Timeline: When mass murder and mayhem turn entertainment into tragedy

Las Vegas’ Route 91 Harvest country music festival was tragically cut short Sunday night when a gunman opened fire on the crowd, killing 59 and wounding more than 500 others. The attack took place during the headlining set by Jason Aldean, who later called the events “beyond horrific.”

The incident was only the most recent in a long line of attacks and mass murders perpetrated at live events and theaters, from the disorder and death at a Northern California rock festival to the recent bombing of a Manchester pop concert.

Dec. 6, 1969

Altamont Speedway chaos

A hastily organized outdoor concert headlined by the Rolling Stones and taking place 50 miles east of San Francisco descended into chaos amid overdoses, accidents and violence. The melee reached a peak when a concert attendee named Meredith Hunter drew a gun and was stabbed to death near the stage by members of the Hells Angels, who were hired as the event’s security. The murder was captured on film in the 1970 documentary “Gimme Shelter.” Several other fatal incidents were reported, with one concertgoer drowning in a canal and two more killed after being run over by a car.

Oct. 23, 2002

Moscow theater hostage crisis

During a sold-out performance of the musical “Nord-Ost,” the Dubrovka Theater was seized by more than 40 armed Chechen separatists, led by Movsar Barayev, who were demanding Russia’s withdrawal from Chechnya. The attackers took 850 hostages and killed two of them after two days. On the fourth day of the standoff, Russian special forces pumped an unidentified chemical gas into the theater’s ventilation system, which ended up killing all of the attackers but also killed 130 of the hostages.

Dec. 8, 2004

Alrosa Villa nightclub shooting

Grammy-nominated guitarist and former Pantera member "Dimebag" Darrell Abbott was one of five people killed when an ex-Marine named Nathan Gale jumped onstage and began firing during a performance by Abbot’s band, Damageplan, at a Columbus, Ohio, nightclub. Police shot and killed Gale at the scene.

July 20, 2012

‘The Dark Knight Rises’ shooting

During a midnight showing of the third film in Christopher Nolan’s Batman trilogy at a theater in Aurora, Colo., a heavily armed shooter named James Holmes murdered 12 theatergoers and wounded 70 more. Holmes was captured alive and is serving 12 consecutive life sentences plus 3,318 years without the possibility of parole. At the trial, his defense team unsuccessfully argued that he was "floridly psychotic."

July 24, 2015

‘Trainwreck’ shooting

Partway through a showing of the Amy Schumer comedy “Trainwreck” in a Lafayette, La., movie theater, John Russell Houser stood up and opened fire on the crowd with a semiautomatic handgun, killing two and injuring nine. After an aborted escape attempt, Houser returned to the theater and committed suicide.

Nov. 13, 2015

November 2015 Paris attacks

At least 130 people were killed and hundreds injured in a series of shootings and explosions in Paris on Nov. 13, 2015. The Bataclan Theatre, where California band Eagles of Death Metal were performing, served as the attack’s epicenter. Two of the gunmen committed suicide on the scene, while a third was later killed by police.

June 10, 2016

Christina Grimmie murder

Christina Grimmie, a former contestant on NBC’s “The Voice,” was shot and killed during a post-concert meet-and-greet with fans in Orlando, Fla. Grimmie was shot around 10:30 p.m. and pronounced dead after midnight. The gunman, identified as Kevin James Loibl, killed himself at the scene.

June 12, 2016

Pulse nightclub shooting

A heavily armed gunman who had reportedly pledged allegiance to Islamic State stormed into the packed gay nightclub Pulse in Orlando, Fla., and began rapidly firing into the crowd, killing 49 people and wounding 53. The attacker, Omar Mateen, was killed by police.

May 22, 2017

Manchester Arena bombing

23 people were killed and more than 59 others were injured in an explosion at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, that police said was caused by Salman Abedi, a suicide bomber carrying an improvised explosive device.

Oct. 1, 2017

Route 91 Harvest sniper attack

59 people were killed and more than 500 others injured after a gunman opened fire at a country music festival opposite the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip, authorities said. The suspect, 64-year-old Stephen Paddock, a resident of Mesquite, Nev., was killed in his hotel room.