good morning, america. breaking news, deadly rampage in las vegas. a shooter opening fire killing more than 50, injuring over 200. that's the sound of bullets taking over the arena at a country music festival on the strip. the shooter taking aim from froh above inside the mandalay bay hotel firing rapid rounds for 4 1/2 minutes. >> it just kept going and going. >> chaos erupting. thousands scrambling running for their lives. yi tngo ke some hiding under the stage for the spray of bullets. >> i heard thesep, popop,po, pop, pop, just going nonstop.

>> the rush to take down the shooter. a s.w.a.t. team breaking down the shooter's door. >> breach, breach, breach. >> and now the urgent search for this woman who may be connected to one of the worst mass shootings in american history. our team live on the scene right now for a special edition of "gma." >> good morning, america. i'm sorry to say it is a horrifying one unfolding over the last several hour, the worst mass shooting in american history. a gunman opened fire around 10:08:00 p.m. las vegas time on the route 91 country music festival there in las vegas. jason aldean was performing more than 50 dead. more than 200 injured. >> the video coming in is unimaginable showing the minute the concert turned horrific. gunshots ringing out interrupting the music. take a listen.

♪ >> people thought it was fireworks. multiple rounds of gunfire. >> a terrifying scene. absolute chaos. it was at that route 91 harvest festival on the 32nd floor of the mandalay bay hotel and fired indiscriminately. automatic weapons in his room and the carnage unimaginable, chaos continued for several hours. >> and here's what we know right now. more than 50 people killed. more than 200 injured. the sheer has been identified as 64-year-old stephen paddock. he is now dead. police believe he was the only attacker. they also located the woman believed to be a person of interest and his companion.

>> they've talked to her as well and straight to matt gutman on the scene outside the mandalay bay hotel for hours. he has the latest. good morning, matt. >> reporter: good morning, george. when you see that video and you hear that gunfire, you understand why the eyewitnesses we've been speaking to here called it the kill box, they were standing shoulder to shoulder with other concertgoers when people began dropping. the chaos was unimaginable, people did not know -- overnight terror on the las vegas strip. at least 50 dead in a mass shooting at a music concert near the mandalay bay casino on the las vegas strip. at 10:08 local, flashes of automatic gunfire ringing out towards the end of a concert at the route 91 harvest festival. country star jason aldean performing on set. >> it sounded like firecrackers and everybody got startled for a

second, two, three seconds later it started again, another burst. everybody i saw in the bleachers hit the deck. >> reporter: panic ensuing, concertgoers scattering, some hiding out in the basement of the nearby tropicana hotel. first responders rushing to the scene. >> we need your truck. we just need to get people over to the hospital, okay? >> we are looking in excess of 50 individuals dead and over 200 individuals injured. >> reporter: then shortly after 11:20 p.m., s.w.a.t. teams zeroing in on the 32nd floor of the hotel. >> the audience on the 32nd floor, everyone in the hallway needs to move back. >> breach, breach, breach. >> one of my officers was off duty attending the concert and lost his life. >> reporter: at 1:30 a.m. police confirming the shooter was dead. he was 64-year-old stephen paddock and overnight an urgent

manhunt for his companion marilou danley, she has been located. this morning, a swarm of federal agencies, the atf and fbi on the scene to assist with the investigation. and still the las vegas strip, one of the most trafficked places in the country, is quiet right now. you can see that there's a road blocked. people are not allowed in and for hours there were people locked in their hotel rooms. you can see the famous skyline behind me, the new york new y k york, excaliber, mandalay bay, mgm and thousands closed in as false reports of extra shootings or additional shootings and perhaps even a bomb scare forced security personnel to lock everybody down and an almost unimaginable scene in one of the most touristed places in america. unimaginable scene. >> sheer panic. thanks very much. we were talking to eyewitnesses all through the night. they didn't know they were safe for several hours after the

shooting even though it only unfolded in 4 1/2 minutes. >> it took me by surprise when you were talking to them and it was hours after and you asked when they felt safe and they said like an hour ago and when it's such a fluid situation and many of us have been in las vegas, the hotels are so close, the cavernous sound hearing it ricocheted and that fear that they were in. >> we know in situations in the past there have been multiple shooters. apparently in this case only one but so many victims, so many witnesses on the scene. want to talk to one of them right now. mike cronk who was at the concert when the shooting broke out. mike, just a horrifying scene right there. tell us what you went through. >> very horrifying. at first it sounded like fireworks and then my buddy that was standing right next to me said i'm hit and then we knew it was real and it was chaos. we got him down and people

screaming and -- >> he got hit right in the chest. >> just pretty horrific. my buddy got shot three times in the chest. >> how is he doing? >> at last i heard, i haven't been on leave here but said he was going to be good. >> my goodness, so tell us what happened in those moments afterwards. how did you get out of there? >> we -- most people started scattering and they climbed the fence but i had to stay with my buddies. so we got him over the fence once the firing stopped and slid him under a stage so we were safe. and then we -- we transported him around the back side of the event. >> how did you get him around? >> got him over to triage. there was three of us carrying him and there was a cart so we

got him on the cart and we wheeled that around. >> so you were able to get him to the triage and then where did you all go next and how did you find safety? >> well, i wasn't really worried about the safety part because i was going to stay with my buddy. there were no ambulances available really because it was a fire zone. so we actually got four wounded people in the back of a truck. >> i know you got four wounded people in the back of the truck but not all of them made it. >> no, and we -- it -- one of the guys in our truck did not make it either. i carried him out of the truck and he passed away in my arms. >> oh, i can't imagine what that must have been like but you had the presence of mind to try to get people to safety but this all unfolded so quickly. >> very quick.

it was -- it's surreal. >> and in those moments, where were your thoughts? >> my first thoughts were for my buddy, you know, i wanted to make sure he was taken care of. but, you know, we were pretty much yelling at everybody to stay down. that was what we needed to do. >> well, we're glad you're okay now. so sorry for your friend and all those who have lost their lives and loved ones in this but, mike cronk, thank you for being with us this morning. >> thank you. >> when you hear those eyewitness accounts, let's get more now on the shooter. we know he was from nevada opened fire from that hotel window. police have also located a woman they believe is a person of interest and our chief investigative correspondent brian ross, you've been on this since the beginning. >> 64-year-old stephen paddock, authorities are scrambling to learn all they can about him. his background, where he's from, what might have motivated him to

carry out what was a very well planned attack using a hard to obtain automatic weapon. what we do know about him is that two or three years ago he sued a las vegas casino, then settled in arbitration. he is a private pilot. he has a hunting license in alaska and he is somebody who has moved around from texas to nevada and we don't know much about his occupation. this morning authorities did track down a person described as his companion, marilou danley. this is a photo she posted on facebook of her at the mandalay casino hotel when she was gambling there at one point in 2014 so this morning authorities are trying to talk to her about what they know -- what she knows about him. >> as we know, he moved around from -- >> exactly. >> and appeared to have come back to nevada. >> at 64 years old, white male, hardly the description of what would be called an isis terrorist. >> okay, brian, thanks very much. want to go to linsey davis at the university hospital center in las vegas.

so many injured now. more than 200 injured. 50 dead and just terrifying moments in that concert. >> reporter: yeah, you're exactly right, george. here at umc they have more than 50 of those patients are here. we're told at the last update that 12 of them were in critical condition, but, again, of course, we're talking about more than 200 people who were injured here. we just heard a little while ago from the sheriff who said that they are just overwhelmed here at area hospitals. take a look. ♪ [ gunfire ] >> reporter: the terrifying shots ringing out. >> all of a sudden we hear the pop, pop, pop, pop, pop and just thought it was fireworks so everybody just kept trying to stand there. >> reporter: concertgoers quickly learned the pops were not fireworks but an active shooter's machine gun firing off. >> we were in the vip seats to the right of the stage and sounded like it was right on top

of us. >> reporter: this morning at least 50 dead, more than 200 injured. >> my other friend was praying over bodies that were dead. it was just a horrible thing. >> reporter: two of the victims off-duty police officers there to see the concert. at this country music festival on the las vegas strip when it was thrown into utter chaos. ♪ [ gunfire ] >> it literally felt like it continued for 20 minutes straight and i still wasn't even sure if it was actually bullets until when the times we paused our friend was like the guy next to us got >> reporter: concertgoers scrambling to take cover. the stampede and hundreds towards the exits. >> everyone was slow to react. once they did and it was just crowd running like pandemonium and people just running every direction they knew how. >> reporter: those who made it

outside found anything to hide behind in the madness. >> everyone like hid behind cop cars. >> reporter: one woman says her car became refuge for one of the wounded. >> there was a gentleman that was shot and he said can you help me and so i put him in my car and i had like six people in my car, people without shoes running just to get away and -- >> reporter: with emergency crews quickly arriving on the scene tending to the wounded, reports of victims even fleeing onto the las vegas airport runways. now, just to set the scene police have established aperimeter outside of this hospital and other area hospitals. they are turning away family members. we've seen the looks on their faces as they get turned away. you have to imagine that that is excruciating. they are directing family mens to go to police headquarters. the only people allowed into the hospital right now is hospital personnel. george and robin. >> all right. linsey, thanks very much. >> we've just heard from president trump. he put out his first statement and said my warmest condolences

and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible las vegas shooting. god bless you. >> yes, i'm going to bring in brian claypool, someone you spoke to earlier this morning also at the concert and ran when he heard the gun shots. brian, good to see you again and just remind people of what you saw. >> hey, robin, i'll do my best. i just -- i can't even believe how many people were killed. but so i was sitting in the vip section and it was right near the stage and i heard a popping sound, thought it was fireworks. i looked up in the sky. didn't see anything. i was worried, jason aldean stopped singing, there was kind of a gap in his song -- it was very surreal, knew something was wrong, and then i heard shots fire -- like just, just going off like they were right on top of us. so i ran, i ran to the front up

the aisle, laid face down on the aluminum, i was pulling people down because i think a lot of folks didn't realize the shooting was taking place. they were still sitting up and i have to tell you when i was on that ground that shooting went on for it had to have been 20, 30 seconds. >> and you almost left early, brian? >> there was a gap. >> you said you almost left early too. >> you almost left the concert early. >> yeah, robin, yeah, robin, it was so ironic. i was going to leave and take a 7:50 flight back to l.a. today, but what's so, so surreal about this is i'm on the 24th floor of the mandalay bay. i have the exact view of this lunatic that killed everybody and i was looking out that window this afternoon and i said to myself, this looks so beautiful, it's such a beautiful setting that i'm going to stay an extra night and not go back

and then i go and people are massacred because of that same view that i saw. >> and i know that you are thinking of your daughter, brian. >> yeah, yeah, so i have an 11-year-old daughter and what happened, robin, is after the first round of shooting, i ran down these steps then they -- a gentleman screamed, get in this room because we were in open fire then. we were running north, but we were right next to las vegas boulevard. i go into this room, it was like a little -- like a little production area, and the hardest moment for me is i saw like six young women, they were maybe 20, 22, they were all crying on the ground. i was trying to be calm. but i thought -- at the moment i

thought of the orlando shooting because we were in this room, we didn't know where the shooter was. we thought he was just going to jump the fence and come in that room and shoot us all. so i didn't know whether that was the right decision so i'm thinking am i going to die like in this room? and then the shooting stopped. i peeked out the front ofhe t m. police officer screamed go, go. and i rallied everybody out of that room and we ran toward the back, further back of the venue. and that's where i saw two people shot and then i found out an hour ago from the couple next to me that a young woman in the row so there was a fence in front of the vip section then general admission, the young woman was killed like in the general admission section right in front of us. so go figure. >> you can't figure something

like this, bryan. i'm sure you brought those young women more comfort than you could ever imagine and -- >> i really tried, robin. i really felt like i needed to do something there because i had to rise above it. i was determined and said these girls aren't going to die. i'm not going to die. i need to get home to see my daughter. this is not happening. not happening. >> well, we're glad that you and those around you were okay. bryan, thank you. >> bryan just mentioned orlando. we know now the death toll has exceeded that orlando shooting in june 2016, the worst mass shooting in american history. you see the numbers right there, orlando back in june, 49 killed. 32 killed at virginia tech in 2007. 27 killed in newtown, connecticut, the sandy hook elementary school. the death toll far higher. more than 200 injured. want to go to our senior justice correspondent in washington. pierre, you've been working on this throughout the evening and do know that the police found

multiple weapons in that hotel room. >> reporter: they did, george, and everyone is concerned that these appear to be machine guns that were used. now, were they fully automated when they were purchased? that investigation is under way. sometime sources are telling me overnight that assault-style rifles can be augmented and turned into machine guns. that is of great concern and, george, right now i can tell you law enforcement officials are looking at every aspect of this man's background, every known database in the u.s. federal government is being used to check in terms of whether any ties to international terrorism. so far they have found none and see the las vegas police still in charge of the investigation and i'm being told law enforcement officials plan to dissect every aspect of this case because we are seeing more and more mass shootings. we're averaging about 16 of these type of shootings per year but given the fact that machine guns were apparently used in this, this is a whole new level, george. >> certainly is. boy, such an arsenal he had built up there.

so many killed. pierre thomas, thanks very much. >> people are wondering how they were able to, authorities were so quickly able to spot him and get into that room and abc news contributor and former fbi agent brad garrett will talk to us about that. 4 1/2 minutes and it's an incredible -- how they were able to find them. tell us how that went down, brad. >> well, the key, robin, in every mass shooting is what the witnesses immediately tell you. so you have a guy elevated on the 32nd floor. were there people in rooms of proximity that heard it that maybe even saw the fire coming out of that particular balcony, for example? and you take that information and you immediately, you know, rally the police in particular the s.w.a.t. team and it looks like to me that they got to that particular room fairly quickly, but keep in mind, virtually every mass shooting is less than five minutes, it looks like this one fits that profile.

but this guy because he had multiple weapons, i'm going to guess, was able to get more rounds off than a single weapon that you would have to constantly reload and he also had cover, because he's in this hotel and he's up. he isn't like one of these school shooters or even omar mateen who goes into therlando nightclub and is face-to-face with people that he's going to shoot, the police can get to that -- that sort of individual particularly potentially quicker. >> it seemed like authorities were confident they had the right room when they went in. >> it was very clear and that's why i think they had some really good eyewitness information that that's where the guy was and maybe they had some pieces of this was, robin, about a guy that carried maybe too many bags in there to stay for one night. there may be other things that play into why they went in that room but clearly i think witnesses probably helped them. >> thank goodness, all right, brad, thank you. >> they got there so quickly but

not before so many killed and injured. want to bring in our senior white house correspondent cecilia vega. of course, the president has been briefed and saw his first statement. >> reporter: yeah, george, that first response from the white house came just after 7:00 this morning as you just said. he has been briefed. this white house is monitoring this situation closely. let me tell you about this tweet that came from president trump about ten minutes ago, he says, quote, my warmest condolences and sympathies to the victims and families of the terrible las vegas shooting. god bless you. the white house is offering its full support to local and state officials there. they are offering prayers for victims. george, as you know, the president is supposed to go to puerto rico tomorrow. it's unclear whether that trip still stands. he's gilt a very busy day here at the white house. we expect to hear from him a number of times on camera. i would not be surprised if he addresses this directly on camera today but as you said, george, that factoring very true here. now the worst shooting in american history right now. >> yes, i'm certain we will hear from the president later.

thanks very much. want to go no to jake owen, country singer jake owen who i spoke with earlier this morning. he was performing at the festival. he witnessed the shooting. thank goodness you're okay but you were with a friend who did get hit? >> yeah, i was with my friend. she got right shoulder. >> is she okay? >> i just talked to her family. i talked to her brother and they told her she's in stable condition. >> tell us how the scene unfolded from your perspective. >> described it pretty well. sounded like -- we thought it was fireworks going off on the strip and, you know, kept going and going and, you know, when jason aldean kind of ran offstage, everybody started running. it was absolute chaos. and, you know, we're all lucky we got out. >> and how did you get out exactly? how far did you have to run?

>> i mean we had to run a decent amount of distance. we actually had to hop a fence to get out. luckily there were people assisting, people hopping over this wall that we hopped, and, yeah, we were lucky we got out. >> how long did it take you? >> it took us probably about no less than five minutes. >> and could you tell from where you were where the shots were coming from? >> we knew they were coming from someone on the strip. it didn't sound like it was coming from inside of the venue. it sounded like it was coming from closer to las vegas boulevard. >> right and then -- but you were able to get to your car and really get far away from the scene. where are you now? >> well, i had a friend pick me up at the hospital because the hospital is on lockdown and there's police everywhere. there's police in riot gear literally standing in front of the emergency room. my dad's actually a clergyman and he tried to flash his

credentials and they wouldn't even let him in to check the status of my friend. >> your friend who was shot, at first you weren't even positive she was shot? >> no, i wasn't -- i wasn't sure at all. she kept complaining that she was hurt and i felt up her whole body and i lifted up her shirt 0 a little bit to check if there were any wounds. we didn't see anything. once we got to the designated place we agreed to meet, ,to go to, we double-checked her again and sure enough we found a pretty large wound in her right shoulder probably about an inch and a half. >> an inch and a half. wow, that is an incredibly large wound. and just a chaotic scene in and just a chaotic scene in those first moments, huh? >> i mean it was. i mean when everybody started kind of running, it was, i mean we hit the ground a couple times probably on our way out. it was just bad.

it was a war zone. >> a war zone. and from what we know, the shooter on the 32nd floor had just an open shot of the entire scene as we're seeing it up on the screen. how far away from the stage were you at first? >> we were pretty close to the stage. i mean i don't know how many feet we were away from the stage but we were pretty close. >> well, thank goodness you're okay right now. thank you for joining us this morning. we hope your friend is okay. we're sending her our best wishes. one of tome tough stories we heard overnight. >> war zone, that's a phrase you're hearing over and over again. we have more eyewitness accounts now joining us live michelle schmitt and her friend wendy reed at the concert during the shooting. ladies, so glad you're doing as well as you are and, michelle, tell us, you run a merchandise booth. tell us what you saw and what happened. >> yeah, we do country music

festivals all the time, and i've always had in the back of my mind that something like this would happen and what we experienced was all of a sudden these gunshots were going off, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, pop, very fast and i said, what the is going on and people just started running and yelling and screaming. it was very confusing, it was chaotic. scary. i called my husband and i told him that i loved him and my little girl in case i didn't make it because we didn't know where they were. so we were just running and running and we went to the hooters hotel. then we were told that there was a shooter coming that way. there was a lot of bad information, so i got to my

truck. i had a hide a key and i got in and i just drove the furthest away from the strip that i could. i picked up a grandma and a little girl and the little girl was just asking if she was going to die. she was scared. and two other people i picked up too and we brought them to somebody's house, we were safe. >> doing all that you can in that moment to help other people and we've heard that over and over again and, wendy, what was the situation like for you? >> well, we were just sitting in her boutique and we heard a couple pops and were wondering, we didn't know there would be fireworks and then people just started screaming and running, a stampede and saying somebody is shooting. somebody is shooting so she told

me to run and we got separated and so the shots stopped and i had my son on the phone and i looked back and i -- he started shooting again and i could see the flashes from the mandalay bay and i said i see where it's coming -- i see where it's coming. and he said get out. get out so i ran across the street to the tropicana where tons of other people were running, as well, falling over, screaming for loved ones, some were carrying wounded people. some were on the ground. it was pretty horrific. it was pretty -- i never thought i would experience something like this. >> no, nor should you or anyone. michelle, you were slightly injured in getting away? >> yeah, i got stampeded and i fell over a concrete barrier but i haven't gone to the hospital because it's just swelling and

there's a lot of trauma cases so icases, so i just don't want to -- >> bless your heart. >> -- go there. >> bless your heart. earlier you said in the back of your mind you worried something like this might happen. why did you think this could happen? >> because i do these events and the security that is for these events, it's not there. they check your bags minimum. granted this one was in a hotel, but there's just such an opportunity for somebody to do this in such a mass crowd and kill so many people at one time. it's just the perfect storm for something like this to happen. and it's -- i'm really rethinking what i'm going to be doing because i don't want to do this anymore. i'm scared. >> that's understandable. michelle and