Casinos In Las Vegas To Rethink Security After US’s Deadliest Shooting
When Stephen Paddock checked into the Mandalay Bay Resort on September 28, no one suspected that he would be behind the deadliest shooting to have occurred on U.S soil. The 64 year old was a resident of Mesquite, Nevada who travelled 90 miles to the Vegas strip and booked himself a room on the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay.
Paddock managed to get sixteen rifles and one handgun into his hotel room without being detected and used it to open fire on a crowd of over 30,000 people at around 10 pm on October 1. The crowd had gathered in front of the Mandalay Bay to be a part of a three day country music festival that saw a number of stars including Eric Church and Jason Aldean perform. Paddock kept shooting into the crowd till his magazine was empty, then picked up another file and repeated the process.
Current reports show that 59 people were reported dead and more than 500 people have been injured and some of them are in a serious condition. The LVMPD stormed Paddock’s room and found him dead through a self-inflicted gunshot. The police have not been able to find a motive for the mass shooting and have ruled out any links to international terrorist groups.
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Mandalay Bay has declined to comment on how Paddock managed to get an arsenal of weapons into his hotel room and bypass security, stating that they could not release any information as it was part of an on-going investigation. Casinos in Las Vegas have been on cautioned and told to remain on high alert by the authorities on multiple occasions during the last couple of years and are supposed to have put in place world class security measures to prevent such incidents from occurring.
While it is too early to comment what went wrong at the MGM owned Mandalay Bay and Las Vegas casinos know that they have to immediately step up their security measures and provide their patrons with better protection. Boyd Gaming Corp was one of the operators who confirmed that they will have to conduct a review into their security measures after seeing what happened at Mandalay Bay.
Casino operators initially want to focus on training their staff to be able to spot suspicious behaviour and report the same immediately to a central casino team. Only time will tell as to how successful this security protocol will turn out to be. Casinos are currently reluctant to install metal detectors as they fell it will harass their guests and limit their overall experience at the facility.
Doug RamirezAuthor
Doug is our American guru, he will be keeping us informed with latest tournament news and goings on in the USA
