Susan Marie Smith, a 53-year-old White female from Simi Valley, California, was in Las Vegas on October 1, 2017, enjoying the Route 91 Harvest country music festival. An office manager for the Simi Valley School District for 16 years, she was known as a kind and patient person who was the hub of her elementary school. She was a fan of country music and had gone to the festival with two friends.
That night, the festive atmosphere was shattered when a gunman, Stephen Paddock, opened fire
on the crowd from the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay hotel. In the ensuing chaos, Smith was struck and killed, one of the 58 victims who lost their lives in the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history. Hundreds more were injured in the attack.
The suspect, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, was found dead in his hotel room from a self-inflicted gunshot wound when police breached the door. Investigators found an arsenal of weapons in his room and determined he had acted alone. A motive for the meticulously planned attack has never been determined. Paddock had no known connections to terrorist groups, and authorities have not been able to establish a clear reason for his actions. His death at the scene meant there would be no arrest or trial to bring him to justice.
