Las Vegas Shooting: GoFundMe campaign raises over $2 million for families of victims

Dozens were left dead and hundreds more wounded when a gunman opened fire on a crowd of 22,000 country music fans at a concert in Las Vegas late Sunday evening.

Fifty-nine people were killed and another 527 injured in what has become the worst mass shooting in U.S. history.

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The terrible situation prompted Las Vegas politician Steve Sisolak to start a GoFundMe account in order to help families deal with the tragedy.

“We set up a GoFundMe account because the sheriff (Joe Lombardo) and I thought maybe we could help some of these victims with funeral expenses, with travel expenses as it relates to the families that are going to have to be coming in from out of town,” Sisolak explained.

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He spoke to reporters at around 3 p.m., noting the generosity people had provided.

“It now has almost 15,000 contributions in excess of $1.2 million,” Sisolak said. “It has been donated by generous people around the country that care about what we are doing.”

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Just a few hours later those numbers had grown dramatically, surpassing $2 million in donations.

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Local residents have also been leaving all sorts of items for victims at the Las Vegas Convention Centre.

“We have been deluged with donations. People bringing sandwiches. Bringing water. Bringing blankets… those sort of things,” Sisolak said. “It’s almost at the point we can’t handle any more donations at the convention centre.”

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In addition, there was a call for blood donors Monday morning which has been more than met by Las Vegans.

“We have a 6-8 hour wait at all of our blood centres right now,” he said.

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Sisolak said that one man’s hate has been countered by an outpouring of love.

“The hate that this one individual, this lone wolf, rained down on our community and on the MGM Village Park was met with an outpouring of love by our entire community.”