This is the cbs evening news, reporting tonight from las vegas. Here is anthony mason. Mason america is a nation in mourning tonight for victims of the deadliest mass shooting in modern u. S. History. Isod evening. It happened late last night just jhind me. That is the 43story Mandalay Bay Hotel casino. Las vegas police say a heavily armed gunman broke windows on the 32nd floor and fired down on thousands of people attending an openair concert. Many fled down this street thats right behind me here. There is still crime scene tape up. You can see bloody footprints on the sidewalk and the clothes they left behind as they literally ran for their lives. Fo least 59 people were killed, more than 500 injured, most of them by the gunfire. Police say the gunman, 64year old Stephen Paddock, of mesquite, nevada, killed himself before they arrived. They have not determined a motive, but they say they have found no links to terrorism. We have extensive coverage tonight beginning with john blackstone. Reporter Country Music star jason aldean was on stage when the firing began. rapid gunfire shortly after 10 00 local time. rapid gunfire but it took a full 20 seconds for people to realize this wasnt fireworks. Thats not a firecracker. Reporter then came chaos. The sound of automatic weapon fire mixed with pandemonium. Somebodys hit. Somebodys hit. Shots fired. Theres many people down. Reporter the shooter paused several times. Babe, youre okay. Lets go. We cant go yet. Reporter gayle davis held on to a Police Officer for dear life. And then we said, okay, its over, its over, and then it would start again. Reporter some people ran. Others sought cover behind walls and gates. Still others froze in the open. This woman simply ducked. Everyone was just literally laying on top of each other trying to get out of the way. The shots just kept coming. Reporter people desperately sought help for the wounded any way they could. We need your truck. We just need to get people over to the hospital, okay . We cant worry about victims. We need to stop the shooter before there are more victims. Anybody have eyes on the shooter . Reporter meanwhile, police searched for the gunman. Gunfire is going right over our heads. Its going over our heads. Were down here with a bunch of civilians. Be advised we are taking fire from a very high floor. Every officer that comes theyre driving on las vegas boulevard because its coming from mandalay bay on the boulevard side. Reporter the shooter, identified later by police as 64yearold Stephen Paddock, was, in fact, firing from four football fields away through two windows 32 stories up. Swat officers moved in. Go ahead. Im at the suspects door. I need everybody in that hallway to be aware and get back. We need to pop this and see if we get any type of response from this guy, see if hes in here or if hes moved out somewhere else. All units on the 32nd floor, swat has an explosive breach. Everyone in the hallway needs the move back. Breech, breech, breech reporter inside, where paddock had been a guest since last thursday, they found an arsenal. 16 guns. Clark county sheriff joseph lombardo. He had killed himself and well have to go through our bodyworn camera and existing video to see whether we engaged him at the same approximate time or not. Reporter gayle davis said the terror seemed to last forever. I have never been that scared in my life, in my life ever. Reporter even when people managed to get out of the tclosed concert area over here and were running down these streets, they were still running in fear with the sound of gunfire echoing off the buildings all around them. Anthony . Mason john blackstone. Thanks, john. Were just beginning to learn the identities of the victims. Carter evans is following that vart of the story. Carter . Reporter anthony, you can just imagine what the triage must have been like, ambulances arriving one after the other. In all more than 500 patients were transferred to local hospitals, but not all of the critically wounded arrived in an ambulance. In the chaos, confused concert goers ran in any direction they could, over walls, on top of each other and into Hotel Lobbies just trying to get out of the line of fire. Be advised, it is automatic fire, fully automatic fire from an elevated position. Take cover. Reporter gayle davis was at the concert. This girl had been standing right beside me, and she had fallen. She grabbed her stomach. Her hands were bloody and she screamed and she fell back. Reporter concert goers who were not injured became First Responders, moving victims in wheelbarrows, office chairs, and Hotel Luggage carts. Tom macintosh was shot in the leg when a stranger stopped the bleeding and drove him to the emergency room in the back of a truck. Youre surrounded by thousands of people. You dont know who is shooting at you. Its pretty stressful. Reporter more than 100 gunshot victims poured into University Medical center according to trauma surgeon jay coats. With so many people come so fast, we did damage control, which is stopping the process of dying. Reporter move on to the next one . Get next one in. We did that all night. Reporter by morning nearly 50 people were dead, like 29 yearold sonny nelson from tennessee, Rachael Parker from manhattan beach, california, and charleston hartfield, a las vegas cop who coached youth football. Hundreds more survived, and with hospitals running short on resources, they put out a plea for blood. Jeff coe is one of many who stood outside to donate. Theyll give blood, as much as they need. Reporter this is University Medical center, the only Level One Trauma Center in the state. Last night they took in 104 patients. Now, four of them died, 12 are still in critical condition, but anthony, 40 have already been treated and released. Mason carter, theyre doing incredible work there. Reanks. Earlier i spoke with brothers corey and craig nyman who were watching the concert just steps away from the band. Did people realize what was happening . No. Well, kind of. When we heard the first couple sounds, a woman went down. We didnt know what was going on. She didnt know what was going on. She was there. Then they looked at her cowboy boot and you could see something punctured the leather in the boot. Right has the was happening, everything happened so fast, you could hear the first rounds go off. Mason how long did the shooting go on for . Mason ho at least 10, 15 minutes. Eastthere were breaks. We every time there was break, crowds of people would move as he was trying the reload. Mason as this was happening, j did you see in the crowd . Just seeing people coming from all different angles,ucking for cover. Trying to find safety. I saw people on the ground, people littered just everywhere, tears and we heard glass breaking. It was just noise. Pandemonium . E. Pretty much. Pretty much. We were waiting for the shots. Waiting for the shots. They stopped and we had to move. Out the back a gate got opened or trampled. Ckere were cars. There were people. No one knew what to do. People were being carried. There were people lifeless. There were people everywhere. Mason you guys must be in shock today. Physically were thankful and very fortunate. Mentally, as residents of the city, as fans, as attendees, it hurts. It is really like mental trauma on your body. You never want anything like this to happen. Mason our cbs news justice and Homeland Security correspondent jeff pegues has been working his Law Enforcement sources, and heres what he found out about the gunman. Reporter after Stephen Paddock checked into the mandalay bay resort last thursday, investigators say he spent the next three days gambling in the casino, and he stockpiled a cache of 19 weapons, a mixture of hand guns and rifles in his hotel room. Two of the guns were country tripods. Police and the f. B. I. Are now trying to determine a motive. Were shocked, horrified, completely dumbfounded about this. Reporter eric paddock, the killers brother, says he was interviewed by investigators for about four hours. The fact that he had those kind of weapons is just. Where the hell did he get automatic weapons . Anything . Nothing. No religious affiliation, no political affiliation. No, he just hung out. Reporter Stephen Paddock was an accountant, but family members say recently he was a professional gambler who won large jackpots. He was also a licensed hunter and pilot who rented, owned, and sold multiple properties in four states over the last four decades. Paddocks father was once on the f. B. I. s most wanted list. A 1969 notice described Benjamin Hoskins paddock as a bank robber who was psychopathic and considered armed and very dangerous. Until last nights mass shooting, Stephen Paddocks only runin with Law Enforcement was this 2009 parking ticket. It was well planned out, and it took a lot of strategic thinking. Reporter former f. B. I. Profiler Mary Ellen Otoole says paddock may have been planning the attack for years. He had a view of the concert, and he probably had gone to other rooms and chose specifically this room. So there was surveillance that likely occurred before this event. Reporter a search of turned uphome turned up 18 additional weapons, thousands of rounds of ammunition and explosives. Today isis claimed responsibility for this attack, but investigators say so far they have found no link between paddock and the terrorist organization. Anthony . Mason jeff pegues. Thanks, jeff. People who encountered paddock recently are having a tough time believing he could have have committed mass murder. Demarco morgan has that. As soon as i saw the name, it was instant recognition. Mason steven paddock purchased a shotgun from utah gun shop owner chris michel in february. We have code words between us as staff if something doesnt feel right, if something doesnt look right. We will do everything we can to actually stop the sale, and none of the alarms went up from any of the staff that dealt with him. Reporter today Law Enforcement searched paddocks mesquite home. We havent had any runins with him in the past. Hes a nice guy. He was kind of quirky, but a ace guy. Reporter paddocks neighbors ibscribed him as quiet, anocial, and having an odd sense of humor, but not as violent. It was just kind of unbelievable to think somebody who was in our community, a who was in member of our community could possibly go out and do Something Like that. Its just unbelievable. Reporter paddock was a licensed hunter and was known to frequent gun shops near his home in mesquite, nevada. He lived here with his here witd, marilou danley, who is out of the country. And at this time Law Enforcement believe she was not involved. Mason Demarco Morgan in mesquite, thanks. Marco morgan inting even thopped, people in the audience were rushing to help the wounded. Some giving aid were offduty cops and firefighters. Others were exmilitary. Adriana diaz has their story. We have an active shooter, we have an active shooter inside the fairgrounds. Reporter minutes after the shooting began, Law Enforcement erambled to the scene. We have multiple casualties. Multiple casualties. Reporter there were offduty First Responders in the crowd who had been attending the concert for fun. This is first body, the first victim . Like robert hayes of the l. A. Fire department. What was in it that made you stay and go from person to person to see how you could help . Honestly because if that was someone in my family, thats what i would have wanted somebody to do for me. H, my, my god. Reporter he described the scene as a war zone with victims being helped by strangers. Everybody was coming together to try to work. There were people sitting there that wouldnt leave people that were shot, and they didnt even know them. Reporter strangers . Yeah. We need your truck. We need to get people over to the hospital. O go ahead. Put them all in the back. Reporter some improvised to help victims, turning their personal vehicles into ambulances. W 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 in the midst of chaos, there was hope. Vanessa is a nurse from orange county, california. Everyone was communicating and working together. You got this person . You got this person . You got this person . It was completely horrible, but it was absolutely amazing to see all the people coming together. Reporter some of the First Responders also became victims. Several officers and firemen who were both on and off duty were shot and a Las Vegas Police gaficer was killed. Mason adriana diaz, thank you, adriana. Coming up next on the cbs evening news, the president calls the attack pure evil but does not label it terrorism. And later, a nurse on treating victim after victim. Fter victim. My checkups go well, but i want awesome so my dentist told me about this. Go pro with crest hd. Crest hd cleans and whitens my teeth to eyepopping levels. Crest hd. 6x cleaning, 6x whitening. I did it, i did it, i impressed the dentist. Advil liquigels minis. Our first concentrated pill that rushes powerful relief. A small new size thats fast, cause its liquid. Woohoo youll ask, what pain . New advil liquigels minis. Mason President Trump will be coming here to las vegas on wednesday to meet with First Responders and families of the octims. Mis morning he went on television to comfort americans shaken by yet another mass shooting. Then he led the nation in a moment of silence. Heres Major Garrett. It was an act of pure evil. Reporter President Trump spoke somberly of sadness and faith. Fa scripture teaches us the lord is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. Reporter the president also spoke of togetherness. Our unity cannot be shattered by evil. Sr bonds cannot be broken by violence. And though we feel such great anger at the senseless murder of our fellow citizens, it is our love that defines us today. Reporter and the struggle to comprehend madness. I know we are searching for some kind of meaning in the s,aos, some kind of light in the darkness. The answers do not come easy. Reporter words did not come easily for press secretary Sarah Huckabee sanders, overcome when describing acts of heroism that in some cases cost lives. The memory of those who displayed the ultimate expression of love amidst an oimaginable act of hate will never fade. Reporter the white house said this was no time to discuss gun control or any other possible policy response. It was instead a time for silence and white house it was i siurning. bell tolls in a 2015 interview, after a mass shooting in oregon, candidate President Trump said save nothing to do with such crimes, that its all about Mental Illness and people who h lip through the cracks. There is no sign President Trump has changed his mind on the topic. Anthony . Mason Major Garrett at the white house. Thank you, major. Next a trauma nurse who helped treat dozens of victims. Help you reach your goals. Its having the confidence to create the future thats most meaningful to you. Its protection for generations of families, and 150 years of strength and stability. And when youre able to harness all of that, thats the power of pacific. Ask a Financial Advisor about pacific life. Lights, camera strike a pose your eyes work as hard as you do. But do they need help making more of their own tears . If you have chronic dry eye caused by reduced tear production due to inflammation, restasis multidose® can help, with continued use, twice a day, every day, one drop at a time. Restasis multidose® helps increase your eyes natural ability to produce tears, which may be reduced by inflammation due to chronic dry eye. Restasis multidose® did not increase tear production in patients using antiinflammatory eye drops or tear duct plugs. To help avoid eye injury and contamination, do not touch the bottle tip to your eye or other surfaces. Wait 15 minutes after use before inserting contact lenses. The most common side effect is a temporary burning sensation. Ask your eye doctor about restasis multidose®. Savings card holders pay as little as 0 for three bottles. Start saving today at restasis. Com. Ltry align probiotic. Ntoday your digestive system . For a nonstop, sweet treat goodness, hold on to your tiara kind of day. Get 24 7 digestive support, with align. The 1 doctor recommended probiotic brand. Also in kids chewables. But hes got work to do. With a sore back. So he took aleve this morning. If hed taken tylenol, hed be stopping for more pills right now. Only aleve has the strength to stop tough pain for up to 12 hours with just one pill. Tylenol cant do that. Aleve. All day strong. All day long. Check this sundays paper for extra savings on products from aleve. Mason ashley justy is a trauma nurse who worked at Sunrise Hospital for more than rkx years. Shes currently at a private linic, but when she heard about the shooting, she went back to sunrise to help. I spoke with her today. What sort of injuries did you see . All gunshot wounds, extremities, ankles, hands, chest, arms, people with more severe were taken to the e did you room right away. They were critical. Mason what else did you see that i might have missed . You know, just a lot of people frantic, asking for their family members, people asking for their spouses, have you seen so and so, have you seen so and so . But there are so many people, no one has a name. Everyone came in under an alias because there were too many that was very hard trying to calm patients when they were looking for their spouses and significant othe