Ten survivors of the deadly mass shooting at the Route 91 Festival in Las Vegas have filed a lawsuit in California accusing the Mandalay Bay hotel and concert promoters of negligence after a man opened fire from a window at the crowd below.
According to a story on CBSLocal.com, the ten plaintiffs are residents of San Bernadino and Riverside Counties. Two were struck by bullets, while the others suffered emotional trauma from the shooting which killed 58 people and injured hundreds more. The suit, filed in Los Angeles County, seeks to collect from the estate of shooter Stephen Paddock, MGM Resorts, Mandalay Bay, and Live Nation, which put on the concert.
“The promoters and the venue had the responsibility to inform people prior to the event how to get out,” said attorney Alexander Napolin, emphasizing that all ten are victims despite most having not received any physical wounds. [They all have] severe post traumatic stress, they’re crying, they’re reliving the incident,” Napolin said.
Live Nation has declined to comment on the pending litigation. MGM resorts issued the following statement.
“The tragic incident that took place on October 1st was a meticulously planned, evil senseless act. As our company and city work through the healing process, our primary focus and concern is taking actions to support the victims and their families, our guests and employees and cooperating with law enforcement. We are grateful for all who came to the victims’ aid that evening, including our employees, first responders, the police and citizens who acted in countless ways to assist. Out of respect for the victims we are not going to try this case in the public domain and we will give our response through the appropriate legal channels.”
This suit follows another filed recently against the manufacturers of bump stocks, a device which attaches to semiautomatic weapons and allows them to fire at a rate similar to automatic weapons, which are illegal for civilian use. Investigators recovered a dozen such devices from the hotel room of the shooter, who ended his life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound before police and security could capture him.
