Las Vegas massacre is deadliest mass shooting in modern US history

The Las Vegas massacre is the deadliest mass shooting in US history, claiming the lives of at least 58 people and leaving more than 400 injured.

Gunman Stephen Paddock opened fire at an open-air country music concert in the centre of Las Vegas from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel at around 10.30pm (5:30am GMT) on Sunday 1 October.

He was found dead, armed with 10 guns, after officers stormed the room.

At first concertgoers thought the gunfire noise came from a fireworks display, but when bodies fell to the ground, panic broke out and thousands ran for cover, hiding under parked cars and behind concession stands.

Police described the shooting as a "lone wolf" attack. A 62-year-old Asian woman named as Marilou Danley was sought on suspicion of being Paddock's accomplice, but after locating her police said that she is not thought to be involved in the shooting.

Sheriff Joe Lombardo said police had no information on Paddock's motives. "We have no idea what his belief system was," he said. He confirmed that two off-duty police officers had been killed.

With at least 50 people confirmed dead, the Las Vegas massacre is the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, claiming more lives than Omar Mateen's attack on a nightclub in Orlando last year.

Mateen killed 49 people and wounded 58 others when he opened fire inside Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando, Florida.

Several mass shootings have taken place in the US in the past decade, prompting calls for tougher gun laws and sparking an intense debate between the gun lobby and politicians pushing for restrictions on weapons' sales.

In 2007, 32 people lost their lives at the Virginia Polytechnic Institute when South Korean university student Seung-Hui Cho fired more than 100 rounds before killing himself.

In 2014, 20-year-old Adam Lanza shot dead 20 school children, aged between six and seven, and six adults at Sandy Hook elementary school in Connecticut. After the shooting, President Barack Obama signed 23 executive orders to increase gun control and 12 congressional actions, including universal background checks on gun purchases.

1 of 3

After the Orlando shooting, Donald Trump called for a "Muslim ban" and a crackdown on "radical Islamic terrorism". When asked if there should be tougher gun restrictions, he said "more guns in the club might have prevented the massacre".

"If you had some guns in that club the night that this took place, if you had guns on the other side, you wouldn't have had the tragedy that you had," he told CNN.

On Monday, the president sent his "warm condolences" to everyone affected by the Las Vegas massacre, but did not mention that the attack is the deadliest shooting in US history