'It was a like a mob': Las Vegas shooting survivors seek to make sense of chaos of tragedy

'Hospitals and blood drives are overflowing with resources and people wanting to help,' says one relief organiser

Thousands of those that fled the area as the shooting started sought help (Reuters)

Still wearing a tank top spattered with blood, 29-year-old Daniel Smith tried to make sense of the scene that he faced the night before. Unable to return to the Mandalay Bay hotel – where shooter Stephen Paddock started what became the largest mass shooting in US history – Mr Smith was looking to head back to his home in Southern California.

“It was like a mob,” he said of the crowds that rushed to flee after the shooting began, as he stood on a street corner covered in police tape. He had run of the country music concert targeted for the attack and hid behind a median in the middle of a road before seeking shelter a hotel bar at the Luxor hotel. he later moved to the Hooters hotel where he saw survivors wrapped in blankets huddled “all over”.

He is not the only one to struggle for words, as residents and visitors try and process the shock they are felling. “Words can’t even explain it,” says Austin Wayne of Tulsa Oklahoma, 22. Mr Wayne said gunshots were still audible from streets away as he fled the casino next to the concert venue. “You didn’t know what to do or where it [the gunshots] was coming from,” he added.

The whole city of Las Vegas was a much quieter place in the wake of the shooting, which left at least 58 people dead and more than 500 injured. The approach down Las Vegas Boulevard, where visitors are greeted by the iconic “Welcome to Las Vegas” sign, was almost clear of traffic as clusters of police cars halted those cars that did venture down. A group of women walked down the hot asphalt barefoot, carrying their shoes – one of a number of groups to be doing the same.

Dave Cozort was also trying to make his way back to his hotel on foot, grasping the shoes he had removed with a concert wristband still encircled his arm.

“Gunfire was blasting over our heads”, Mr Cozort said, the gold Mandalay Bay building gleaming from across a bridge authorities had closed to traffic.

Elsewhere, a number of roads were sealed off around town and billboards beaming out requests for information on vehicles of interest.

While some were calling into radio stations asking if they can pick up cars they left at the Mandalay Bay garage as they fled.

Looking for a way to help, Las Vegas residents joined queues to give blood after the city put a call to help victims, with lines stretching down the street outside one centre.

A volunteer said hundreds of people had turned up at relief centres around the city hoping to contribute.

“Hospitals and blood drives are overflowing with resources and people wanting to help,” said Amanda Khan, who works as an organiser for the progressive leadership alliance of Nevada.

By afternoon, civilians were being directed to the city’s convention centre if they wanted to help. A line of cars bearing supplies stretched away from the entrance.

The building also served as a hub for families of victims hoping to learn more about the fate of their relatives.

Casinos on the Strip joined the effort, flashing out messages of support, advertising numbers to contact for help locating injured loved ones and imploring people to donate blood.

Nearly every inch of the Las Vegas Strip is under video surveillance, much of it set up by the casinos to monitor their properties. That could yield a wealth of material for investigators.

But the most heart-wrenching job will be the identification of bodies, with police warn that will be a “long, laborious process”. Details have started to emerge of a number of victims, but many more of those that died still have yet to be identified.

Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said that investigators are continuing their collection of evidence and working to reunite people with relatives who were at the shooting site.