At least 58 people were gunned down and 515 injured in a shooting at an outdoor concert near the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino in Las Vegas.
Hundreds of people were seen fleeing the Route 91 country music festival on Sunday night after gunman Stephen Paddock rained bullets from a 32nd-floor window for several minutes before killing himself.
The first victim has been named as Sonny Melton, who was at the Route 91 Harvest festival with his wife.
According to his Facebook page, Mr Melton was from Big Sandy, West Tennessee, and was a registered nurse at Jackson-Madison County General Hospital.
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At least 58 people died in the Las Vegas shooting
His wife Heather Gulish Melton said she is in complete disbelief, adding: “At this point, I’m in complete disbelief and despair. I don’t know what to say.
“Sonny was the most kind-hearted, loving man I have ever met. He saved my life and lost his.”
Heather and Sonny celebrated their one-year wedding anniversary in June this year, having married on June 30, 2016 in Mexico.
Mr Melton previously worked as a financial advisor, but went back to school and earned his nursing degree from Union University in 2015.
Co-worker Victoria Peyton Dowd wrote on Facebook: “Terribly saddened to learn we lost one of our ER nurses from HCMC in the tragedy that took place in Las Vegas.
“My heart aches for Sonny Melton, his wife and family, and our HCMC family.
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Las Vegas shooting victim Sonny Melton was at Route 91
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Quinton Robbins also died in the mass shooting
“You never think about things like this happening to someone you know, much less someone from your work family.
“Sonny was such an amazing person and an amazing nurse. I’m thankful I had the pleasure of knowing such an awesome man.”
A second victim has been named as Jordan McIldoon, 23, of Maple Ridge. His parents, Al and Angela McIldoon, confirmed their son’s death.
They said he was attending the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival with his girlfriend, and they were supposed to return Monday night.
“We only had one child,” they said. “We just don’t know what to do.”
Sonny was the most kind-hearted, loving man I have ever met. He saved my life and lost his
Quinton Robbins, 20, who lived in Henderson, Nevada, was also confirmed as having died in the harrowing attack.
The young man studied at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas, and worked in the city government of his hometown.
Tyce Jones, who has known the Robbins family for 14 years, said: “Quinton was a pay-it-forward kinda guy.
“Always had a smile on his face and was a nice guy. He loved his family and loved to coach his little brother’s flag football team. He will be missed.”
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Sonny and Heather Melton had been married for just one year
His aunt, Kilee Wells Sanders, told Newsweek it was “so sudden” and that she was “at a loss.”
She posted on Facebook: “He was the most kind and loving soul. Everyone who met him loved him. His contagious laugh and smile.
“He was truly an amazing person. He will be missed by so many, he is loved by so many.”
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department confirmed on Twitter that one of its officers was also killed in the shooting, but the department did not identify the officer, who was off-duty at the time.
Two other on-duty officers were wounded.
Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said: “It’s a devastating time.
Governor Brian Sandoval offered his condolences to the victims’ families and those injured in the attack, saying: “I don’t know if I have words to describe what we’re going through, and what these poor unfortunate victims.
“We’re angry, we’re grieving, we’re confused. People are hurting. I want to thank the sheriff and all the first responders, I just had the opportunity to visit some of the patients in the hospital, and it’s unimaginable what people are going through right now.”
The shocking loss of life makes this gun rampage is the worst mass shooting in US history, eclipsing last year’s massacre of 49 people at an Orlando night club by a gunman who pledged allegiance to Islamic State militants.
Police have identified the gunman as Stephen Paddock, who lived in a retirement community in Mesquite, Nevada, and said they had no sense of what prompted his attack.
The Islamic State militant group claimed responsibility for the massacre, but US officials expressed skepticism of that claim.
Eric Paddock, the shooter’s brother, said the family was “bewildered” as to what drove him to mass murder.