Las Vegas attack leaves costly wake for uninsured Canadian victims
THE CANADIAN PRESS
First posted: Thursday, October 05, 2017 02:52 PM EDT | Updated: Thursday, October 05, 2017 03:11 PM EDT
CALGARY — Hudson Mack says he doesn’t know the cost of his Victoria-based son’s intensive medical care after being shot Sunday at the Route 91 Harvest music festival in Las Vegas, only that he’s sure it’s already “catastrophic.”
Like many who make a short trip to the United States, his 21-year-old son Sheldon didn’t buy travel health insurance before crossing the border, and is now facing the potential of a staggering medical bill after the deadliest mass shooting in modern American history left him with gunshot wounds that required major surgery.
“It’s a lesson to Canadians to not cross the border without coverage,” said Mack.
Thanks to a patchwork of funds for victims of violent crime, however, Mack says at least they might not have to worry about the hospital bills, on top of the emotional toll the family is facing.
“Emotionally, it’s been hellish,” Mack said. “We didn’t know what we were going to find when we got down here. So this has been terrible for Sheldon, a horrible thing for him, and a very difficult thing for us.”
He said he’s been told Nevada has a fund for victims of violent crime who don’t have insurance, while the FBI’s mass casualty unit may help him get Sheldon home, which he’s hoping will happen as soon as this weekend.
The Canadian consulate is also helping, with the potential to tap into a government program that provides financial assistance for Canadians victimized abroad, though the program is capped at $10,000 and doesn’t cover lost wages.
Friends have also set up an online crowdfunding page at GoFundMe to help with Sheldon’s recovery, as have friends of several other Canadians injured in the attack.
Mack said he’s not sure he would have set up the account on his own, but that it’s good to see people want to help.
“There’ll be a need for that money down the road because there’s going to be counselling and ongoing emotional support that Sheldon and the others are going to need after this.”
Money is also being raised online for Ryan Sarrazin of Camrose, Alta., who, according to a GoFundMe page started by Tamara Johnson, was “seriously injured” after being shot at the concert.
“This fund is to assist medical and travel expenses for Ryan and his family,” she said on the funding page, which has already surpassed the original goal of $50,000 and is nearing the $75,000 mark.
In a statement posted on the page, Sarrazin’s family thanked those who have supported them, while asking for privacy going forward.
“The Sarrazin and Moore families would like to extend our sincere gratitude and deep appreciation for all the contributions to the GoFundMe page as well as all the prayers and well wishes we have received.”
Braden Matejka from Lake Country, B.C., has also started a GoFundMe campaign with a goal of $25,000, saying on the page that the money will help cover his required time off work and other recovery costs after being shot in the back of the head.
Victims may also find help from a general GoFundMe campaign started by Las Vegas’s county, which has already raised more than US$9 million, though it does not specify how much, if any, will go to Canadians.
Canadian travel health insurance policies generally have at least a million dollars of coverage, said Will McAleer, president of Canada’s Travel Health Insurance Association.
Once contacted, insurance companies will contact next of kin, co-ordinate with doctors and hospitals and manage care and flights home, so it’s important to have insurance, and your insurance card ready.
However, Canadians shouldn’t expect much support from their provincial coverage, where the daily coverage ranges from between $50 and $400 depending on the province, McAleer added.
“The amounts that you’d be paid for under a provincial medical plan are certainly insignificant, they’re almost non-existent.”
He said intensive medial care for an emergency such as a critical gunshot wound can cost upwards of $10,000 a hour as teams of specialists go into action.
“For significant emergencies, it’s not even a fraction of the coverage.”
Las Vegas attack leaves costly wake for uninsured Canadian victims | Canada | Ne
Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock may have scoped out other music festivals
Gunman also rented condo by Las Vegas' Life is Beautiful music festival previous weekend, sheriff says
Ken Ritter, Michael Balsamo and Sadie Gurman, THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
First posted: Thursday, October 05, 2017 12:14 PM EDT | Updated: Thursday, October 05, 2017 09:05 PM EDT
LAS VEGAS — Investigators are looking into whether gunman Stephen Paddock scoped out bigger music festivals in Las Vegas and Chicago — and perhaps Boston’s Fenway Park — before setting up his perch in a casino hotel and raining deadly fire on country music fans.
Paddock booked rooms overlooking the Lollapalooza festival in Chicago in August and the Life Is Beautiful show near the Vegas Strip in late September, according to authorities reconstructing his movements before he undertook the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
It was not clear if he contemplated massacres at those sites.
PHOTOS: A list of Stephen Paddock's victims
Investigators looking into Paddock also came across mention of Fenway Park, Boston police Lt. Detective Mike McCarthy said, though he provided no further details.
The details came to light as investigators struggled to figure out why the high-stakes gambler opened fire on a crowd of 22,000 Sunday night from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel casino in Las Vegas. He killed 58 people and injured nearly 500 before taking his own life.
A federal official said authorities are looking into the possibility Paddock planned additional attacks, including a car bombing. The official wasn’t authorized to discuss the matter publicly and spoke to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity.
Authorities previously disclosed Paddock had 1,600 rounds of ammunition in his car, along with fertilizer that can be used to make explosives and 50 pounds of Tannerite, a substance used in explosive rifle targets.
Paddock had an arsenal of 23 weapons in his hotel room. A dozen of them included “bump stocks,” attachments that can effectively convert semi-automatic rifles into fully automated weapons.
In a rare concession on gun control, the National Rifle Association announced its support Thursday for regulating the devices.
Paddock’s girlfriend, Marilou Danley, told FBI agents Wednesday she had not noticed any changes in his mental state or indications he could become violent, the federal official said.
Paddock sent Danley on a trip to her native Philippines before the attack, and she was unaware of his plans and devastated when she learned of the carnage while overseas, she said in a statement.
Investigators combing through his background for clues remain stumped as to his motive.
The profile developed so far is of a “disturbed and dangerous” man who acquired an arsenal over decades, Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said. But investigators have been frustrated to find that he lived a “secret life,” Lombardo said, “much of which will never be fully understood.”
A former executive casino host at the Atlantis Casino Resort and Spa in Reno said Paddock had a “god complex” and expected quick service without regard to how busy the staff was at the time.
“He liked everybody to think that he was the guy,” John Weinreich said. “He didn’t boast about anything he had or anything. It was just his demeanour. It was like, ’I’m here. Don’t cross me. Don’t look at me too long.’ ”
The weekend before the massacre, he rented a room through Airbnb at the 21-story Ogden condominiums in downtown Las Vegas and stayed there during a music festival below that included Chance the Rapper, Muse, Lorde and Blink-182.
“Reasons that ran through Paddock’s mind is unknown, but it was directly at the same time as Life Is Beautiful,” the sheriff said.
Police were reviewing video shot at the high-rise to check Paddock’s movements. His renting the condo was curious because, as a high-roller, he could have easily gotten a free room at one of the casino hotels on the Vegas Strip.
In early August, Paddock booked a room at Chicago’s 21-story Blackstone Hotel that overlooked the park where the Lollapalooza alternative music festival was being held, though there’s no evidence he actually stayed there, a law enforcement official said Thursday.
The official was not authorized to discuss the case publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity after being briefed on the investigation.
The hotel confirmed a Stephen Paddock made a reservation but said he never checked in.
Lollapalooza draws hundreds of thousands of music fans every year to Grant Park.
Although Paddock killed himself as a SWAT team closed in, the sheriff said it appeared he had planned to survive and had an escape plan. Lombardo would not elaborate on the plan.
The coroner’s office in Las Vegas would not release details of its autopsy on Paddock. Some behavioural experts have wondered whether he suffered from some kind of brain abnormality or had a terminal illness that prompted him to lash out.
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Melley reported from Los Angeles. Associated Press writers Don Babwin and Michael Tarm in Chicago; Alanna Durkin Richer in Boston; Jonathan J. Cooper in Reno; Ken Ritter in Las Vegas; and Sadie Gurman and Erica Werner in Washington contributed to this report.
Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock may have scoped out other music festivals | Las Ve
