Iowans On Stage And In Crowd When Shooting Broke Out In Las Vegas Sunday

DES MOINES, IA. -- A Des Moines native who performs in country music entertainer Jason Aldean's band was on stage Sunday night when the nation's worst mass shooting in history unfolded. Kurt Allison escaped unharmed, along with the rest of the performers and Aldean's crew.

Allison is a 1986 Lincoln High School graduate and songwriter who currently lives in Nashville. He joined Aldean in 1999 and has performed worldwide with the singer, The Des Moines Register reported.

His sister, Kristi Gale of Clive, told the Register she talked to her brother after the shooting. She said band members moved quickly to take cover behind equipment when they realized the sounds they heard were gunfire.

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"I can only imagine that they are still in shock and trying to make sense of a senseless act," she told the Register.

Another Iowan who was at the concert said he initially attributed the rapid-fire sounds to problems with the sound system at the concert.

"You learn quickly it's actual gunfire," Justin Zimmerman, 31, of Dexter, told the Register. "I just stood there. I didn't know what to do. Then I got on the ground."

Zimmerman told the Register people first remained in place or dropped to the ground when the gunshots rang out, but "every time it stopped, people would get up and start running."

He said he was attending the concert with four friends but had been separated from them to get beer before the shooting started. Zimmerman said as he fled people scattered in several directions, some stayed on the ground and others jumped over fences and equipment to get away. He eventually took cover in another casino in the area.

"It was a crowd of running people, you couldn't see anything," he told the Register.

As of midday Monday the death toll stood at 59 in the massacre, with 527 additional people injured. The gunman, identified as Stephen Paddock of Mesquite, Nev., reportedly had 16 weapons in his hotel room and fired from two windows. He later killed himself before a SWAT unit used an explosive device to reach his room, authorities reported.

Paddock reportedly moved to Las Vegas two years ago and lived in Sun City, an upscale retirement community. He owned 27 residences in California, Nevada and Texas, NBC News reported, citing public records.

Police said Monday evening that a search of one of his homes about 90 miles north of Las Vegas led to the finding of 18 additional firearms, a range of explosives and several thousands of rounds of ammunition.

Authorities have not yet uncovered a motive for the shooting and police said they combed local, state and national databases but did not find that Paddock had any prior criminal history.

Photo: Drapes billow out of broken windows at the Mandalay Bay resort and casino Monday, Oct. 2, 2017, on the Las Vegas Strip following a deadly shooting at a music festival in Las Vegas. A gunman was found dead inside a hotel room. Photo by John Locher/Associated Press