Old-timers will say "there was no violence back when the mob ran the town" but the reality is that this is 2012 and not the 1960s and life in America (including Las Vegas) has changed dramatically over the years.
This evening there was a shooting on the casino floor at the Excalibur Hotel that left one person dead and the other in critical condition.
From the Las Vegas Sun:
Metro Police officials are investigating a shooting that occurred Friday night at the Excalibur resort on the Las Vegas Strip.
Police received a call about 8:30 p.m. that multiple shots had been fired at the casino and that two people were down.
Officers arriving in the main lobby area found a man dead in what appeared to be a self-inflicted gun wound. A woman was found shot and in critical condition; she was taken to a local hospital.
Witnesses on the casino floor said they noticed many distraught people suddenly running for the exits after apparent gunshots. Amid the panic, many poker players quickly left the tables and their personal effects. Police and casino security had taped off an area and closed the casino temporarily.
Photo courtesy of Destination360 Excalibur Las Vegas
The critically injured victim of last night's shooting at the Excalibur has died.
From the Las Vegas Sun:
A man and woman were killed in a possible murder-suicide shooting Friday night near the Excalibur registration desk.
Police received a call about 8:30 p.m. that multiple shots had been fired at the casino and that two people were down.
Officers arriving in the main lobby area found a man dead in what appeared to be a self-inflicted gunshot wound. A woman was found shot and taken to University Medical Center in critical condition, where she was pronounced dead.
The woman, Jessica Kenny, 30, worked at the Excalibur concierge desk as a vendor for travel website VEGAS.com, which is owned by the Greenspun family, publishers of the Las Vegas Sun. Metro Police Homicide Lt. Ray Steiber said she appeared to be the intended target of the shooter, and no one else was injured.
"We were saddened to learn that a member of the VEGAS.com family was the victim of tonight's tragic and senseless killing at the Excalibur," said VEGAS.com Chief Operating Officer Bryan Allison. "Our thoughts and prayers are with her family and friends."
Witnesses on the casino floor said they noticed many distraught people suddenly running for the exits after apparent gunshots. Amid the panic, many poker players were seen abruptly leaving their tables and their personal effects. Police and casino security had taped off an area near the registration desk where the man’s body lay.
Las Vegas resident Zakeyaha Amacker was gambling at the casino near Dick’s Last Resort when she heard the shots, then chaos.
“People just began running,” Amacker said. “It all happened so quickly.”
Trisha Banks, 14, and her sister Danielle Banks, 17, were at the hotel for a holiday cheerleading party with 80 other cheerleaders when they heard four loud gunshots. They ducked under the tables for safety fearing for their lives until the situation was cleared 10 minutes later.
“It’s scary after what happened this morning (in Newtown, Conn.) and then this,” Trisha Banks said. “How can people do this?”
Police are working to determine the motive of the shooting.
Sources said the shooter might have dated Kenny but that they parted ways in 2009. Within the past few months, sources said, the shooter made sporadic contact with Kenny, but the two were not seeing each other.