Marcio Jose Sanchez / AP
Investigators work at the festival grounds across the Strip from Mandalay Bay on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2017, after a gunman opened fire Sunday on a country music concert, killing 58 people and injuring nearly 500.
Monday, Oct. 9, 2017 | 12:47 p.m.
Officials have started returning thousands of personal items left behind in last week’s mass shooting at the Route 91 Harvest music festival.
As some 22,000 people fled, items from lawn chairs to electronics to wallets and bags were abandoned at the festival grounds where 58 people lost their lives and nearly 500 were injured after a gunman opened fire from the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay.
“Looking at it, there’s thousands and thousands of items,” said John Steinbeck, Clark County emergency manager and deputy fire chief. “Truckload after many, many truckloads have been picked up, more than I ever expected.”
“There were thousands of lawn chairs...lots of electronics, lots of bags, hats, boots, clothing, gifts that were bought for people at the event. There’s wallets; there’s identification; you name it,” he said.
On Sunday, nearly 100 people retrieved items left in the A area of the festival grounds, Steinbeck said. Items in the B area were available for pickup this morning.
There is no timetable for when items left in the other five sections will be released.
Items can be retrieved until Oct. 20 at the Family Assistance Center at the Las Vegas Convention Center. The facility is open from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. daily.
