Police authorities in Las Vegas confirmed that the fatal shooting of two security guards at a hotel casino in the city was not terrorist related. On Saturday morning, two guards at Arizona Charlie’s Decatur investigated a disturbance in a room at the hotel. They approached the room at 7 am but were shot at by the suspect, who then fled the scene. The suspect, recently identified as 29 year old Christopher Olague, then ran into a neighborhood near the hotel casino which is located west of the Las Vegas Strip. He tried to enter two homes, however the residents managed to keep him out of their properties. The police finally found the man slumped over in the laundry room of one of the homes, with a self-inflicted shot in the head. He is now facing critical and life-threatening injuries.
Captain Robert Plummer told reporters after the incident that “this has nothing to do with terrorism.”
The police say that that the suspect tried to enter the homes in order to steal a car and escape from the Las Vegas area.
The identities of both security guards were not released, although authorities said that they were a man and a woman in their 40’s.
Las Vegas is on maximum alert ahead of New Year celebrations, and it is expected that tens of thousands of people will descend on the Strip. It was only three months ago that one of the deadliest mass shootings in US history took place at the Mandalay Bay hotel-casino. On the night of October 1st, 64 year old Stephen Paddock, a high stakes gambler, opened fire on a crowd of 22,000 people attending the Route 91 Harvest music festival from his 32ndfloor suite. Paddock landed up killing 58 people and injuring 546, and the incident reignited the contentious gun laws debate in the United States. As in the latest shooting, Paddock eventually turned the gun on himself.
The parent company of Arizona Charlie’s, Golden Entertainment, issued a statement following the latest incident: “On Saturday morning, we lost two of our team members to a senseless act of violence at our Arizona Charlie’s Decatur property. These individuals were security officers dedicated to protecting our guests and other team members.”
“Through the swift and professional actions of our security and surveillance team, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department was able to apprehend the suspect quickly. We are grateful to the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department for their quick response and efforts to ensure the safety of our guests and team members at Arizona Charlie’s, as well as at all our properties.”
