DOJ awards $8.3M to support California victims of Las Vegas shooting

The Justice Department (DOJ) on Thursday announced an $8.3 million grant to the California Victim Compensation Board to support victims of the 2017 mass shooting in Las Vegas.

Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein announced the grant at the Los Angeles Crimefighters Leadership Conference, where he also touted DOJ efforts to reduce violent crime across the country. The money will come from the Office for Victims of Crime.

“The Department of Justice is a law enforcement agency, but we don’t just prosecute criminals — we also help their victims,” Rosenstein said in prepared remarks.

{mosads}He noted that hundreds of California residents were injured in the mass shooting on Oct. 1, 2017, when a gunman opened fire on a crowd that had gathered for a music festival on the Las Vegas strip.

More than half of the 58 people killed were Californians, Rosenstein said.

“Today’s funding will help meet the critical long-term needs of victims, compensating them for financial losses and medical expenses and providing services to victims and first responders,” Rosenstein said.

The DOJ announced in November that it would distribute $16.7 million in funds to victims of the Las Vegas shooting. The department had previously provided $3 million to cover expenses for state and local law enforcement that responded to the shooting.

The FBI and local police each closed separate investigations into the 2017 shooting without concluding the motive of gunman Stephen Paddock, who fatally shot himself when police approached during the massacre.