As a survivor of the largest mass shooting in US history, and as a nationally regarded trial attorney representing dozens of victims of the Vegas Shooting, my review of the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department 81 page preliminary investigative report, reveals at least FIVE colossal opportunities to have preempted this mass shooting.
First, at page 12 of the report, Mandalay Bay security guard Campos arrives at the 32nd floor at approximately 9:47pm (19 minutes before the shooting begins at 10:06pm). The report says that Campos arrived at the 30th floor at 9:46 and then walked immediately in the stairwell to the 32nd floor. I am allowing a minute to walk two flights of stairs which puts Campos at the 32nd floor at 9:47pm. This is crucial since he immediately notices that the stairwell door is “Barricaded.” This is a clear safety and fire hazard to guests on the 32nd floor. Make no mistake about it that Campos should have “immediately” reported the stairwell door being barricaded and locked shut. Given the gravity of patrons being locked out of an escape route during a fire or other emergency such as electrical outage, Campos errored by not immediately notifying the Las Vegas PD fire and Police departments at 9:47pm. This was not a minor predicament. Clearly, a red flag should have gone off in Campos’s head that someone has intentionally barricaded a crucial stairwell. Had he done so, fire department and police would have been on the 32nd floor within minutes of 9:47pm giving them 10-15 minutes (before the shooting commences) to observe and intervene to either stop Paddock from carrying out the shooting or at minimum distracting him! If the police and/or fire department had been notified immediately, they would have heard the drilling going on in Paddock’s room prompting them to knock on the door and inquire. The inaction of Campos reveals inadequate training by MGM/Mandalay Bay of security.
Second, at 8:40pm, a HotSoS alarm was generated for room 32-129. This is only 5 rooms away from one of Paddock’s rooms. This type of alarm is triggered when a guest door is open for a prolonged period of time. It is completely unacceptable for Las Vegas PD and Mandalay Bay to minimize an alarm going off in a room and Mandalay Bay causally ignoring it for over an hour. A lot can be happening including an assault or medical emergency. Astoundingly, the Mandalay Bay security fails to even assign this alarm call on the 32nd floor until 9:18pm (38 minutes after the alarm is triggered). More troubling is that Campos is assigned 5 other HotSoS alarm breaches at 9:18! He just decides to handle the one on the 32nd floor last? This again signals inadequate training of Mandalay Bay employees and also understaffing of employees. Incredibly, with 22,000 people across the street and the hotel is sold out, why weren’t there more security guards on duty to handle HotSoS alarm calls? Shouldn’t there have been a heightened sense of urgency for these calls? Speaking of which, why does the report omit the number of Mandalay Bay security guards assigned to the casino on the day and night of the shooting not to mention the other two days of the Route 91 concert? Campos doesn’t even end of getting to the 32nd floor HotSoS alarm call at room 32-129 until moments before the shooting! Had a security guard been assigned to the 32nd floor alarm call within a “reasonable time” then a strong likelihood exists that the security guard may have noticed or heard irregular things such as drilling and the food cart (with obvious wiring) and the barricaded stairwell door. Didn’t see any reference in the report to the outcome of the other 5 HotSoS calls? Further compounding matters is how Mandalay Bay treats HotSoS alarm calls. Once assigned, they immediately “close” the ticket. This makes no sense and is reckless and careless since what if something bad has happened? This does nothing more than destroy the paper trail to Mandalay Bay! If someone commits suicide in a room a HotSoS alarm call would NOT record this since the “ticket” is already closed! So at 9:18pm Mandalay Bay had both a HotSoS and a barricaded stairwell door on the 32nd floor and did absolutely nothing to escalate getting security to the 32nd floor.
Third, the fact that Campos is unarmed is profound since he has NO ability to “intervene.” He is useless to stopping or distracting an active threat. It is almost like having no security at all if he/she is unarmed. This proves that MGM/Mandalay Bay did not train and retain in-house security to intervene and prevent a mass attack despite knowing in May of 2017 of a credible ISIS lone wolf attack on the Vegas strip! Minimally, Campos could have distracted Paddock if Campos was armed.
Fourth, based on this report, Paddock transported a total of 26 suitcases/pieces of luggage from Sept 25-Oct 1, utilizing the service elevator. Any Mandalay Bay employee properly trained and having a set of ears and eyes would have become suspicious of this. I also find it hard to believe that housekeeping does not see anything suspicious while in the rooms doing “limited” cleaning. How can one hide 26 pieces of luggage? Also, nothing in this report about training of housekeeping? Given the ISIS threat in May, 2017 surely Sheriff Lombardo conducted mass assault training and had to have met with each Vegas strip casino to implement terror prevention policies. One would think housekeeping had been trained to look for “red flags.” Also, no indication in the report about why Mandalay Bay did not have an alarm system activated when Paddock drilled holes in the windows. They have heat detection sensors and HotSoS activators but no alarm when windows are broken or breached?
Last, it is patently clear from this report that Mandalay Bay employees erroneously informed Las Vegas PD of the wrong floor of the shooting. Campos says he called central dispatch and said shots fired on 32. Makes no sense that the Las Vegas Pd show up 20 minutes “after” the shooting is over and they are reporting to dispatch of being on the 31st floor! Every second counted and I am sure that Audio dispatch will validate that Mandalay Bay conveyed the wrong floor number to Las Vegas Pd!
This leads to a discussion of what information is missing in this report. Why didn’t the report reference the audio dispatch from Campos to central security and from central Mandalay Bay dispatch to Las Vegas PD? This would explain why Police are on the wrong floor and arrive well after the shooting is over.
I am suspicious of Campos’s version of If and how he was shot. He says a BB gun or pellet gun hit him! Really? That is comical given the high powered ammunition used by Paddock. The report says he was shot in the left calf which means Paddock would have shot Campos only while he was running down the hallway to be shot in the back of the calf. This does not square up with the constant machine gun like a barrage of bullets. There was not a lot of time in between shots. This does not allow Paddock enough time to open his door, move the food cart (without knocking it over) and then shoot down the hallway then head back into the room and continue shooting. Did the Las Vegas PD review medical records of Campos to confirm his bullet wound to the calf? Didn’t see any reference to this. Did Las Vegas PD retrieve the bullet from the calf of Campos to match it with Paddock’s ammunition? No mention of that either. Where are pictures of the hallway in the report to show that the walls of the hallway were riddled with bullet holes and shell casings? Didn’t see those either.
Other unanswered questions are who did the Las Vegas PD interview? No names of any witnesses to ensure that the media can’t go out and confirm the accuracy. For example, why is there no mention of interviews with all guests on the 32nd floor. Wouldn’t that be absolutely crucial. What about the small child found in a room alone? Later they reunite the child with a nanny? What did the nanny have to say about what went down. The fact that a child is left alone in a room alone proves my point about the importance of responding ASAP to HotSoS alarm calls. I confirmed that a guest on the 32nd floor earlier on Oct 1 reported (to Mandalay Bay security) a “suspicious” person near the ice machine. The person reported as suspicious was NOT Paddock. I don’t see a discussion of this in the report. Did Mandalay Bay investigate this person on Oct 1? So on Oct 1 leading up to the shooting, Mandalay Bay has a report of a suspicious person near the ice machine on the 32nd floor, has a report of a HotSoS alarm activated on the 32nd floor (32-129) and they have knowledge of a “barricaded” stairwell door on the 32nd floor before the shooting begins and they did Nothing. Talk about “red flags.”
The report indicates that DNA testing was done of “evidence.” Yet, Las Vegas PD makes no mention of what evidence was tested for DNA! Why weren’t we told what evidence was tested for DNA? Was the glock next to Paddock’s head tested for DNA. Very odd that nothing in the report of Campos or the engineer or any guests on the 32nd-floor hearing separate gunshots from a handgun after hearing the sound of assault weapons! If Paddock shot himself with a handgun why didn’t anybody reference hearing those shots?
Was DNA testing done on ALL rooms on the 32nd floor? If so what did Las Vegas PD find and if not, why not? That entire floor should have been a huge crime scene. Did they do DNA testing of the hallway door handle that was jammed to barricade the stairwell? If not, why not? If Paddock acted alone, his fingerprints would be on the knob of the stairwell door.
Where is the autopsy report of Paddock? Why hasn’t that been shared with the world? What is his exact cause of death and estimated time of death? Was any of the blood in his mouth, behind his head and on the handgun dried up when the Police breached the door? Where are pictures of Paddock?
Last, why no details about Paddock staying with Mary Lou Danley earlier in September at the Mandalay Bay? Isn’t that really important. Did the FBI and Las Vegas PD go back and look at surveillance footage of Paddock and Danley during their Mandalay Bay visit earlier in September? Might that have shed some light on Mandalay Bay missing more red flags? Why no mention of whether Paddock received a “comp” from the Mandalay Bay for all the nights he stayed during the nights leading up to the Oct 1 Shooting? That would be really valuable to show how the MGM/Mandalay Bay facilitated Paddock’s unusual and odd behavior. This report also categorically establishes ample evidence to indict Mary Lou Danley, much more evidence that existed for the indictment and prosecution of Omar Mateen’s wife in the Orlando nightclub shooting.