Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations
Make a sustaining gift today to support local journalism!

All Names Of Las Vegas Victims Released

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

Amid the tourists walking the Las Vegas Strip this week are people who never wanted to be there. They're people in town to look after loved ones injured in Sunday night's shooting or in town to claim the remains of the dead. We know better this morning who the victims were. NPR's Sarah McCammon is in Las Vegas.

Sarah, good morning.

SARAH MCCAMMON, BYLINE: Good morning.

INSKEEP: What are you learning?

MCCAMMON: Well, we are learning more about the victims. All 58 names have been released. They've been ID'd. And, you know, Steve, this is a city based on tourism. And so a lot of the victims were here from out of state, here to have fun. They came from as far away as Alaska, a few from Canada. And the majority were actually from California, maybe not surprisingly 'cause that is a neighboring state, of course, to Nevada.

INSKEEP: Sure.

MCCAMMON: Wide range of ages - 20 to 67. And the coroner says that, you know, all the families have been notified now.

INSKEEP: Well, what about funeral arrangements?

MCCAMMON: That's the next step for a lot of these families. And it's a big job for the coroner's office, for the local funeral homes. The coroner's office has set up an information center and hotline to help families with just the basic things like getting death certificates, moving their loved one's remains out of state for the many of them who did come from out of state. I spoke to Allen Kopp. He manages Davis Funeral Homes, which is working with a majority of these families. And they're here to say goodbye to their loved ones, he said.

ALLEN KOPP: Their primary goal right now is to reunite with their loved one. It's been a long couple of days for them - a lot of unanswered questions that we're able to answer for them at this point now. And so our focus is really on the family and getting them reunited with their loved one as soon as we can.

MCCAMMON: He says his team is working around the clock because of the number of victims. They have, you know, chaplains on site just trying to help them - help people through this.

INSKEEP: You realize this is a matter of logistics. There's a lot to do. It can be done really well; it could be done really badly. How do Las Vegas officials know what to do?

MCCAMMON: Well, in part, they're getting help from others who have been in this exact situation or the similar situation. There is a growing list of cities, Steve, that have dealt with these mass casualty events - Orlando, of course, San Bernardino. And so officials here in Las Vegas have been reaching out to those cities and others. We're told that some city officials have actually come here to Las Vegas, have spent time on the ground. John Steinbeck - he's the Clark County emergency manager - he has reached out to other cities. And what he said that he's learned from them is that this is going to be a long process. It will take months and years. And he said they're being realistic about that.

One of the things specifically that they're trying to figure out, in addition to just supporting people emotionally, is what to do with the money that's being raised for victims. A lot of people are trying to help out. They've raised more than $13 million so far, a number that's growing. And a big question is, where should that go and how?

INSKEEP: And as they do all that, they're reaching out to other cities, experience that we can wish many Americans did not have and yet many people do. That's NPR's Sarah McCammon in Las Vegas. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.

Sarah McCammon worked for Iowa Public Radio as Morning Edition Host from January 2010 until December 2013.
Sarah McCammon
Sarah McCammon is a National Correspondent covering the Mid-Atlantic and Southeast for NPR. Her work focuses on political, social and cultural divides in America, including abortion and reproductive rights, and the intersections of politics and religion. She's also a frequent guest host for NPR news magazines, podcasts and special coverage.

You make NHPR possible.

NHPR is nonprofit and independent. We rely on readers like you to support the local, national, and international coverage on this website. Your support makes this news available to everyone.

Give today. A monthly donation of $5 makes a real difference.