A San Diego attorney was among 59 people killed by a gunman who opened fire with an arsenal of guns on a crowd at an outdoor country-music concert on the Las Vegas Strip before dying of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot.
Jennifer Irvine, who ran a family-law and criminal-defense practice out of an office high-rise near El Cortez hotel, died Sunday evening in the massacre at the Route 91 Harvest Country Music Festival, a three-day concert at Las Vegas Village, a co-worker disclosed via a social-media message.
“My good friend, colleague, and business partner Jennifer Irvine was killed by a madman at the festival in Las Vegas,” attorney Thomas Slattery of Coronado posted on his Facebook page. “A tragic loss of a kind, generous, and beautiful lady. She will be greatly missed.”
One of seven San Diego firefighters in attendance at the concert suffered a minor injury during the rampage, department spokeswoman Monica Munoz said. She would not elaborate.
“They were not on duty when this happened, so it’s private,” she said. “I got permission from the injured (firefighter) to release that much.”
As many as several dozen off-duty San Diego Police officers and firefighters were in the crowd at the country music festival on the Las Vegas strip when a gunman opened fire, but none were believed injured in the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, local authorities said.
It wasn’t immediately known exactly how many San Diego Police Department and San Diego Fire-Rescue Department employees were in attendance at the Route 91 Harvest Country Music Festival on Sunday night, but many were checking in Monday morning to report that they escaped harm, Officer Dino Delimitros and Fire Chief Brian Fennessy said.
ABC10 reported that between 15 and 20 off-duty SDPD officers were among the festival attendees.
In a tweet sent just before 5:20 a.m., SDPD Chief Shelley Zimmerman said: “Grateful off-duty (SDPD) officers who were there are OK. We are all grieving with (Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department) and everyone affected by this horrific attack.”
Fennessy issued a statement Monday morning saying, “Several of our (off- duty) firefighters are in Las Vegas. At this point we believe they are safe, but we will continue to gather information as to their status … (San Diego) Fire-Rescue sends our condolences and prayers to all those affected by this horrific and tragic shooting.”
A spokeswoman from the San Diego County Sheriff’s Department said that as of 10 a.m., department officials did not believe any off-duty deputies from the region were in attendance.
At least 59 people were killed and 527 wounded in the worst mass shooting in American history.The gunman was identified as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock of Mesquite, NV, a city of about 17,000 residents about an hour northeast of Las Vegas off Interstate 15 near the Arizona border.
Police say Paddock, who fired from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino, killed himself before SWAT officer breached his room, where he’d been staying since Thursday.
The terrorist group ISIS claimed responsibility for the attack, but an FBI agent at a Las Vegas new conference said there was no known connection between the shooter and any international terrorist groups.
One Las Vegas-area officer responding to the shooting was critically injured while another sustained minor injuries, police said. Two off-duty officers from the Las Vegas area were reportedly killed.
At least two Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department employees, two Los Angeles Fire Department firefighters, an Orange County sheriff’s deputy, a Los Angeles police officer and a Newport Beach cop were wounded, according to Los Angeles-area authorities.
Jason Aldean, the singer who was on stage when the Vegas gunfire erupted, is scheduled to play a concert Saturday at the Mattress Firm Amphitheatre in Chula Vista, as well as shows Friday in Los Angeles and Sunday in Anaheim. It’s unknown if those concerts will go forward as planned.
— City News Service
