NYPD Steps Up Security at ‘Strategic Locations’ After Vegas Massacre; No Specific Threats to NYC

What to Know

At least 50 people were killed and more than 400 were hospitalized in what cops describe as the deadliest mass shooting in modern US history
The gunman has been identified as Stephen Paddock, of Mesquite, Nevada; it was believed to be a "lone wolf" attack
Authorities say they are stepping up security at certain spots in NY out of an abundance of precaution; no specific threats have been made

Authorities in New York are stepping up security at "strategic locations" across the city Monday, hours after a lone gunman opened fire from the 32nd floor of a Las Vegas Strip casino, killing at least 59 people and sending more than 500 to hospitals in what has become the deadliest mass shooting in U.S. modern history.

NYPD Commissioner James O'Neill said there have been no specific threats to New York, and the department is acting out of an abundance of caution.

"Right up front, I just want to say our thoughts and prayers are with the city of Las Vegas," O'Neill said before an unrelated NYPD event. "We won't know the motivation of the gunman. Acts of terror have capabilities of happening anywhere in our country."

Former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton also said police would be prepared in the event of a hypothetical similar attack in New York City. Checkey Beckford reports.

Former NYPD Commissioner Bill Bratton also told News 4 police would be prepared in the event of a hypothetical similar attack in New York City.

"In New York City at any given time there are 300 to 400 officers equipped with rifles," he said.

Authorities in Las Vegas believe the gunman, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, of Mesquite, Nevada, acted alone. They say he unleashed a shower of bullets on an outdoor country music festival below his room at the Mandalay Bay Hotel and Casino, killing 59 people and wounding more than 500 as tens of thousands of frantic concert-goers screamed and ran for their lives.

SWAT teams quickly descended on the concert and the casino, and officers breached the hotel room, where they found the suspect dead. A motive is not immediately known.

The shooting at the sold-out Route 91 Harvest festival was the worst mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Forty-nine people were killed when a gunman opened fire at the Pulse nightclub in Orlando in June 2016.

Gov. Cuomo has directed that flags on all state government buildings be lowered to half-staff to honor victims of the mass shooting in Las Vegas.

The Democrat says the directive is in effect from Tuesday through sunset Friday in conjunction with a federal proclamation.

Cuomo called the Nevada killings "yet another senseless and horrific mass shooting" and a "heinous and vile act of gun violence."

Sunday's shooting came more than four months after a suicide bombing at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, that killed 22 people. Almost 90 people were killed by gunmen inspired by Islamic State at the Bataclan concert hall in Paris during a performance by Eagles of Death Metal in November 2015.