The Mandalay Bay hotel is questioning police accounts of the Las Vegas shooting timeline after investigators revised it to place a security guard’s injury before—and not after—the gunman started firing on the crowd below.
The updated timeline raised the possibility of a breakdown or delay in communication between the hotel and police. Even though the security guard was shot in the leg six minutes before the shooting spree began and alerted hotel security, according to the timeline given by Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo on Tuesday, police did not find out the guard had been shot until they arrived at the scene.
The company that owns the Mandalay Bay hotel casino, MGM Resorts International, voiced doubts about the timeline, according to the Associated Press. “We believe what is currently being expressed may not be accurate,” a spokeswoman said. The police did not respond to the AP about the hotel’s comments.
Undersheriff Kevin McMahill said the security guard, Jesus Campos, was responding to an unrelated door alarm when he heard a sound that turned out to be the shooter drilling a hole on the wall for a still unclear purpose.* The guard found Stephen Paddock, the shooter, had bolted a metal bar to block an emergency exit door near his room. Per the AP:
As the guard notified maintenance and security of the stairwell issue, several single shots were fired into the hallway before he shot again, unloading more than 200 rounds at the guard and a maintenance man, McMahill said. Campos, the security guard, was struck in the leg and injured, police said.
Campos then alerted hotel security he had been shot, police said. It is still unclear when he called for help and uncertain whether police received a call from the guard or the hotel. Las Vegas police have maintained the officers arrived as quickly as they could. A former FBI assistant director, Ron Hosko, told the AP that even if police received an alert from the hotel six minutes before the shooting began, they would still not have had enough time to stop it.
Correction, Oct. 11, 2017, at 12:40 p.m.: This article originally incorrectly named the security guard Jesus Campos as Jose Campos.
