Faster. Almost like it sounded like an automatic rifle. You could hear it ringing off the tops of the rafters of the stage. Thats when you saw people fleeing. At that point everyone on stage started running everywhere possible. It was pretty chaotic, for sure. Obviously, its not just the people at the festival who are pouring out online. Carrie underwood said, i woke up to such horrible news. Praying for family. Keith urban, our hearts and prayers are with everyone involved and affected. This Country Music community, such a massive part not just of america but american culture, now rocked by what is just a horrific event. Haunting video from onstage where everyone realizing kind of at the same time what sounds like clicking in the back of that social media video is, in fact, rounds being fired. In some cases hitting the pavement in front of the stage, pavement where people werent standing. Sadly, way too many people were hit. Thank you very much, cal perry. For viewers just joining us, we just passed into the 1 00 p. M. Hour eastern time. You see at the bottom of the screen the grim numbers. Theyve been getting worse as the day has grown on. 58 souls lost last night. 58 people now confirmed dead. Over 500 wounded in this shooting in las vegas. About this man, the gunman, not much is known. As you see, sources are reporting the gunman fired out of two Different Hotel windows. Weve been showing that all day. Then he broke them out to do that. Stephen paddock, his name, 64 years old. A fairly recent resident of mesquite, nevada. He was living in florida. Decided to go back to nevada because of his allergies, apparently. His brother was interviewed outside his home in florida. Referred to his brother, the gunman, who is now dead. In one of the most endear quotes of the day, he was just a guy. A phrase you hear all the time. In a way it expressed his brothers shock and surprise that he was capable of this. You also hear that all the time in this business. A massive trauma for las vegas. This was a sunday night music festival. As you can see, there was vip seating, tents up on the side to both sides of the stage and a large black stage. But in the middle were most of the general admission fans of the concert. That put them, sadly, in the line of fire. Were happy to be joined by a man who was an eyewitness to the shooting and has been willing to talk to us about it. Bryan claypool is with us by phone from las vegas. Brian, when did you realize that what you could hear were shots . Well, brian, im sit negotiate mandalay bay as we speak. I finally made it back to the hotel. All the streets are closed off. The police allowed people staying here to get into the hotel. I was staying on the 24th floor. I shared elevator with this lunatic who massacred all these massive people. Before the shots were fired, i was supposed to leave town sunday night at 7 50 and missed the evening event with jake owen and jason aldean. But one of the reasons why i stayed, brian, is because the view that i had from my room, i had the Las Vegas Strip view, and i looked out and saw the entire complex for the route 91 haf harvest. It was beautiful. Thats one of the reasons i moved my flight to this morning and stayed. We have a lunatic seven floors above me who looks at that same view and wants to kill with that view. That to me is so eerie. I stayed. I was sitting in the vip section you mentioned, close to the stage. I was in the front row. I initially heard a couple pops. I thought that might be fireworks or firecrackers. Looked up in the sky. Didnt see any smoke or any lighting, so i was worried. What was eerie, brian, is jason aldean kind of hesitated during that moment. He stopped singing for a few seconds. That worried me. That was a red flag. Then i heard some more sounds that sounded like shots. Wasnt sure. But the moment that seared my soul, brian s when i looked at jason aldean and he literally dropped threw his guitar down, dropped it to the floor and sprinted to the side. At that moment i jumped up and i was trying to make my way out. By the time i even got to the aisle to try to get out, thats when the first barrage of it felt it went on for 30 seconds. It was nonstop. Just laying flat dourngs praying i dont get hit. Trying to pull people down because a lot of people were frozen in the moment. They werent moving. They were still sitting in their seats. They didnt realize what was going on. When did you notice people getting hit . What happened then, there was this onslaught of shots. It just felt like world war iii. It felt like it would never end, just one after the other, praying it would stop. Finally it stopped about 30 seconds later. Then i got up and i radar running down the stairs. I noticed one gentleman shot in the shoulder, another man shot in the center numb area. They were stumbling north away from the stage area. Thats when a very heroic man summoned about 15 of us into a small little room that was kind of under the bleachers. Looked like a production area under the bleachers. So, it was pick your poison at that moment. When youre in a situation like that, youre in splitsecond decisionmaking that could cost you your life or not. The poison i picked is im going to go in that room. I got in that room. My heart was broken. I initially got in and i see six young women probably in their early 20s, like 20 to 22, kneeling on they were on their knees, huddled in a corner crying hysterically. My heart was i get emotional talking about it. Like, i had at that moment i went from, okay, im going to die to, wait a minute, i dont want to be like the orlando shooting because were now in a small room. At that moment we didnt know where the shooter was. We thought they were right outside the fence. We were next to the fence. Its contiguous to las vegas boulevard. Were thinking someone is going to hop that fence and were done because were in that room and cant move. For a moment im thinking, oh, my god, im going to die like the orlando shooting. I have a little gishlgs 11 years old. Then i shifted gears and i went into i said a prayer. I tried to calm these young women down. We waited until the second round of shooting stopped. Thank god it stopped. I peeked my head out the door. Thats the moment i felt most vulnerable because then i was facing the mandalay bay looking to see. Thank god there was a Police Officer there. By the way, brian, Police Officers in las vegas, stellar. They are the most brave human beings you will ever imagine. One of the Police Officers is ready to hop the fence to go fight this shooter. He screams out, run to the north. Run now. And thats when i summoned everybody out of that little room. Then we ran further to the north to try to exit the arena that way. I dont think ive covered an event like this where more people said incredible things about the First Responders in the moment. Some in plain clothes, some offduty, some uniform, but not with kef lvlar or riot gear. Just Police Officers working the perimeter at an otherwise great event. And i am guessing security was about the last thing on your mind. It was a beautiful night in las vegas. Brian, you raise a great point. Your prior guest raised a great point. Country music followers are the nicest on the planet. Theyre celebrating life. There was a moment about 15 minutes before the shooting where i actually i was about 10 feet away from the general admission section. I saw two las vegas Police Officers, i hope they survived. They were standing in the infield, talking, chitchatting with a couple girls, a couple guys. You know what i said to myself . I said, wow, theyve got the easiest job in the planet. To go to this festival with all these wonderful people and theyre nice and everybodys talking. What a great job they have. How ironic 20 minutes later i see one of the officers jumping that fence to go take on a shooter. Its mindboggling. Tell me more about the crowd. A lot of families, a lot of young people . Brian, you ran the gamut. Thats why im heartbroken. There were kids there. There were kids there with parents. There were teenagers. There were people in their 20s, 30s, 40s, 50s. I seen awesome elderly folks there. There was a crosssection of this country. Every age group imaginable was at this festival. And that is whats so heartbreaking about the whole thing. I was just walking over here. It is somber. People still have their wristbands are, in tears. Im ready to cross where it happened. That was a traumatic moment for me to come back to the scene of the crime. You know, i cant cant even imagine any not one person. There wasnt a mean bone in that festival last night. And for one person to lose their lives is absolutely devastating. We keep showing this picture of this wall of ambulances. Its among the sadder sights from last night because you know eventually they were all filled. Eventually several of them made return trips. More than once. Yeah, brian, brian, people were driving next couple next to me from austin, texas, over the two days i got to know while i was there. They made it to their car, pounding on their car. A woman shot in the stomach, begging to the transported to the hospital. Somebody else picked her up and took her. This is something you see in a movie. You dont see in reality in the united states. On a positive note, its hard to think positive in such a dark moment, but i will tell you, people stepping up, again, left and right. I mean, in that that gentleman at the door, his body was exposed. Hes getting us in that room. People helping injured people who have been shot, Police Officers going to bat. I mean, if anything can be taken away from it, i mean, people in this we got a lot of racial divide now and the country is not getting along, but in the deepest, darkest moments last night, there were a lot of heroes. Yeah, ill go ahead and predict that if there were iraq and afghanistan veterans in that crowd, they probably made a huge difference, a, knowing how to handle nemesis incoming fire, b, knowing how to handle simpoundz treat them and address them immediately and make them survivable, perhaps. Yeah. Well, thank you, brian. I realize this is this is nasty stuff and horrible memories from last night. But people like you have really helped us kind of set the scene and realize narrating these pictures, these awful pictures we have been watching for hours now. Brian kind enough to join us from las vegas. Best of luck to you. Thanks again. Thank you, brian. Among those who made their way out west to las vegas is lester holt. Hes on the ground there. Lester, im told you have a notable interview with a witness you talked to. Yeah a guy named mike cronk, a retired teacher from alaska. To pick up on the point you were just talking about, brian, you told me there were military people, offduty or people with military experience who did at one point organize a plan of, weve got to get out of here, here is our route of escape. To that point there were people here that had some experience that certainly proved beneficial. That concert, like most concerts, you see this now, people taking videos of the concerts. In that case, it gave us made all of us, in many ways, witness to this horrific event. We saw the confusion, the rapid fire of the guns but we didnt experience the terror. I did talk to a number of people who did. One was mike cronk, there with friends. One of his friends was wounded. There was no choice, there was no running, he had to stick with his friend. Heres some of what he told me a bit earlier. We were pretty much right up front facing the stage on the right side of the stage. Pretty much right in the front. Ten feet away from jason aldean when he was singing. Reporter when you heard the shots, did you recognize them as shots . The first volley i dont think anybody did. It sounded like fireworks going off. I think people thought it was part of the show. The second round my friend that was standing next to me got shot three times. He went down. And i immediately im from alaska, i hunt a lot. Knew those gunshots werent close. I knew they came from a hotel. We were screaming, get down on the ground. Your instinct was get down, not run . Yeah, my buddy is hit. Im not leaving him. Everyone got down on the ground. I think it continued, you know, timing like four minutes. Im not sure. It seemed like 20 minutes, to be honest with you. Once it stopped, you know, we were there was people i was with, that i knew. It was like, get out of here. You guys can get over the fence and get away. Were staying. There are so many people that stayed with the wounded. You know, you didnt know who they were. They stayed. There was a lot of heroes out there. Obviously, you want to take cover. Did you recognize the shots were coming from, a, on high and, b, from the building across . Yes, i did. From the sound. From the sound of it. I knew it was from across the street. Was there anyplace to take cover . No. Just get down low so youre not a target. Once it stopped people went over the railing, aluminum railing. That was sort sort of cover. Once it stopped, pretty much everyone was gone and they trampled each other. We got the wounded over the fence and so we were in a safe spot to triage and help whoever needed help. How much were you able to help in terms of treating your friend . My buddy got shot. He had his finger in the bullet hole, so were like, leave your finger in. We got shirts off and compressed it. He had a hands on him the entire time until he got to the ambulance. How long did you have to wait for rescue . We got him around but there were no ambulances coming through because it was a wide zone. We actually loaded four people in the back of a pickup truck and tried to get to the hospital. Im not sure which road we were on. We might have been on this one. They stopped us because there was still a live shooter. We ran around we finally ran into an ambulance. So, up, they started triaging. We got my buddy in the ambulance. One of the young member in the back of the truck, as i was carrying him, he passed away. We got the other two in the ambulance. That young man, somebodys son, you know, passed away right there. He was not by himself. He was already with somebody. You are okay . You were not hit . Im okay. I saw you had bands. Thats from the concert. What were other people doing . As you said, you took cover. You had people you wanted to care for. What was the rest of the crowd doing . It was very chaotic. They just wanted to get out. There are people being trampled and stuff like that. It was a lot of kay yogs. How do you mike, how do you even begin to process Something Like this . This is the stuff you read about happening in other places . Yeah. Especially being from alaska, sheltered from it. I dont know. I dont think ive processed it yet. Its getting harder every time i talk about it. Were you able to see the muzzle flashes coming from no i did not. As soon as my buddy got hit, we were down, taking care of him. I was just paying attention to him. We have seen a lot of video and heard the shots but no definitive timeline for how this goes on. It seemed like there were p prolonged moments of silence. Perhaps reload . Yeah, it was a quick whatever, how many shots, 20, 30, a little break, 20shgs 30, a little break. Yeah, so there was there was time chunks where there were no shots being fired . How is your buddy . He just got out of surgery. I think hes going to be okay. Were keeping him in his prayers. Mike told me he had another friend, a young lady who was supposed to be with him. He said luckily, she was not feeling well. In this case, it may have saved her life. I saw the two of them just a moment ago. We should also note, brian, this city has lost its brisk pace. Youre seeing some traffic thats been routed. They opened up a few avenues here neert mandalay hotel. As i look beyond the camera, there are not a lot of people on the streets here. People are almost respectfully glancing over from the pedestrian bridges here, a few will walk up, look over and keep moving. The last time i experienced vegas like this was as a young reporter in 1980. I covered my first story i covered here was the fire at the mgm grand hotel that killed 85 people. This is a very, very similar feeling. A somber feeling. A place where people go to have fun. And this huge cloud, obviously, of grief and anguish is hovering over this place as it is much of the country today, brian. Absolutely, lester. They will be so anxious to get this behind them and point out that las vegas is open for business and a familyfriendly resort. Lester holt, not far from the Mandalay Bay Hotel. About the Mandalay Bay Hotel, its been the focal point of all of this from the late hours of last night. Specifically those windows. When we first saw them, it wasnt exactly clear what we were looking at. Then we realized that shattered glass, the gold reflective glass, and those are curtains bulking out. For a while they were flapping in the breeze with the suction from an inside door on the hallway. Those windows, some have theyreized, at least one was used by the gunman. Some have theyreized he got a large enough room to be able to have two shooting angles, two shooting locations. Our own correspondent joe friar has found his way to a room six floors up from where the shooting took place. And is it does give us an idea of how the venue looks from up there. Reporter yeah, thats right, brian. We were actually staying at this hotel overnight, which is why were in here. Its a little confusing, but basically there are a few floors of the mandalay bay tower that are actually part of the four seasons hotel. Technically thats where we are but in the mandalay bay tower, high up in the 38th floor and the shooter was six floors below us. I was staying in a dincht room across the hall asleep when this hadnt. My producer was staying in this room here. Was awoken by the sounds of gunfire. At first thought, is it gunfire or have something to do with the concert going on down below. Then realized it was gunfire. Called us and we gathered in this room because the hotel was immediately put on lockdown and stayed under lockdown for about ten hours. Were standing in the 38th floor. Youre talking about these windows. Those are the windows right here. Floortoceiling windows. There is no way to open them. No patios or balconies. We know the gunman had to figure out a way to break thou these windows. We heard Authorities Say he probably used a hammer or Something Like a hammer to break through the windows to be able to shoot. You mentioned the curtains. We see some curtains right here. Ill step out of the way so you can get a viewpoint. We wont zoom in because we know Law Enforcement is still processing the scene. This gives you an idea of the angle the gunman had only six floors below here. Its a birdseye view. Youre looking at the area where the route 91 harvest Country Music f