this is bbc news. the headlines at 11:00pm: at least 58 people killed and more than 500 injured, after a gunman opens fire on a crowd attending a music festival in las vegas. concert—goers scrambled for cover, rushing for exits and helping others to escape, as they realised the full horror of what was happening. police have identified the gunman as a 64—year—old local man, who killed himself before police found him. at the white house, a silent tribute led by president trump, who had said earlier that the attack was an act of pure evil. 1,800 staff at monarch are made

redundant as the airline goes into administration, affecting thousands of customers, many of them abroad on holiday. and on newsnight we have the latest from las vegas, and we look at the extraordinary events in catalonia. we will be asking the spanish foreign minister why he thinks sending riot police to stop the independence vote was a good idea. good evening and welcome to bbc news. at least 58 people have been killed and more than 500 injured in a mass shooting in las vegas, the worst of its kind in modern us history. the gunman was a 64—year—old man, living in a retirement village and unknown to the police.

the shooting happened during an open—air music festival attended by thousands of people. shortly after 10:00pm local time, dozens of rounds were fired from the mandalay bay hotel, as the gunman took aim from the window of his room on the 32nd floor, where he was later found dead by police. he has been named as stephen paddock, who lived in the state of nevada. police say they have no idea about his possible motives. 0ur correspondentjames cook sent us this report from las vegas. in the cold nevada desert, country music is warming the crowd. the time is 10:08pm. the noise prompts confusion. the crowd, 22,000—strong, hesitates.

it takes a moment, a deadly moment, before they realise they are under attack. gunfire. by now, a second round of bullets is raining down. there is a pause. the gunman is reloading again. he is high above them, in the mandalay bay hotel. panic follows. it is a scramble to live. there were people hiding underneath my car for cover. and there was a gentleman that was shot, and he said, "can you help me?" and so i put him into my car, and i had six people in my car, people without shoes, running, just to get away. we just hit the ground, and just lay there and hung on each other. and it was quiet for a bit, and then he fired another 30 rounds, and then quiet, and then what we were doing was every time he stopped, he was reloading,

we had gotten up and started making our way towards the fence. he would start shooting again, and we would hit the ground. gunfire. by now, the music fans are frantic. if they can, they run, and like this woman, they hide. we were sitting ducks, and the bullets were coming closer, and then it would get quiet, and he would reload. and the girl that was standing behind me, about two feet, she got shot in the stomach. and at first we thought it was firecrackers, and then itjust kept going more. we felt the shots, and then we ran. to the hangar, to the airport, and we just kept running.

it was... once we got out the back, we started seeing the people that were shot, and the people that were dead. and that's when it hit me, that this was real. within half an hour, officers know the gunman is in the hotel. explosives ready, they prepared to go in. this police radio recording captures the moment they stormed the room. breach, breach, breach. by now, it is nearly midnight, and the gunman is dead, apparently having killed himself. he left the city in chaos, with hospitals overwhelmed, and too few ambulances for more than 500 casualties. we just need to get people over to the hospital, 0k? 0k, put them all in the back. hundreds of people remain

in hospital, where surgeons have been battling to save life after life. we had all hands on deck. we eight or nine trauma surgeons alone in the facility. we had eight operating rooms rolling simultaneously, operating on patients, doing what in trauma we refer to as damage control, getting them on the table, stopping the process of them dying, and stabilising them. as for the gunman, he was stephen paddock, a 64—year—old retired accountant from mesquite, one hour from the las vegas strip. he had checked into the hotel on thursday. as far as his history and background, we haven't completed that part of the investigation yet. but we located numerous firearms in the room he occupied. for a western democracy, the united states has seen an astonishing amount of horror like this. but, even here, this is carnage

on a different scale. james cook, bbc news, las vegas. as we have heard, the man thought to be responsible for the attack was a 64—year—old retired accountant called stephen paddock, who lived in the city of mesquite, 80 miles from las vegas. he checked into the mandalay hotel last thursday. police say he was not known to them, and they have not identified any links to terrorist networks. 0ur correspondent laura bicker has been considering what is known about the gunman. stephen paddock, a retired accountant and high—sta kes gambler, turned a country music concert into a killing field. he had been in his room on the 32nd floor of the mandalay hotel for days, waiting with a cache of rifles and automatic weapons. his familyjust can't comprehend the horror of his crime. my brother did this, i... this is like it was done — you know, like he shot us. imean...

if he'd killed my kids, i couldn't be more dumbfounded. it doesn't. .. there's nothing... the last communication... i can show you the text, he said, "how's mum?" where the hell did he get automatic weapons? he has no military background, or anything like that. like i said, he's a guy who lived in a house in mesquite, and drove down and gambled in las vegas. he did stuff — eat burritos. the 64—year—old made few friends in his suburban retirement village in the quiet town of mesquite. police found more guns and ammunition when they raided his home. what's unique for us is that the gunman, the shooter, and the person with him, we in the mesquite police department had not had any contact with these people in the past. we haven't had any traffic

stops, no law enforcement contact, arrests, nothing. he would disappear for days to nearby las vegas to gamble, but also made money from rental properties and came across as odd to some of his chance. he roamed around the apartment, he talked to you, always real casual, and they showed his picture, and i was shocked. he was a nice guy, strange but nice. the question is, what would lead a man with no criminal history, no known strong political views, and no apparent motive to commit such relentless carnage? 0ur correspondent dave lee is in las vegas, and a little earlier he gave us this update. las vegas is reeling from the attack last night, still trying to come to terms with what happened. but it is ata terms with what happened. but it is at a very, very early stage, as you suggest, of that process. what we have heard, though, is individual a cts have heard, though, is individual acts of kindness and self—sacrifice, from people lying on top of people

who were on the ground to try and save their lives. i spoke to some people this morning who had survived. they said that... the woman said that her daughter had been helped out by some strangers, who grabbed her, even though she was down on the ground and was being trampled. they had made sure she got up. i also spoke to some british nurses who were extremely distraught at were determined to go and find a hospital where they could help. and at the same time we are learning more about stephen paddock himself. a suggestion being reported now that his father was a bank robber, a former bank robber at once on the fbi's former bank robber at once on the fbi‘s most wanted list. did that have anything to do with this? who at this stage can say? that was david cooke, not david lee. the uk's fifth—biggest airline, monarch, has collapsed, and all its future flights and holidays have been cancelled. more than 750,000 people have lost bookings, and over 100,000 customers overseas are being flown home, in what the government is calling the uk's biggest peacetime repatriation. our business editor simonjack reports.

grounded for good. monarch waited for its 36 aircraft to be out of the air before putting an end to nearly 50 years of flying. one man was due to fly to the canary islands with 30 friends and family, for a wedding, only to be told he would have to pay £400 each for alternative flights. gutted, really, to be honest with you. i think it's bang out of order. they've done — they've not even apologised, you know, and i think that's just disgusting. in manchester, passengers were equally stunned. i'm still in shock, really, because we've just arrived only to find this out. this is the first we've heard. 0n arriving at the airport, we find out that there's a problem with the flight. customers who booked atol—protected package holidays should be able to claim back the cost, but mostjust bought flights with no atol cover. they are being told to try and claim

through their card company or their travel insurance, but that may only cover those who picked airline failure as an optional extra. in cambridge, monarch employees gathered to share... i'm going to miss you. ..and perhaps drown their sorrows. there were a lot of tears this morning. it was very emotional at the administrators' meeting this morning. but, yes, it's one very big family. 110,000 passengers stranded abroad started arriving home today on specially chartered planes, in peacetime‘s biggest repatriation, paid for by the government. what is the upfront cost? we won't know, until the process is over, exactly what the cost of doing this is. we're hiring aircraft. we're seeking to recover money through travel agents, through banks and credit card firms. but my priority right now, today, is not the money. it's actually the people who are stranded. so what went wrong? some of monarch's most popular routes were hit by terror attacks in egypt and turkey. that led to intense competition for the rest of the med, and monarch's small

size was a handicap, as was the referendum result. company sources tell me the brexit vote had two important consequences. first, the regulatory uncertainty in the aviation industry it created scuppered plans to merge with other airlines. and secondly, theirfuel and their aircraft leases are both priced in dollars, which got a lot more expensive after the fall in the value of the pound. it has been a gloomy autumn for travellers still reeling from massive cancellations by ryanair, who stand to benefit by having one less competitor and 400 pilots looking for a job. that will be little comfort for hundreds of thousands of passengers whose holiday plans have been thrown up in the air by the biggest failure in uk aviation history. simonjack, bbc news, manchester. that is a summary of the news. newsday is coming up at midnight. now on bbc news, it is time for newsnight. gunfire. the moment when they realised that sound was machine—gun fire. hundreds of people became

casualties, and more than 50 others are dead in an attack with no known motive. we'll bring you the latest from las vegas. also tonight, the catalonia referendum ends in batons at the polling stations, as left and right replay their century—old political battle. gabriel gatehouse is in barcelona. at the last general election, over half of this city voted for centre—left or left—wing parties. and in a way, holding this referendum at all was like sticking two fingers up to the centre—right government in madrid. we'll put that to the spanish foreign minister. but we won't be hearing quite as much from the british foreign secretary. i'm here in manchester at the conservative party

conference, where borisjohnson has been trying not to steal all the attention. rather unsuccessfully, as it happens. so, where did those borisjohnson red lines come from on brexit in recent days? search me, guv. good evening. sad to say it, but nobody‘s surprised when someone with guns ta kes innocent lives in america. but even by the standards of a nation that buried its children after sandy hook or clubbers after 0rlando, what happened in las vegas marked a new nadir. there's the numbers, for one thing. when you add those hospitalised with wounds to those who died, nearly 600 people were casualties. then there's the killer's arsenal — crazy even by the standards of these tragedies.