OF THE SHOW. I THINK A LOT OF PEOPLE AREN'T
USED TO THE SOUND OF AUTOMATIC GUNFIRE IN THIS COUNTRY.
A LOT OF PEOPLE DIDN'T KNOW WHAT THEY WERE HEARING.
THEN TO TURN AROUND AND CONFIRM WHAT IT WAS, TO SEE THAT
HORRIFIC SCENE FROM ABOVE AND PEOPLE TO GET OUT AS FAST AS
HUMANLY POSSIBLE, THAT CREATED A DANGEROUS SITUATION ON THE
GROUND. MATT LAUER TALKED TO SOMEBODY IN
THAT CROWD, SAID WHOEVER WAS UP THERE RELOADED SOME THREE, FIVE,
SIX DIFFERENT TIMES AND YOU HAVE EERIE PERIODS WHERE HE'S
RELOADING. PEOPLE ARE PANICKED.
NOBODY KNOWS WHAT'S GOING ON. AND THE GUNFIRE STARTS AGAIN.
WE'VE SEEN BUSES COME THROUGH THIS AREA, LOADING BUS LOADS OF
PEOPLE AND TRY TO TAKE THEM AS FAR AWAY FROM THIS AREA AS
POSSIBLE. I WANT TO GIVE YOU ONE LAST LOOK
AT THE SCENE. THIS IS WHAT IT HAS LOOKED LIKE
FOR SEVERAL HOURS. JUST ABOUT ANY TIME OF THE DAY
THERE'S REVELRY, PEOPLE OUT, HAVING FUN.
TO BE ON THE SCENE WHERE THIS IS WHAT YOU'RE LOOKING AT AND
HEARING ALMOST NOTHING BESIDES POLICE ACTIVITY, IT'S INCREDIBLY
EERIE AND DISTURBING HERE IN LAS VEGAS, MIKA.
>> I KNOW THEY'RE SAYING UP TO 100 INJURIES.
ANY SENSE IF THOSE NUMBERS COULD CHANGE?
>> Reporter: ABSOLUTELY. JUST THE NUMBER AND AMOUNT OF
CHAOS AND THE AMOUNT OF BODIES AND VICTIMS THAT WERE SCATTERED
AROUND, PEOPLE WHO MADE IT OUT ALIVE AND MADE IT OUT UNSCATHED,
IT SOUNDS LIKE THE LOSS OF LIFE AND AT LEAST THE IMPACT TO LIFE
IS TRAUMATIC AND IS GOING TO BE DRAMATIC WHEN IT'S ALL SAID AND
DONE. IT ALREADY IS WHEN YOU'RE
LOOKING AT