Unarmed Hotel Security Guard Who Found Las Vegas Shooter Hailed As Hero
An unarmed security guard at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino was hailed as a hero for pinpointing the Las Vegas shooter’s location, despite a withering barrage of gunfire that wounded him in the leg.
Jesus Campos was on random patrol inside the hotel when the gunman opened fire Sunday on thousands of people gathered at the Route 91 Harvest Festival with modified assault weapons. According to The Daily Beast, Campos tracked the sound of gunshots to the 32nd floor and tried to open the door of the suite where the gunman was barricaded. The killer, who had set up security cameras outside the room, fired a furious barrage of bullets into the hallway, wounding the guard.
Campos was responsible for helping authorities nail down the gunman’s exact location in the massive casino-hotel complex, Clark County Sheriff Joseph Lombardo said Wednesday.
“It was the security guard,” Lombardo said during a news conference. He said the gunman fired “well over 200 rounds straight into the hallway” after a peephole camera showed Campos and police officers who responded to his discovery of the location.
“It is amazing that the security guard didn’t sustain additional injuries,” Lombardo said. “His bravery was amazing because he remained with our officers, providing them the key pass to access the door and actually continued to help them clear rooms until our officers demanded that he go seek medical attention.”
Police eventually blew open the door and found the killer dead from a self-inflicted gunshot wound.
Dave Hickey, president of the security labor union that represents Campos and hundreds of guards at the Mandalay Bay, told The Daily Beast a bullet in the guard’s leg will be removed in surgery at a later date.
Campos, reached by ABC News, said he was “just doing my job” and was “fine” after the drama.
“I’m telling you that I don’t think that our officers are recognized enough for the valuable role that they play in protecting property, people and even the nation,” Hickey told The Daily Beast.
Nearly 60 people were killed in the attack on Sunday night and about 500 were injured. Investigators are still trying to piece together the gunman’s motive.
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- This article originally appeared on HuffPost.
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