Las Vegas Shooting: OneBlood Sending Help From Tampa Bay

ST. PETERSBURG, FL — Tampa Bay residents searching for ways to help survivors of Sunday’s mass shooting in Las Vegas are being asked to visit their local OneBlood donor center or Big Red Bus location. OneBlood announced Monday afternoon that it is in the process of preparing a shipment to send to hospitals in Nevada.

“As the details of the Las Vegas, Nevada, massacre emerge, it is yet another reminder of why a ready blood supply is so vital,” a statement from the nonprofit organization said. OneBlood’s shipment will include blood and platelets. The organization intends to “remain on standby to assist further if needed.” (For more local news from Florida, click here to sign up for real-time news alerts and newsletters from St. Pete Patch, and click here to find your local Florida Patch. If you have an iPhone, click here to get the free Patch iPhone app.)

The massacre, now deemed the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history, occurred at the end of the three-day Route 91 Harvest country music festival on Oct. 1. Shots rang out while Jason Aldean was on stage, entertaining a crowd of more than 20,000 outside the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino.

Sheriff Joe Lombardo: Toll Of Dead, Injured Increases In Las Vegas

Las Vegas Sheriff Joe Lombardo reported Monday morning the shooter, who perched in a room on the hotel’s 32nd floor, is Stephen Paddock, 64, of Mesquite, Nevada. Paddock, Lombardo said, was dead by the time officers breached his room. Before Paddock’s death, police say he killed at least 58 people and left more than 500 injured.

The incident has eclipsed last year's Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando that saw 49 people killed and 58 injured.

Tampa Bay residents who wish to help out with blood donations can find donor center and Big Red Bus locations on the OneBlood website.

See also:

• At Least 58 Dead, More Than 500 Injured In Las Vegas Shooting
• Las Vegas Shooting 'Unimaginable,' Witness Jake Owen Says
• ‘Dumbfounded’ Orlando Area Man Reacts To Brother’s Shooting Spree

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