Canadians thought gunfire was fireworks

Two Canadians who witnessed a mass shooting at an outdoor concert in Las Vegas say that at first, they thought the sound of gunshots was fireworks.

A lone gunman, identified by police as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, fired shots into the crowd at a country music festival on the Vegas Strip, killing at least 50 and wounding at least 400 more late Sunday night.

Monique Dumas of British Columbia says she was six rows from the front of the stage when the shooting broke out.

She says she thought she heard a bottle breaking, and then a burst of popping sounds she thought was fireworks.

She says the gunfire persisted throughout the four to five minutes it took her to leave the area.

Ashley Fowler of Newfoundland told the radio station K-Rock in St. John’s, N.L., that everyone in the crowd thought the noise was fireworks until the performer on stage dropped his microphone and ran.

After that, she says, everyone fled.

Global Affairs Canada did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the number of Canadians who may have been affected by the shooting.

According to the Las Vegas Visitor Authority, visitors from Canada made up nearly half of international tourists who arrived in the city by air last year.