vehicles with nevada plates. they're looking for a hyundai tucson and a chrysler pacifica, both of these sleeks, we're told, are registered to the suspect. the license plate numbers are up on your screen right now as they try to find out exactly what happened here in the lead-up to this shotting. las vegas police do say that at least two officers were shot. one of them in critical condition. a second officer with minor injuries. i believe we also heard the clarke county sheriff's officers say couple of police officers died after being shot. thaw were attending this concert to watch this concert and not work at it. >> it's a very popular event in las vegas. a three-day concert and this was the last day. singer jason aldean was performing when the shooting started. you can hear jason aldean in the

background singing. he posts this message on instagram. he says this. tonight has been beyond horrific. i still don't know what to say. i want to let everyone know me and my crew are safe. my thoughts and prayers go out to everyone tort. it hurts my heart that anyone was hurt that should have come out for a fun night. music country staff jake owen was another one of the headliners. it's hard to comprehend this. you feel you're no longer safe no matter where you go. this was an outdoor festival. we don't know if people had to go through a security device. it was outside, 10,000 people. and shooter was on the 32nd floor of mandalay bay shooting down into the crowd. >> police believe there is no longer a danger at this time. there was initial talk of another shooter.

they believe this was the man behind this and that for now they believe even though it's very quiet and occupied by many police that it is safe. so they're trying to quell what was understandably panic at the time. >> the eyewitness that we talked to a couple of minutes ago, logan thayer who was a bartender in the area, said you thought it was multiple shooters because of the shots you didn't know where to run to. >> it's the second mass shooting at a u.s. concert. of course, everyone remembers the shooting at the pulse nightclub and the ariana grande concert in london. a lot of people questioning can i go to a concert and be safe in a soft target, so-called soft targets where even if there's police presence coming in, no one, of course, would imagine there would be shots fired from

high up above. >> all of the shootings were different. in the arianna gran tay concert, the shooter was outside the skured perimeter. the pulse shooter was inside on the ground floor. in this case, you're talk about a shooter being 32 floors above and horrifyingly shooting down on folks. jeff pe fwas is in our washington room with what he knows. jeff? >> we've followed a lot offive shootings over the last several years. this one based on what we know so far really doesn't fit the profile. the fact that this shooter was firing down on the ground from 32 floors up from a hotel nearby, i don't know how you protect against that tap of attack if you're in law enforcement, but it's something they'ring look at right now. how did this happen? what motivated this shatter to do what he didn't they're

obviously trying to reach out to that person of there, marilou danley, but looking at the chaos, the way this unfolded, this does not fit the profile that investigators have been working with. as they've been responding to active duty situations over the last several years, very high-profile ones. obviously you had what happened in paris. that's the immediate incident that comes to mind for a lot of people in law enforcement certainly. there's no -- at this point we're not hearing any ties to isis or al qaeda or anything like that. so investigators are still tr f t toyiigurutoe o what he did they know, according to cbs news, this was a white male suspect in his 60s. the room was in the mandalay bay hotel. you have to assume when an incident like that happens in a

public place like that, there is an awful lot of surveillance video that investigators will h investigation, and that will certainly help them figure out, well, who was he interacting with before the shooting happened. and what about this person of interest. was she anywhere in the area, was there any interaction between this person of interest and the shooter. so there is potential evidence there that will certainly aid this investigation, help move it along. we've already from sheriff's officials there so they have basic information the go on. the big question is what motivated this person to do this in such a public way. >> and, of course, what's helping these investigators are some of these eyewitness social media posts that have gone up just minutes after the shooting began. let's take a look at a post that was put up by a valet who was working at the concert.

you're seeing the images that he posted. you can see it initially. the camera and the sounds. let's take a listen. >> we started hearing this loud sound. it sounded like a huge jackhammer. then we started hearing glass fall down and massive amounts of bursts of guns. we didn't know what it was. then we saw more glass come down, more glass, and then rounds from mid floor of the property of the hotel. we saw it come down. we didn't know what was going on. very traumatic. it was very surreal because on the casino floor people were still gambling and waiting to get to the restaurant on the top floor. i was saying, guys, get out of here, there's an active shooter, this is insane. >> fran townsend is with us. good morning. >> good morning.

>> thanks for joining us so early. they say he doesn't fit the profile. white male in his 0s living at a retirement community and apparently had no previous criminal record. what does this say to you? what are they looking at with this information? >> it does explain why they feel it's so important to talk to the woman identified as huh companion. was she with him at the hotel? is she safe? she's key to understanding what may have been his motive and what caused man to snap. >> her picture is there on the screen. marilou danley, 4'11", 110 pounds. they don't know anything about her connection to this crime. >> jeff mentioned this does not fit the profile of a typical mass shooting or lone shooter, however, the congressional sebaba ho shappinenged,ot you s o'donnell's interview with steve

scalise last night on "60 minutes." james hopkins, the lone male was a white male in his 60s. they say in this particular case, the deceased, the shooter, was a white man in his 0s. as you see on your screening the latest in clarke county is 20 very dead, more than 100 hurt. from their perspective, what are they doing to investigate? >> it's interesting because, one, there would have been a lot more dead and injured if this perhaps happened somewhere else. the las vegas s.w.a.t. team is very experienced. they work with the hotel security staff, and mandalay bay backs into the convention center. they practice hotel security. their ability to identify the source of where the gunfire was coming from and allow them to focus in on this ram and get to the gunroom saved likes.

what they'll look at now is the evidence, the shell casings, the room, whatover things he h had in his room, how long he had been there, the area in the concert where people were struck and they'll try to reconstruct the exact chronology of the gunfire. >> what does it tell you about his method? ariana grande, that was an explosion and a shooting. the pulse nightclub was also a shooting. here's somebody on the 32nd fly with a high-powered automatic weapon literally spraying the crowd. have you ever heard of a case like that in. >> i haven't. but there's a lot that's not typical about this. you mentioned he had no prior contact with law enforcement. regardless of age, that's sort of significant. typically they've had some sort of run-in with law enforce millionaire. this is not the first time. we'll see if that changes.

right now we don't believe it is. >> and living in a retirement community. >> very odd. they'll go to that retirement community and interview people who knew him to see if there was anything now looking back that they should have regardeded a suspicious conduct or behavior. >> in any of these shootings, the white house is alerted. can you tell us what's going on many. >> tom boss earth, home land security slicer, who we know from the hurricanes, would have gotten that information and briefed president and they'd be trying to brief it to other state, local authorities and a police chiefs at public convention centers so they can understand it and how the las vegas s.w.a.t. team dealt with it. >> in the video we hear rapid fire of shots and he reloaded

several times. does this tell us what type of weapon was used? >> for sure -- it sounds from the sound of it that he had a clip, a large clip that is a device the holds many bulletsing that allows hum to put it on at mat uks that when he pulls it back, he gets many shots off. we ha this debate whether or not civilians should have access to those kinds of clips. >> and the reloading is fairly easy. >> that's right. it's a clip. you trop the clip out of the gun and rye place it with another that holes many bullets. >> you hear the term "soft target kwgs when they describe shootings at concerts, public stadiums. can you describe what a soft target is and how difficult it is for law enforcement it is to cover and protect those who are there? >> it's easier if i tell you what a hard target is.

a hard target is your airport where you go through screening and you know for sure -- you've got control of the entire physical area once a person has been screened. this is not that sort of situation. any large public area where they hold a parade or concert, it's a soft target because law enforcement can't control all of the perimeter and it's very difficult to protect. i have to say, the las vegas s.w.a.t. did an extraordinary job of minimizing the loss of life and the injured. >> what makes you say that whip you look at the tieme frame? >> they understood the physical area, how to get into the mandalay bay. we don't know how much more ammunition the gunman had. had they not been able to get in there, identify him -- >> you say they're trained for

this type of thick. why? >> they practice very closely with the large hotels. we hear they preached the gunman's hotel room. they practice those scenarios frequently with all of the hotels, especially the mandalay bay because it backs into the convention center. today they're starting the g 2 e, which is the large gaming conference. i spoke at it last year. that's a big event attracting lots of people. >> this was a big event. what kind of prep rags go into the event like this. are hotels included as far as security and surrounding hotels? >> sure. by the way, they're housing visitors coming for the events. they're aware of the major public events, it is coordinated and there is lots of publicity.

by the way, not only do they know, but the gun man would have known it would be a target of opportunity if he was planning. >> how does the s.w.a.t. team assess where they believe the gunfire might be coming from and figure out where to move in. >> it was one of the things that's the most impressive about the las vegas p.d. they have blueprints. when they're training, they have blueprints of that particular facility, that location. from the trajectory down, that i knew immediately where it was coming from and how to respond. again, it speaks to their preparedness and their rae spops time. >> paul, can you tell us anything about the nevada gun laws? you touched on it, fran. it makes no sense why a civilian would have access to a gun of this magnitude? >> i don't know what the gun laws are in las vegas.

i to know when you speak to the m manner of what we should be opening people to have automatic weapons, it begs the question why. >> can anyone? >> not anywhere. it's not difficult. down south there are gun shows where they sell these openly and they're buying them on the spot. >> there's gun stores down the strip. >> this could have been legally owned. >> entirely possible. >> paul, what else -- fran was talking about this too. and it may end of being one of the remarkable things. despite the horrifying damage he was able o do, that that they're able to isolate where the rounds are coming from. when they'ring iffing out where to go and how to preach that room, what goes into that, how many are involved and who was involved in that? >> containment speaks to it, the

trajectory, and the response time, how quickly they get up there. what i was just mentions, the training that goes into this is evident. there's no way they could have mitigating this. as they're going to come up to the breach, they've already rehearsed how they're going to get up to the floor, the man, and how they're going to get into the room. they have a blue print. they understand breaching the room, where the possible turns may be and how to get in there quickly without exposing themselves. >> and following mass shootings, there's always concerns about copy cats. what are investigate irs across the country where they know there's going to be a similar scenario playing out. >> fran? >> that's what i was saying earlier. the department of homeland

security h be disseminating everything they've learned as quickly atz they can to state and local authorities. in place here like las vegasing you bet, the commissioner is looking at to they have public events, what are saurt measures and how can t we incree it with the mitigating probability that someone may copycat that. >> it was a concert. it wasn't the fact he was concentrating on the concert presume ter. >> that's what's so frightening. >> you know we're dpouk to have a conversation about fire arms. are we going to have a conversation about hotels? no that speaks to the planning of why he chose that hotel and floor. he knew the path of least resistance. >> people come into hotels with suitcases. >> when you're in europe and

india after the mumbai attack, they do screen. when i go to a hotel, that i do screen. >> they do? >> yes. >> there may be a point where you're going through screening at a hotel just as you do in an airport. >> that's are the question. are we ready for that? are we in this country ready to give that up? >> it's always interesting when something like this happens. they say you can't be afraid, you have to continue to live your life, you knowing it's very safe. i don't know how we could not be afraid when we hear a story like this when you're at a concert outside and somebody is standing on the 32nd floor shooting down. you dolkt know where to run or go. how are we not supposed to be afraid when something like this happens? >> there's no silver bullet here. there's certain things we can't stop. certain things if we're willing to. that's going to be the

conversation. are we willing to go to a hotel? >> paul, we were just given the name of the shooter in this case. law enforcement sources tell cbs news the suspect is identified as 64-year-old stephen paddock. he was a local resident in the las vegas area. as police have said, he was living in a retirement community. >> no criminal record. >> no criminal record. somehow made his way to the 3 27b8d floor of the mandalay bay hotel and began shooting down on a multi-day kcountry music fercl that had been going on for days. this was the las vegas strip. yes, there are huge hoe tells but there are big open spaces where they set up tents and hold concerts. >> how does he possibly think he could get away with something like this where he was shooting out in the open. we have eyewitnesses who say he's up there shooting.

how does he think this is going to be a positive outcome for him? does it sound like this is someone who is prepared to die? >> it does. he can't, frankly, expect he was not going to die. if he thought he was going to escape, he would have shout a complete clip and moved. the fact that he reloaded suggests to me he didn't care if he died. >> police are now getting a search warrant to search his home in mesquite. they're going to be searching everything in his home, i would ma imagine. >> yes, absolutely. >> what are they going to be looking for? >> devices. they're going to pull his phone, his cell records, how long he spoke to them for and then police will interview everyone, gayle. everyone's going to get a knock on the door. who he e-mailed, websites that

he visited, what he was doing to plan this, when he purchased the weapon, how long this was in discussion. so this process is going to take literally weeks. again, this really goes back to -- kudos to las vegas p.d. as they say before. excellent job in containment. you can only expect they're going to go after this expeditiously and theirly. they're going to take physical evidence and mark everything. they'll be in there for 24 hours inside that house, but they will mark and bag and tag everything and then the investigation will begin. >> paul, in your estimation or fran, are there things that -- you mentioned they work closely, the hotels in las vegas which accommodate enormous numbers of guests. they work closely with police. is there anything other hotels can be doing smarter? >> you know, it's hard to say. mandalay bay is a really good -- a fine reputation. it's really hard to say what they can do differently because it's going to speak to the balance of security and customer

service and how -- you want to make people feel welcome when you come in a hotel. this is a luxury report. so how much are we willing to give up. the fact that someone came in with a fire arm would mean the only thing they could do differently is actually put metal detectives and warn people when they come in a hotel. >> here's the problem with this particular location in doing that. i mentioned i had been there for the g 2 e convention. i stayed at the mandalay bay. it's connected to a mall. it's not a typical hotel where you go in the fronten trance and you can supply security. this is connected to a mall. there are multiple entrances to the mall. there are multiple entrances to the convention center that mandalay bay backs up into and there's the mandalay bay itself. this is a nightmare. >> this is your soft target nightmare. >> even if you're doing what they do in a typical hotel, this

is not a typical hotel. >> the points of access make it so difficult to scrutinize than what they already did. >> it shows you if somebody is determined to to harm, they will do that. >> well plann ned incident. >> earlier this morning john blackstone talked to a man and woman who were at the febl during the shooting. >> well, we were at center stage right ahet jaonson wfras playing, and all sudden we heard pop, pop, pop, pop countless times and we all thought it was firecrackers. we kept on going. we fired for a bit and fired another 15, 20 rounds. that's when we realized it was a fully automatic. we hit the ground and laid there and hang onto each other. it with us quiet for a bit. fired another 30 rounds and quiet and then what we were doing is every time he had stopped he was reloading. we had gotten up and started

making our way toward the fence and he started shooting again and hit the ground. he must have done it at least 15 times. >> what wither you thinking when you're lying there and all these shots again and again and again. >> you're thinking this is not happening, you're thinking this is not happening to us. at the 15i78 time i need to run for my life and i need to hang on to my husband, my sister, and my brother-in-law and we have to stay together. >> all of you were there, lying down. >> yes. >> did you see anybody get hit. >> we didn't see anybody get hit but on the right-hand side of the stage people were called for a medic. somebody had been hit on the right-hand side of the stage. >> as we were leaving to the left, we were going through the parking lot and we could see people lying on the ground in a fetal position with people over the top of them, we knew there were quite a few, half a dozen we had seen. >> you got out of to concert

venue and they'd directed you into the mandalay bay hotel. >> we were trapped in the corner, so peel were kicking down the fences climbing over the top of them. yeah, we made it back roads and we were directed into the mandalay bay and as we were coming through, we didn't know it at the time but aparnlly he was upstairs shooting into the rooms and we made it out of the mandalay bay and over to mcdonald's and walked o every here. >> you came a long way down the strip from this. >> oh, yeah. >> and you say it seemed like perhaps as many as 15 times he reloaded? >> easily, easily. with at least 30 rounds he was firing out of each magazine that it was about four to five minutes of gunshots because my sister has video also. so four to five minutes of us hearing gunshots and crouching and running behind cars and trying to get as far away as we could. >> when the shooting stopped,

you'd run, and when you heard bullets, you hit the dirt. >> it with u nice and calm. there were a few people running. we calmly worked our way. it was turning into a gooseneck. it was bottling. then we ran. once we got into the raw, into the streets, we started to run. >> you're saying as people were existing with all these bullets, people were calm many. >> it was remarkable. everybody was trying to get out. stay calm, don't push, don't panic, don't trample. it was surreal that everyone was looking out for everyone, at the same time trying to escape. >> clearly people could have been hurt getting out of there. >> absolutely. >> when you got out, what sort of relief was it? you're final out and well away. >> i don't know that it's hit me that it's happened that i was still very nervous coming all the way from hire to there.

we didn't know if they found him or got him. we don't know if he's out here coming at us. yeah, it's nefb-racking. >> do you think it was one shooter reloading and reloading? >> it sounded like that to me. it was pop, pop, pop, pop. it wasn't pop-pop, pop-pop. -pop. it was pop, pop, pop. loaded, quiet for 15 seconds. then pop, pop, pop, pop, pop again. >> those are eyewitnesses on the scene. we're awaiting a press conference from the las vegas police department. that i had one at 4:30 this morning and would update us when they had the information. paul is joining us at the table and fran who's a security consultant for "cbs this morning." they have a lot of information to go on. what do you think is the most important thing you think they're focusing on? >> his pedigree.

they need to focus on the why. they need to focus on the why. they need to look at him. as we mentioned earlier. they're going toe start using every device, phone, et cetera, because that's going to speak to the why. why did he choose this location, this particular time, how did he select the mandalay bay and the floor he shot from. the big question is what motivated him. when they look, they're going to look at the when sighebsites he. more the mens rhea, his intent is what they're going to drill down on. >> they want to confirm he's acted alone. they even said so far there's no evidence. one of the reasons you're looking at his computer, you want to make sure this incident is really over. second you want to find out are there others uninvolved in supporting him or inspiring hum. how did he get the guns, when

did he get them, did he get them legally, or illegally. >> what we learned is it's easy to get a gun like that. we do know they're looking for his accomplice or roommate marilou danley, 4'11", 110 pounds. 20 people dead. that death toll is expected to climb. hundreds injured. fran, you're saying this could have been a whole lot worse and you're giving biggs kudos to the las vegas police. >> tharnld s.w.a.t. team. they practice this. they go over it. what is their sop, standard operating procedure to get in the hotel. they work with the hotel, look at the blueprints. this is a well rehearsed

incident. once they were able to ield fie the source of the gunfire, they were able to move very quickly and safely to be able to put an end to the incident. >> paul, you were saying the type of weapon they used, it was at night pause this was at 10:08 las vegas time. there would have been fire coming from the weapon. >> correctle when the shots are fired at that particular time, you're going to see light emitted coming town. when you look up, it's not going to be difficult to see exact ll where it's coming from. >> we don't know what kind of weapon it was. clearly an automatic weapon and districting rounds at a frightening pace. based on what witnesses are saying, he was able to release quite a bit of ammunition. paul, what else -- what other questions are you asking of

people who knew this man again? his name is stephen paddock, 64 years old livings in mesquite. when you talk to family and friends, what are you trying to find out? >> change. what kind of person he was. from a behavioral side they're going to break down his pedigree. was he a good communicator, lone e, a catalyst that sparked this. did hi have some type of disdain toward this particular location. what motivated him. did anything happenle. did he lose a life, a job, a wife. >> because he had no criminal record, paul. >> right. >> it's highly unusual that this would be your first contact with law enforcement officers? >> actually, gayle, the interesting part of this -- i'm not saying this is at all. i'm another i've enin sin waiting it. if you look at the behavior of a

workplace shooting they typically have no rohr and have never been arrested. it's interesting to look at what catalyst occurred in his life to have planned this so well and so meticulously. >> thank you very much. stay where you are. this is the cbs special report. we're learning more about exactly what happened and the alleged shooter. thousand thousands were there for the performance of jason aldine. 20 are dead. at least 100 were wounded. the gunman was shot and killed on the 32nd floor of the mandalay bay resort and casino on the other side of the street from the concert. the gunman is 64-year-old stephen paddock.

he lived in a retirement community, mesquite retirement community. >> police are looking for his companion. she's identified as marilou danley. john, what do we know now? >> reporter: what we know now is on the 32nd floor of the m mandalay bay, this is where the suspect is dead. cut open the window, got a gun shooting out a window of a concert taking place on the other side of the las vegas strip where some 40,000 people were gathered for this large multi-day country music festival here. shots were fired down into this crowd. we now know killing at least 20 people, wounding more than a hundred.

people scattered throughout the area. the airport was closed. the free way was closed. the strip was closed. there was fear for a while, stories that there were multiple shooters, multiple hotels were involved. in the end it turned out to be this one man. we're about to hear administrator from sheriff joe lombardo who's going have a news conference here in las vegas. >> all right. thank you for being here. emit here to give you an update on the situation as i know it at this point. i think it's importantet to understand this investigation is going to be long and contracted

before we get to the bottom with everything associated with it. but one of the things i wanted to update you with, we have located the vehicles i had put up in the first briefing and we believe -- we're confident but not 100% sure we have located the female person of interest, so i want the people to feel confident and calm in that aspect that we've accomplished a lot in a short period of time. now, the number of injuries, i do not know yet, but we're looking at in excess of 50 individuals dead and over 200 individuals injured at this point. i do not want to given you an accurate number and it be wrong. so subsequently that's why i'm portraying it in that manner. now, the suspect, i am going to provide you his identity at this point. his name is stephen paddock.

loft name spelled p-a-d-d-o-c-k. date of birkts, 4-9-53. we've located newell russ fire arms within the room he occupied and like i stated earlier, it's going to be a long and tedious investigation. we're bringing in all the resources on the fbi to assist us in this investigation, in particular to their witness vuk tim advocates and csi folks to help process the scene and ensure we're getting all the evidence that we can possibly obtain. furthermore i want to employee provide the number i said in the first briefing. the phone number to get an update, 1-866-535-5654. one more time.

1-866-535-5654. obviously this is a tragic incident, one we have never experienced in this valley, so what we're going to try to do is the best we can to get the first responders back on the street and responding and conducting a proper investigation to ensure we have the safety of this community at heart. my condolences go out to the loved ones that lost their lives and their families, and we will do the best we can to make it as easy as possible for you to get information as we know it. i think it's important for you to see the fbi, county fire and commissioner behind me. it shows that we have full support of all the government entities to solve this situation as soon as possible. [ inaudible ] >> no, not yet. [ inaudible ] that i don't know yet because

there are officers from other jurisdictions that were attending the concert, so i don't have an update on that yet. [ inaudible ] >> one is critical and stable, the other was off duty, my officer, attending the concert, and he lost his life. i do end have any more details on the fire arms. all i know is they're rifles and that's all i know at this point. we're executing a search warrant on the room as we speak. [ inaudible brgt. >> we're holding up. we're doing the best with can. i don't want to say we're doing what we're paid to do. my police didn't is doing the fantastic job and they're going to have to look out for their well being moving forward.

[ inaudible ] >> in the room. in the room of his hotel. we have officers at his reince dense. we'll be executing a search warrant shortly. >> how does the city overcome this? >> that's a hard question to answer at this point. it's too early in the process. given us time so we can do a good job. thank you. i will provide you an update on a periodic basis, like two hours at a time. we don't get a lot of information all at once. >> excuse me. several people are asking where they can go donate blood. >> the phone number we provided, we'll get that information out. right now -- i'm not comfortable providing that information because we're overwhelmed with the medical services at all the hospitals right now. united blood services has responded. once they get all their persons on the ground and more information in place, we'll be

able. >> looking for their loved ones. >> looking for their loved ones. [ inaudible ] >> yes, ma'am. there's two locations where they had been responding. one is at the south central area command in close plom iksty to the mandalay bay. preferably we'd hielk them to come to the police headquarters so they're not unundated with people responding in that area. ing that you very much. have a food night. >> a visibly shaken clarke county sheriff, joe lombardo saying that this is something he has never experienced in the valley. we can also say this is something we never experienced in this country. the deadliest mass shooting in the history of this country. many than 50 people are dead according to the clarke county sheriff. many than 200 are injured. they're still trying the assess exactly what has happened there as the rest of us are as whelm

but what took place in las vegas is nothing short of horrifying. a man on the 32nd floor of the mandalay bay opened fire on concertgoers below. a country music festival that ha been going on for several days in las vegas. police are now saying they have found a person that they called a person of interest who we now know is the shooter's wife. her name is marilou danley. police say they have found her. the shooter is deceased. his name is steven paddock. he was 64 years old. he was living in a retirement community just outside las vegas and as the sheriff just said, he had numerous firearms in this room at the mandalay bay before the police brieched that room and killed him that country

music star jake oh weapon was one of the festival's headline irs. he joins us on the phone. jake, we're all shaken with the latest news we heard from the-. 50 individuals dead, 200 injured i want to get to the how and what you saw. first i want to know how you're processing this. you were there. how are you processing this based on the latest information we even heard. it's very, very upsetting. >> i'm absolutely blown away. i'm sitting here inside a bus 100 feet from the stage that i was standing on when this started happening and watching the news now saying there's more than 50 deceased and 200 injured and it's -- i ran out -- we were in the middle of it. when the shotting were being fired and you could hear it ricocheting off the roof of the stage, we started running in any direction we could. you didn't know where it was coming.

if it was somebody on the ground. at one point i was sitting on the ground behind a car with 20 other people crouched behind a car, just the fear in everyone's eyes but yet everyone looking for someone to make sure they were okay, it was just a -- i never experienced anything like it before. like i said, it was the largist mass shooting in this country's history. i never thought it would be something at a country music concert that we do every day. there's families out there. kids on their parents' shoulders. that's not what america is supposed to be like. >> what did you think was happening. number one, did you know they were shots? >> ironically enough, when i walked on the stage, they were -- security was pretty tight because jason used his py pyrotechnics and the fire marshal didn't want a lot of people backstage because of the fire that would come off of the

pyro tell nicks. when i was standing there, a buddy of mine who was an artist on the show, you heard the pops start and i thought perhaps it was the pyrotechnics and i realized once it started it sounltded like a full on automatic uzi or machine gun. that's when you knew it was not pyrotechnics but a fire arm. >> you mentioned jas, jason aldean. he was taken away as the rest of his band was to safety. we're thankful your band is safe as well. can you talk about what if any safety preparations or drills that you go through before these types of concerts? you're on the the road every week. is there any sort of preparation? obviously nothing can prepare us for something of this scale, but are there safety protocols you and your band undergo?

>> you know, i can honestly say, you know, we try to do our best when we go to these shows. when we play the arenas, the security staff has a briefing on how to to these things. at the end of the day, we as american citizens wick up every day where we have the luxury of being free am we feel safe thanks to those men and women fighting for our freedom. so i don't think we truly expect anything like this to happen. i looked out there and saw kids on their parents' shoulders. i think it's our duty as entertainers out here in the world to stand up for this sort of thing. they can't keep us down. we're not going to live fear and not continue to to this. part of entertaining brings happiness to people. >> jason released a tweet this morning expressing his condolences. have you talked to him since this incident h.

>> i have. we talked briefly through text message along with a few other friends who are here, artists as well. we're all kind of in shock. we're checking on each other to milwaukee sure everyone okay. we were literally running in chaos. people had no idea where they were going. i was separated from my own crew. a friend of mine who's here with me now, she got separated from her husband. they couldn't get ahold of each other. we were worrying what was going on. >> how long did the gunfire last? how long did it appear to last? >> that's what's really crazy about this story is i believe the gunshots, no joke, lasted anywhere from eight and ten minutes because it was like you could hear it first. they were saying it was shooting from the mandalay bay. that makes sense. it's like he broke the window or something.

i ran off stage when he was firing shots. getting in the car firing shots and by the time i got back over to the crew bus a few hundred yards away, we all lie down inside the tour bus. this went on for six to ten minutes. >> what are your plans now. >> what are you doing now? >> i think i'm going to go home to my little girl. i think i'm going to get back on the road and try to make people smile and i'm going to try to mack them sing along. we as americans are going to stand up for ourselves and continue to fight along in this fight against this tup of just,

you know -- it's sad, ignorant things that are happening. i think it's my duty to not just sit back, for me to stand up and make sure we continue to live this beautiful free life that we even been given by our men and women who fight for us. >> that is certainly the right attitude. do you have any trepidation about getting if front of a crowd? i can't help but they this has got to be very upsetting for you. it's upsetting for us sitting in the studio. >> it is. i keep watching it on television and hearing the shots. it's hard to keep listening to it because i heard it firsthand. when you say is there any trepidation, to say there isn't, i'd be lying. you even got to give a big shout-out all over this countrilet men and women in

uniform put their lives in danger to help other people and in a weird way us as entertainers, singers, songwriters, we're bringing joy to people in their lives and the world can't afford to stop doing that because we're scared of these cowards doing things hike this. with ear going to get out will like rest of the men and women in american and continue to do our job the way we're supposed to do it. >> this was a four-day festival. this was the last of a four-day ferchl. were you going on to another festival or is this it? >> it was it for me for faw days. i wassing lag forward to getting home and like i said kissing my little baby girl. >> where is jason aldeaaldean. do you know where hi is? >> i think we're trying to figure out how to get out of here. the airports were shut down or they were at least the last time

i checked. i think jason, we're all trying to find a way out. >> jake, what is the message to your fans who were there across the country who may be tuning in watching you relive the horror of what happened just hours ago. what is your message to them? i write songs to the best of my ability about the things i know in life. i think it's important for us in the simple way we can say it to those who come to the show every weekend an every week and they bring their family to not be scared of this. we're still going to get out there and do this. this is so unfortunate that thing like this have to happen in order to see that this kind of thing is real. but i think this will make us stronger. not only the community of the united states but the community in the music world coming together to stand up for these

kinds of things and bring peace and happiness back to everyone that you know, it's interesting, jake, they talk about the shooter. the 64-year-old man doesn't fit the profile. apparently a man w.h.o. lived in a retirement community. you also don't expect anything at a country music festival just as you didn't at an ariana grande concert. what does that say to you? >> i mean, you know, it's unfortunate things like this happen. i'm a floridian and when the nightclub had the shooting last year, that was devastating to me, you know, the kinds of people, innocent lives. these kinds of things that were happening. i just -- i just think as american citizens all we can do is continue to be strong and come together. i think with everything you're seeing now.

this is the time we all need to come together. and be the best we can be for the country. that's what's most important for all of us, our families, our liveliho livelihoods. this is it for us. >> very well said, jake owen. thanks for taking the tomb. it's good you can go home and kiss your little girl. >> it's important to high light what jake said, highlights the first respond irs running toward it to save as many lives as possible. >> thank you. justice security and home land correspondent jeff pegues is in washington following the investigation. we do have a name. we know he's been taken down and a search warrant has been issued for his home in mesquite, nevada. >> reporter: that's really good information for them too, we with. when you have a crime scene as large as this one, to have that type of information to gone on

is certainly helpful in a case like this. 50 dead, more than 200 injured, and that number of dead could rise remarkably, so the number of fatalities and injured is staggering. and as cbs has reported, the deadliest shooting in u.s. history. when we saw the shooting in orlando, we obviously didn't think it could get any worse than that. but this is the type of incident that we will not soon forget. when you see these images of the panic and the chaos and it is notable law enforcement was able to move in as it did as quickly as it did to isolate where the gunfire was coming from, 32 floors up. according to law enforcement fishls, 64-year-old stephen paddock opened fire. when they start investigations like this, they start with a

blank canvas. thaw don't want to jump to conclusions. they're looking for a motive. they put all the pieces together. they say they've been able to locate this person of interest, marilou danley, they even located the vehicles of interest and they're putting the pieces together. really the big question now is the motive for this. with the recent shootings, the shooting in manchester, the ariana grande concert, the orlando shooting and the shootings in brussels, you typically look to isis and al qaeda. those types of terrorist organizations that have been calling for mass casualty attacks, but as we've heard already, this doesn't fit that tup of profile. you have something which in a lot of ways here seems to be new. you have the 64-year-old who was living in a retirement

community, so the question for mow tirch, how long was he in the hotel, when did he check in, who was he with, was there some sort of insz accident that sparked this outburst immediately preceding this incident or in the days, months, weeks leading up to the incident, where did he purchase that weapon. these are all points of for law enforcement they're follow up on right now. we're told from our law enforcement sources that the fbi's assisting. they're not taking over. they're assisting the local sheriff's didn't as they investigate this. what that means is they're using the resources of the federal law enforcement network to track down leads. that means searching forensic evidence, searching the weapon, where was it purchased, searching any type of evidence that was found at the scene, trying to tie it to something bigger, was there someone else

involved or someone who helped facilitate this attack, so with the assistance of the fbi and the atf and other federal agencies, local officials there in las vegas will get the help that they need to quickly follow up on leads in this case. as we've heard from the sheriff's office. they have investigators at the suspect's home, which is about an hour and a half from where this shooting occurred. and they are waiting to go in. to look for more information. and as we've reported on cbs, look through electronic devices, computers, cell phones, which as we've seen over the last 10, 15 years can leave behind a valuable trail of information. you can see where a person has been calling, who they've been e-mailing. that is the kind of information investigators need. also in a city like las vegas, you have a wide network of surveillance cameras, not only

in these hotels but also on the streets. and so they will follow up on the security surveillance network that's in that city and look for ties, where was he, how do you get a weapon like that into that hotel. so these are all very important questions that investigators are looking into as the death toll here is rising, it seems. the number of injured is rising. police are still trying to get a handle on that. but you can see in these images here, this cell phone video and where people are looking, how they're reacting, this is also going to be important as this investigation unfolds. >> all right. jeff. you've raised a lot of questions and a lot of answers to come for sure, but the good news is if you can say there is good news, authorities have a lot of information to work with in a very short period of time. jeff, hank you. we'll be back with you a little

later on. eyewitness courtney rowby was working with it. she's on the phone. what did you see? >> good morning. with were just left of jason aldean. we were hanging out. my co-worker and i were talking to friends we had met, enjoying music when there were a couple of loud pops and we all, luke most other people, thought it was fireworks because they're so common at music festivals and we looked up and didn't find them and i was shortly after that that we legalized -- the gunfire starts and it was gunfire and not fireworks? >> what did people do? i imagine iltz was very kay otting. what happened? >> it was very kay ott eck. people were screaming. looking around, trying to figure out where to go, where the gunfire was coming from, it sounded like it was on the street on the other side of the fence for us.

so we ran to -- there were some bleachers with seating. we ran under neath the bleachers and got as low as we could under neath the bleachers. >> we had jake owens on, the country music star who performed just before jason aldean. what stood out to us, it must have been eight to ten minutes of nonstop shooting. from a timing perspective, does that sound about right to you? >> my guess earlier was probably about 15. i would say 10 to 15 minutes. >> wow. there would be gunfire and then it would stop. when it started again, it sounled like it was coming from a different direction. it was multiple. you couldn't tell if something was happening on the street or it was inside the festival. it was very hard to tell. >> courtney, the way you describe it and other eyewitnesses said, bullets seemed to be coming from

different >> well, i -- i didn't know where to what we had available to us were the bleachers and there was black netting around the bottom. so i felt it was congealed enough we would be able to hide tlurnd if the gunman was in. >> and everyone is just down on the ground underneath those bleachers that you can hear out in the field of the venue because there was a lot of screaming and there was a lot of chaos, and people were running. >> have all your friends and co-workers been accounted for? >> my co-workers are all accounted for. my co-worker and i