Commentary: Las Vegas Police Officer Cordell Hendrex’s decision cost lives

LAS VEGAS — The Baltimore Post-Examiner was the first to report that Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Officer Cordell Hendrex failed to act to confront gunman Stephen Paddock as he was firing down on helpless people at the Route 91 Music Festival on the night of October 1, 2017.

I will give my thoughts and my opinion on what I think of LVMPD Officer Cordell Hendrex and I do this not as an investigative journalist but as a former police officer.

I am disgusted by what I read in Hendrex’s officer’s report.  I take no pleasure in calling a police officer a coward, but like the saying goes, if the shoe fits, wear it.

Hendrex knew by his own admission that there was an active shooter incident ongoing at the concert venue.  He also stated in his report that he heard that police officers were taking fire and were pinned down.  When he arrived on the 31^stfloor of the Mandalay Bay with his day-2 trainee and three armed Mandalay Bay security managers and heard Paddock’s gunfire emanating from the 32^ndfloor, he told his group to retreat down the hall.

He wrote that he hesitated, froze in the hallway for how long he couldn’t say and was terrified with fear.  Then he broadcasted on his radio that he was on the 31^stfloor and that the gunfire was coming from the floor above him.  He wrote that he once again hesitated as the gunfire continued and that he did not know what to do next.

Hendrex is a disgrace to the badge, period.

On the worst night in the history of Las Vegas, when a police officer was needed most to display some courage and intestinal fortitude, Hendrex failed the public.

There is no doubt that Hendrex heard the gunshots and failed to act to protect lives.  He is a coward.  No different than the Broward County Sheriff’s Office deputy who heard the gunshots in the school and failed to act to stop the gunman.  That deputy was branded a coward and rightfully so.

The story of Hendrex has not been told by any of the local Las Vegas media.

Another disgrace, but that’s not my problem.

My problem is that Hendrex is still an active duty police officer and field training officer, no less.  Eight months since the worst mass shooting in modern American history and this coward cop is still on the job.

I particularly don’t give a rat’s ass what his reason was for not engaging the shooter.

He didn’t even try to engage Paddock.

All I know is that while he was retreating in safety on the 31^stfloor, people were being slaughtered across the street and he did nothing to stop, distract or disrupt Paddock’s firing.

While Hendrex was on the 31^st floor in total safety from any gunfire, his fellow officers were risking their lives running through the gunfire to get into the Mandalay Bay to confront the gunman.

Enough on Hendrex; A coward cop who did not act to save lives.

The heroism of many other LVMPD police officers that night outshined the cowardice of one of their own.

Those police officers who without regard for their own safety, ran towards the Mandalay Bay as the gunfire was reigning down on them because they wanted to get inside to stop and eliminate the threat.

Officer R. Camacho wrote, “We began to run on foot from Reno/Giles and made our way to the Mandalay Bay as the shots were still being fired.”

Officer M. Featherstone, “As we were advancing forward we could see about halfway up on the far north side of Mandalay Bay a large amount of smoke coming from a window along with the sound of more shots being fired.”

Officer M. Johnson, “We immediately noted and knew it was coming from Mandalay Bay and not the Fairgrounds.  We knew that in order to protect and save lives we had to get to the shooter.”

Officer C. Del Villar wrote, “While attempting to move across the Blvd. towards Mandalay Bay another volley of shots began.”

There’s report after report of officer’s running through the gunfire to get into the Mandalay Bay.

You see, that’s what you do when you take the oath and pin that badge on your chest.  You run towards the danger, you don’t retreat when lives are at stake.  You know that the time may come when you must jeopardize your own life to save others. That’s why we become cops, we know the risk and we accept it.

I wonder how many lives could have been saved during those minutes that Hendrex was cowering in safety and failed to confront the threat while Paddock was cutting people down.

I don’t even want to think about it, it makes me sick.

So far, I have read over 1500 witness statements and officer’s reports that were released to the media.  I have to say it takes its toll on you emotionally when you read what people went through and what they witnessed that tragic night. It was nothing short of sheer terror and horror.

But through all that terror and horror, there were men and women with a star on their chest, those police officers from the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department who did what they swore an oath to do; They faced the danger and stood tall that night. They did not cower.

The Hendrex story is not going to go away, most likely it will only get worse.

No matter what happens, do not make the mistake of blaming an entire police department for the cowardly act of just one police officer.

Civilians died, and others were wounded that night. Police officers were also wounded that night and the LVMPD lost one of their own.

The lives of 22,000 concert attendees changed forever on the night of October 1, 2017.  58 died, over 400 were hit by Paddock’s gunfire and hundreds of others suffered other injuries.  Those that survived along with the families of those who were killed will live forever with their physical and or emotional scars.

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Doug Poppa

Doug authored over 135 articles on the October 1, 2017 Las Vegas Massacre, more than any other single journalist in the country. He investigates stories on corruption, law enforcement and crime. Doug is a US Army Military Police Veteran, former police officer, deputy sheriff and criminal investigator. Doug spent 20 years in the hotel/casino industry as an investigator and then as Director of Security and Surveillance. He also spent a short time with the US Dept. of Homeland Security, Transportation Security Administration. In 1986 Doug was awarded Criminal Investigator of the Year by the Loudoun County Sheriff’s Office in Virginia for his undercover work in narcotics enforcement. In 1992 and 1993 Doug testified in court that a sheriff’s office official and the county prosecutor withheld exculpatory evidence during the 1988 trial of a man accused of the attempted murder of his wife. Doug’s testimony led to a judge’s decision to order the release of the man from prison in 1992 and awarded him a new trial, in which he was later acquitted. As a result of Doug breaking the police “blue wall of silence,” he was fired by the county sheriff. His story was featured on Inside Edition, Current Affair and CBS News’ “Street Stories with Ed Bradley”. In 1992 after losing his job, at the request of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Doug infiltrated a group of men who were plotting the kidnapping of a Dupont fortune heir and his wife. Doug has been a guest on national television and radio programs speaking on the stories he now writes as an investigative journalist. Catch Doug’s Podcast: @dougpoppa1