Dorene Johnston Anderson, a 49-year-old White/Caucasian female, was a stay-at-home wife and mother from Anchorage, Alaska. She traveled to Las Vegas, Nevada, with her husband, John, and their two daughters, Stefanie and Jessika, to attend the Route 91 Harvest country music festival. Known for her selfless and giving nature, Dorene was an active volunteer in her community, dedicating her time to the Girl Scouts and serving as treasurer for the Alaska Aces hockey team's fan club.
On the
night of October 1, 2017, the lives of the Anderson family and countless others were irrevocably changed. While enjoying the music festival, a gunman, later identified as 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, opened fire on the crowd from his suite on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay Hotel. In the ensuing chaos, Dorene was fatally wounded, becoming one of the 58 victims who lost their lives in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
The investigation that followed revealed the shooter acted alone. Law enforcement found that Paddock had meticulously planned the attack, amassing a large arsenal of weapons in his hotel room. Before he could be apprehended, Paddock took his own life with a self-inflicted gunshot wound. Despite extensive investigations by the FBI and local authorities, no clear motive for the horrific act was ever determined, and no other suspects were identified or arrested in connection with the shooting.
