Las Vegas shooting: Heartbreaking scenes of hugs and tears

Auckland couple from left, Steve and Carl Harper-Travers are regular visitors to Las Vegas. Photo / Supplied

Auckland couple Steve and Carl Harper-Travers arrived in Las Vegas the morning of the shooting on the city's famous street.

Steve Harper-Travers said the city was its usual bustling self and it wasn't until they had returned to their hotel, The Cosmopolitan, that they became aware something had happened.

"Yesterday was busy, busy, busy and about 10pm we went back to our hotel, a little bit up The Strip from the Mandalay and just sirens. Probably a good hour-and-a-half, two hours of sirens so we knew something was going on. We had a balcony so we could see how the police had stopped the freeway and were heading down towards the Mandalay area. It was just crazy."

Harper-Travers said they decided to stay in their hotel room.

About an hour later they noticed people rushing from the scene.

"Suddenly people were running back to the hotels, jumping out of cabs, running into hotels and then all of a sudden the street was pretty much empty."

Police remained stationed outside each hotel today, he said.

They ventured down to the foyer about 9am today and were confronted with heartbreaking scenes of people hugging each other and crying and getting reunited with their friends and family.

The couple had visited Las Vegas on several occasions and said at 3.45pm (US time) it remained "very, very quiet".

"People are very subdued. There would probably be a third of the people here [compared to yesterday]. You couldn't move for people yesterday."

The couple said they would see out their holiday and were due to fly out for Los Angeles on Thursday.