Police and medical workers stage operations in the intersection of Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard South after an Oct. 1 mass shooting at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip. A gunman perched high on the 32nd floor of a casino hotel unleashed a shower of bullets on an outdoor country music festival below, killing at least 50 people and wounding hundreds, making it the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. (CNS photo/Steve Marcus, Las Vegas Sun)

WASHINGTON (CNS) — The nation has experienced “yet another night filled with unspeakable terror” and “we need to pray and to take care of those who are suffering,” said the president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops in Washington.

In Las Vegas, a gunman now identified by law enforcement officials as Stephen Craig Paddock, 64, was perched high on the 32nd floor of a hotel and from his room unleashed a shower of bullets late Oct. 1 on an outdoor country music festival taking place below. The crowd at the event numbered more than 22,000.

He killed at least 50 people and wounded more than 400, making it by all accounts “the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history,” Cardinal Daniel N. DiNardo of Galveston-Houston, USCCB president, said in an Oct. 2 statement.

“My heart and my prayers, and those of my brother bishops and all the members of the church, go out to the victims of this tragedy and to the city of Las Vegas,” he said.

“At this time, we need to pray and to take care of those who are suffering,” Cardinal DiNardo said. “In the end, the only response is to do good — for no matter what the darkness, it will never overcome the light. May the Lord of all gentleness surround all those who are suffering from this evil, and for those who have been killed we pray, eternal rest grant unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them.”

A body is covered with a sheet in the intersection of Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard South after an Oct. 1 mass shooting at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip. A gunman perched high on the 32nd floor of a casino hotel unleashed a shower of bullets on an outdoor country music festival below, killing at least 50 people and wounding hundreds, making it the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. (CNS photo/Steve Marcus, Las Vegas Sun)

In a telegram to Las Vegas Bishop Joseph A. Pepe, Cardinal Pietro Parolin, Vatican secretary of state, said Pope Francis was “deeply saddened to learn of the shooting in Las Vegas” and “sends the assurance of his spiritual closeness to all those affected by this senseless tragedy.”

“He commends the efforts of the police and emergency service personnel, and offers the promise of his prayers for the injured and for all who have died, entrusting them to the merciful love of Almighty God,” the cardinal said.

Phoenix Bishop Thomas J. Olmsted and Auxiliary Bishop Eduardo A. Nevares released the following statement about the Las Vegas shootings: “We are devastated to learn about the deadly mass shooting last night in Las Vegas, and we express our deepest condolences for the victims of this senseless act of violence. We join in praying for the victims and their families, and for the first responders and all law enforcement officials who selflessly put others before themselves.”

They also prayed for the intercession of the Blessed Mother to hold close “all those affected by this horrific event.”

A couple of diocesan missions are more directly accessible via a plane ride to Las Vegas followed by an hour drive.

During the shooting, a barrage of bullets came from a room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino complex on the Las Vegas Strip. Once police officers determined where the gunshots were coming from, they stormed the room and killed the suspect, Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo told reporters.

The suspect later identified as Paddock was from Mesquite, Nevada, about 80 miles northeast of Las Vegas. USA Today reported police had blocked off the road to Paddock’s home, which they planned to search. News reports also said law enforcement believed the suspect was a “lone wolf” in planning and carrying out the attack.

Catholic response on social media

https://twitter.com/bishopnevares/status/914861474652344320

https://twitter.com/BCHSPhoenix/status/914930499130294272

https://twitter.com/GretchenOSV/status/914842792685395968

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