Security mistakes cost dozens of lives on October 1, 2017
LAS VEGAS — Today marks the one year anniversary of the worst mass shooting in American history that occurred on October 1, 2017, in Las Vegas, Nevada.
On that horrible night, lone gunman Stephen Paddock, perched from his snipers’ nest inside his 32nd floor suite at the MGM Resorts International owned Mandalay Bay Hotel, fired down on thousands of people who were attending the Route 91 Harvest Music Festival on the Las Vegas Strip.
When the massacre was over 58 were dead, over 400 suffered gunshot wounds and hundreds of others suffered various other injuries.
I am not going to go into detail here, for that you can refer to the over 100 articles that I have written on the October 1 tragedy for Baltimore Post-Examiner.
SECURITY
Without question the lack of security screening measures at the Mandalay Bay Hotel that allowed Paddock to bring 23 firearms, thousands of rounds of ammunition and 50 pounds of explosive materials onto the hotel property. Paddock exploited the security weaknesses to his advantage.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and MGM Resorts International Corporate Security knew that a sniper attack from a hotel high-rise posed a threat. No snipers were deployed to protect the concert venue from such an attack.
Mandalay Bay Security Officer Jesus Campos’ negligence when he didn’t call in that he couldn’t get into the 32nd floor fire stairwell door and then failed to call in and investigate what he said were drilling sounds coming from Paddock’s suite.
Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Officers Cordell Hendrex and Eliff Varsin and the three armed Mandalay Bay security managers who retreated on the 31st floor and failed to take any action to get to Paddock as his gunfire was hailing down one floor above them and the failure of the three armed Mandalay security personnel who were on the 32nd floor as Paddock’s gunfire was emanating from his suite and took no action to distract and/or stop Paddock.
Jason Aldean was told to run off stage because there were shots fired, however concert attendees who thought they were first hearing fireworks, were not warned. The sound reinforcement system was not used to alert the attendees that it was gunfire. This came up time and again in the witness statements that were released by court order and the lack of proper egress at the concert venue which caused people to be trapped while the gunfire was hailing down.
Things we still don’t know
Paddock’s motive.
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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 1991 and 1992 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