Waihi couple caught up in Las Vegas shooting

Glenn Read and his partner Shena Parks, from Waihi, were 500m away from when the shooting happened in Las Vegas. Photo/Facebook

A Waihi woman and her boyfriend were caught up in last night's Las Vegas shooting that killed at least 58 people and injured 500.

Shena Parks and her boyfriend Glenn Read, who were travelling with Parks' father, were about 500m away from where gunmen reportedly began shooting concertgoers at the Route 91 country music festival held near the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino.

Read described the chaos and terror that followed the gunshots.

"We were about to do a helicopter ride over Las Vegas when people started running through the front door panicking. One was shot in the arm, it was crazy," Read said.

"Everyone was put in a locked helicopter hangar but no one was listening and just panicking."

After about an hour, the travellers were moved to a private plane waiting room about 1km down the road. After another hour's wait, they were moved to a university campus before being allowed to catch an Uber back to their hotel at the northern end of the strip about 3am.

They had been told one shooter had been shot dead and an unknown number were still on the loose.

Read said the trio had arrived in Las Vegas about six days ago and are about to leave Las Vegas for San Francisco after a crazy night.

Las Vegas police last night said one suspect was "down".

Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department said on Twitter: "Confirming that one suspect is down. This is an active investigation. Again, please do not head down to the strip at this time."
A witness, named Zac, told Fox News he was right in front of the concert stage at Mandalay Bay when "all of a sudden there were these 'pops' like from a firework - 1, 2, 3 going off."

He said the firing was coming from the top of the Mandalay Bay.

"My sister saw in plain sight a girl get shot in the head."

He bunkered down, telling the people next to him to "Calm down, calm down" and holding the hand of a girl next to him. The gunshots continued and the crowd was told to run, he said.

An Australian tourist named Danny told CNN he was in the Mandalay Bay and described chaos at the scene as officers ran into the building's lifts.

"They were going up, they were coming down, they were going this way, that way. We were told to get out, told to get in - one shooter's up there still, we were told by police, and one's roaming around."

"A lot of people heard gunshots - the initial gunshots were apparently machine gun fire."

He and a group of around 14 people had stayed together for safety but were unsure where to run to, Danny said.

SWAT officers were everywhere, and at one point had told the group to put their hands up. Police appeared confused about the shooter's location or whether there were multiple shooters, he said.

Asked what ran through his head, he said: "I'm from Australia - we don't cop this sort of stuff in Australia that much. But you just try and keep people safe."