Las Vegas police are withholding details about what looks like a classic “good guy with a gun” scenario in which someone carrying a firearm prevents what could have turned into a mass shooting.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department won’t identify anyone involved in an incident Friday in which a helmet-wearing man with what appeared to be a semiautomatic rifle shot out windows at a high-rise condominium before being shot himself.
Local media reports say that residents of the condo complex, Turnberry Towers, hailed a building employee, possibly a security guard or mailroom worker, as a hero for shooting and stopping the gunman before he fired on anyone.
A video circulating on social media does appear to depict a case of defensive gun use to protect others.
A second video in an Instagram post also shows the helmeted man with the rifle in what appears to be a lobby. A caption says he is in the East Tower of Turnberry Towers.
In the video, a man and a woman enter the area and casually walk by the man, his rifle pointed at the floor, as if they didn’t notice him. He makes no moves toward them.
This video next shows glass being shattered from off camera and the man with the rifle walking through the opening before he runs toward an exit, opens a glass door, and appears to fall forward.
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The Instagram account for Las Vegas Scoop quotes a person identified as a Turnberry Towers resident.
“Some guy had an altercation with someone else in the valet area, went back to his car in the parking garage and got a gun. Shot up the whole front of our building,” the resident says in the Instagram video. “All the glass is shot out at valet. Our receiving guy was armed and shot the guy.”
The man identified as a resident himself continues: “It was a resident. Unprovoked, never had issues with anyone here, just went to his car, grabbed an AK and came back in and shot the front lobby up. Humberto, who works as tower security, is receiving praise for his acts that no doubt saved lives. Nobody was injured other than the shooter.”
However, Las Vegas police won’t confirm or deny that the video is authentic.
The incident occurred at 1:15 p.m. Friday in the 300 block of Karen Avenue in Las Vegas, according to police, who provided few more specifics.
A public information officer for the police department said Tuesday that because of the “ongoing investigation,” the department would provide The Daily Signal only with the “event number” for the purpose of making a public records request. The Daily Signal filed that request.
In a phone conversation, the public information officer said he couldn’t verify the authenticity of the video posted on Twitter and Instagram showing the gunman breaking into a run and being shot. He said police would not comment further.
The official police incident report says:
LVMPD received a call of a shooting in the 300 block of Karen Avenue. When officers arrived, they located a subject suffering from an apparent gunshot wound. Medical was requested and transported the subject to UMC [University Medical Center] Trauma. This is an ongoing investigation.
Based on the video, the “subject suffering from an apparent gunshot wound” was a would-be active shooter who had blasted through a glass partition or door before being shot by someone not in view as he flees.
The Daily Signal sought comment from the University Medical Center on the condition of the wounded man, but didn’t get a response from the hospital’s public relations office. However, one hospital staffer said it would be difficult to provide information on the condition of a patient absent a name, which police would not provide.
The 300 block of Karen Avenue intersects with Paradise Road and Joe W. Brown Drive In Las Vegas.
The initial reporting on the incident said two persons were involved, but that only one was in critical condition. That reporting didn’t include the apparent context that a building employee or someone else shot a gunman who seemed to be on the verge of being an active shooter.
Turnberry Towers, where the shooting occurred, is described as a complex of high-rise condos with an East and West tower and a view of the Las Vegas Strip. Considered luxury condos in real estate listings, the towers are 45 stories tall.
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