Monday, Oct. 1, marks one year since the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history, the massacre at an outdoor concert in Las Vegas that left 58 people dead and more than 850 injured. Here are the stories The Associated Press is planning. All times EDT:
FRIDAY, Sept. 28
LAS VEGAS SHOOTING-COUNTRY STRONG
NASHVILLE — The thousands of people who were at Route 91 Harvest Festival last October were there to listen to country music. Now that love of music has created lasting bonds between many survivors of the mass shooting over the past year. Flying flags and wearing shirts that say "Country Strong," these survivors go to country music festivals and concerts together and consider each other family now. Connie Long, who has a tattooed reminder of Route 91 on her body, said "The music makes us stronger. The music is what brings us together." By Kristin M. Hall. UPCOMING: 800 words, photos, video by 2 a.m.
SATURDAY, Sept. 29
LAS VEGAS SHOOTING-MEMORIALS
LAS VEGAS — A small garden in downtown Las Vegas is home to photos, crosses, ribbons and dozens of other items placed in memory of the 58 people who were killed a year ago Monday during the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Miles from the concert venue where the bloodshed took place, the garden created by volunteers in the days after the massacre has given survivors and families of slain victims a place to mourn and try to heal. Volunteers elsewhere in the community are still working to catalog and store thousands of items left at makeshift memorials, an effort also undertaken by other cities affected by mass attacks. By Regina Garcia Cano. UPCOMING: 700 words, photos by 12 p.m. Will be updated from Saturday events.
SUNDAY, Sept. 30
LAS VEGAS SHOOTING-CITY'S MOOD
LAS VEGAS — A bouquet of dried up flowers was wedged inside the padlock on Gate 5 of the killing ground that was the Route 91 Harvest music festival one recent day, the only visible reminder that this was the site of the worst mass murder in American history. On the anniversary of the shooting that killed 58 people, Las Vegas looks forward even as the victims are mourned and remembered. By Tim Dahlberg. UPCOMING: 1,000 words, photos by 12 p.m.
LAS VEGAS SHOOTING-NEWS GUIDE
LAS VEGAS — Almost a year after the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, the site of the massacre on the Las Vegas Strip remains closed, police say they have not identified a motive and survivors and families of slain victims are doing their best to find a new normal. Donations to an online fundraiser have been divided among injured concertgoers and their families, and lawsuits have been filed by some victims and the concert site owner. By Regina Garcia Cano and Ken Ritter. UPCOMING: 800 words, photos by 12 p.m.
MONDAY, Oct. 1
LAS VEGAS SHOOTING
LAS VEGAS — Many of the 22,000 country music fans said they thought the rapid crack-crack-crack interrupting the Route 91 Harvest Festival was fireworks. Then people fell dead, wounded, bleeding. It took 11 minutes for the gunman in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history to kill 58 people. Then he killed himself. A year later, Las Vegas police and the FBI have found no motive for the rampage. Victims try to heal. Lawsuits allege negligence. A memorial is dedicated. A man who acknowledges selling bullets to the shooter is the only person charged with a crime. A review found communications were jumbled and police, fire and medical responders were overwhelmed by 911 calls, false reports of more shootings and the number of victims. And on the weekend before the anniversary, an outdoor music festival that authorities say the gunman scouted but spared played to 55,000 fans amid downtown high-rises in Las Vegas. By Ken Ritter. UPCOMING: 1,000 words, photos by 1 a.m. Developing throughout the day Monday from events including a sunrise remembrance service at 9:30 a.m. EDT and a Healing Garden wall dedication at 9:30 p.m. EDT Also: Resort marquee tribute at 1:01 a.m. EDT Tuesday and reading of names ceremony at 1:05 a.m. EDT Tuesday.
With: BC-US--Las Vegas Shooting-News Guide
PREVIOUSLY MOVED:
WEDNESDAY, Sept. 26
GUNS-STATE LEGISLATURES
The shooting that killed 17 people earlier this year at a high school in Parkland, Fla., which followed by just months the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history, prompted a wave of student activism that raised the hopes of gun-control advocates across the country. While Florida's legislature and governor responded with a far-reaching package of gun laws, an Associated Press review shows those actions were an outlier among Republican-leaning states. A handful of GOP governors did sign bills banning bump stocks, like the one used in the Las Vegas attack, or allowing police to temporarily seize guns from individuals showing signs of mental instability or violence. But an AP analysis of all gun legislation passed this year in state legislatures finds the back-to-back shooting tragedies were not the legislative turning point gun-control supporters had hoped they would be. By Ryan J. Foley. SENT: 1,800 words, photos. Eds: An abridged version also is available.
With:
— AP data distribution.
— BC-US--Guns-Bump Stocks, a chunky text-style sidebar about what has happened related to bump stocks — and what hasn't — since the Las Vegas strip shooting. By Lisa Marie Pane. 430 words.
— BC-US--Guns-Bump Stocks-Glance, a list detailing notable events in the U.S. involving bump stocks. 240 words.
THURSDAY, Sept. 27
LAS VEGAS SHOOTING-LIVING WITH FEAR
BONNEY LAKE, Wash. — Every time Chris Gilman leaves her home at the foot of Mount Rainier in Washington, she fights the gnawing urge to turn around and check that someone isn't about to shoot her. It's a battle she sometimes wins and sometimes loses. In the year since the 48-year-old was nearly killed in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history, Gilman has had to get used to feeling fear: She has nightmares about family members getting shot, she can only sit in spots in restaurants where she can see the exits, and she has to mentally prepare herself for movies that might include rapid gunfire. And then there are crowds, the toughest new obstacle Gilman must brave since she survived the Oct. 1, 2017 massacre in Las Vegas. By Amanda Lee Myers and Sally Ho. SENT: 850 words, photos, video.
LAS VEGAS SHOOTING-SURVIVORS
The Las Vegas massacre claimed 58 lives, making it the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. But hundreds more were shot, many of them surviving after a mad dash through a sea of chaos, flying bullets and bodies. Others had to be carried out and would be dead themselves had it not been for everyday heroes who risked their own lives to save someone else's. As the one-year mark of the senseless slaughter approaches, they're working to make sense of their new lives as survivors, the newfound fear of being in crowds and the fact that their lives may never be the same. By Regina Garcia Cano and Amy Taxin. SENT: 2,600 words, photos, video.
