Unreleased body worn camera footage shows Hendrex on his knees praying as gunfire continues, sources say
LAS VEGAS — The Baltimore Post-Examiner has learned from law enforcement sources that body worn camera footage still in the possession of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department allegedly shows LVMPD Officer Cordell Hendrex on his knees praying on the 31st floor as gunman Stephen Paddock’s gunfire was raining down into the Route 91 Music Festival.
As reported in several stories by the Baltimore Post-Examiner, Hendrex by his own admission in his officer’s report, stated that he told Officer Elif Varsin and three armed Mandalay Bay security managers who were with him, to retreat away from the 31st-floor stairwell as the gunfire continued from the 32nd floor.
No attempt was made to get to Paddock to stop, distract or disrupt his firing. It wasn’t until the gunfire stopped several minutes later that they entered the stairwell and waited there for over 30 minutes until the arrival of other police officers.
Hendrex, a field training officer, stated that he was terrified, froze in the hallway for how long he couldn’t remember, hesitated and did not know what to do next as Paddock’s gunfire continued killing and wounding those at the concert venue.
Hendrex and Varsin were the two officers who were on the Mandalay Bay property before the shooting started handling a call from Mandalay Bay Security who had two females in custody.
It is odd that the LVMPD has not yet released the body-worn camera footage from Officer Varsin as Hendrex stated in his report that she turned her BWC on while inside the security office. Hendrex stated that he forgot to turn his an until he was inside the 31stfloor stairwell after the shooting had ceased.
Since Hendrex and Varsin were the first officers to respond up into the tower, why wasn’t their BWC footage released first?
What is the LVMPD trying to hide from the public and why is Sheriff Joe Lombardo who runs the LVMPD still remaining silent on the Hendrex incident?
One law enforcement source told the Baltimore Post-Examiner on Thursday that at this point, the LVMPD will not release any more video that may portray them in a bad light, that they will bury the stuff that is going to incur further liability against the department.
Hendrex cowers while other officers’ brave gunfire to enter the Mandalay Bay
Newly released video footage shows two LVMPD officers entering the Mandalay Bay Hotel as the gunfire is raging on. [The BWC time/date stamp is not correct]. As those officers enter the Mandalay Bay they are calling out for Security. A Mandalay Bay employee who is working behind a counter tells the officers that she has been trying to reach Security, but they are not answering the telephone.
You can hear the frustration as one officer says that he needs to get on the floor where the guy is shooting from and then says, “I need to get into that room.”
They finally make contact with a Mandalay Bay security officer on another level and they reach the 32ndfloor.
By this time the gunfire had stopped, and they can be seen talking to Security Officer Jesus Campos and Engineering Supervisor, Shannon Alsbury.
As I have reported in previous stories Hendrex is a disgrace to his uniform, his badge and the department.
While Hendrex was cowering on the 31stfloor and failed to act to save lives, other police officers did not hesitate, they did not freeze, were not terrified and unlike Hendrex, they knew exactly what they had to do next as they made their way to the Mandalay Bay during the gunfire. They had to get to the room to stop Paddock.
By the time they arrived on the 32nd floor the gunfire had stopped. Remember 58 people died and over 400 others were wounded during Paddock’s gunfire.
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.