Police bodycam footage has started to emerge from the Las Vegas shooting, revealing how officers at the country music festival frantically searched for the source of gunfire.

A three-minute clip released by authorities shows a police unit working to locate the shooter and direct festival-goers to safety, amid the crackle of automatic gunfire.

One officer at ground level is heard shouting, “We see muzzle flashes from the Mandalay Bay! I can see the room.” Just as the man urges people around him to “get down, get down,” bullets begin to fly again.

Another group of police is seen shouting at members of the public, some of whom are asking if the sounds are fireworks, that they should find cover and get to safety.

The officers themselves shelter behind a breeze block wall, above which the Mandalay Bay can be glimpsed in the distance.

The video reflects the chaos of the few minutes in which the massacre was carried out. At this stage, police and festival goers alike believed they might be confronting multiple gunmen. “They’re shooting right at us,” one officer can be heard saying.

Footage from another team captures an eight-second burst of fully automatic fire. An analysis of the audio played at half-speed suggests a rate of fire of as many as nine rounds per second.

The video will fuel the public debate around the availability of military-style assault weapons in the US.

Las Vegas shooting – in pictures Show all 15 1 /15 Las Vegas shooting – in pictures Las Vegas shooting – in pictures People scramble for shelter at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after gun fire was heard Getty Las Vegas shooting – in pictures People carry a person at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after shots were fired David Becker/Getty Las Vegas shooting – in pictures People run from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after gun fire was heard David Becker/Getty Las Vegas shooting – in pictures A handout photo released via Twitter by Eiki Hrafnsson (@EirikurH) showing concertgoers running away from the scene (C) after shots range out at the Route 91 Harvest festival on Las Vegas Boulevard EPA/Eiki Hrafnsson Las Vegas shooting – in pictures People lie on the ground at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after hearing gun fire Getty Las Vegas shooting – in pictures A man in a wheelchair is taken away from the Route 91 Harvest country music festival after hearing gun fire David Becker/Getty Las Vegas shooting – in pictures People stand on the street outside the Mandalay Bay hotel near the scene of the Route 91 Harvest festival on Las Vegas Boulevard EPA/Paul Buck Las Vegas shooting – in pictures FBI agents confer in front of the Tropicana hotel-casino after a mass shooting during a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip Reuters/Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus Las Vegas shooting – in pictures Las Vegas police run by a banner on the fence at the Route 91 Harvest country music festival grounds after shots were fired David Becker/Getty Las Vegas shooting – in pictures An injured person is tended to in the intersection of Tropicana Ave. and Las Vegas Boulevard after a mass shooting at a country music festival Ethan Miller/Getty Las Vegas shooting – in pictures Metro Police officers pass by the front of the Tropicana hotel-casino after a mass shooting at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip Reuters/Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus Las Vegas shooting – in pictures A woman sits on a curb at the scene of a shooting outside of a music festival along the Las Vegas Strip AP/John Locher Las Vegas shooting – in pictures A cowboy hat lays in the street after shots were fired near a country music festival in Las Vegas Getty Las Vegas shooting – in pictures Las Vegas Metro Police and medical workers stage in the intersection of Tropicana Avenue and Las Vegas Boulevard South after a mass shooting at a music festival on the Las Vegas Strip Reuters/Las Vegas Sun/Steve Marcus Las Vegas shooting – in pictures Sheriff Joe Lombardo (2-R) speaking during a press briefing in the aftermath of the active shooter incident on Las Vegas Boulevard EPA

But asked on Tuesday whether it was time to discuss gun control measures in the wake of the country’s worst mass shooting in modern times, President Donald Trump said: “Perhaps that will come. But that’s not for now.”

It is believed the Las Vegas killer obtained his weapons legally – he had nearly two dozen in the hotel room alone – and modified at least two with a so-called “bump stock”, an add-on that uses a rifle’s recoil to increase the rate of fire.

The modification turns a semi-automatic weapon, which requires a shooter to pull the trigger to fire each round, into one capable of firing continuous streams of bullets.