Man behind Las Vegas shooting identified as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock

The suspected gunman in the mass shooting at a music festival in Las Vegas has been named as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock.

At least 50 people were killed and more than 200 injured at the Route 91 country music event near the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino. It is the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history, with the death toll surpassing the 49 killed at a nightclub in Orlando in June 2016.

Witnesses described seeing flashes of light high up in the tower of the Mandalay Bay Hotel and a noise "like firecrackers" as "clip after clip" was unloaded into the 40,000-strong crowd.

Paddock, a grandfather from Mesquite, Nevada, was believed to have been firing down at concert-goers from the 32nd floor. A Swat team used a controlled explosion to enter the hotel room, where they shot Paddock dead.

Announcing the suspect's name, Las Vegas Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said police had "located numerous firearms", including rifles, in the hotel room and a search of Paddock's house was due to take place shortly.

Born on 9 April 1953, Paddock was a grandfather who lived in a three-year-old, $396,000 (£297,554) two-bedroom home in the small community of Mesquite, 80 miles north east of Las Vegas near the Arizona state border.