By Dean Weingarten
Arizona -(Ammoland.com)- It was a heroic private security guard who stopped the mass killing coming from the Mandalay Bay Hotel.
In the timeline published yesterday, it was not clear if the security guard was accompanying the police, or ahead of them. Now we know. Undersheriff Kevin McMahill gave a briefing yesterday, 3 October, at 6 p.m.
In the briefing, Undersheriff McMahill details when the shooting ended. No more shots were fired at people outside the hotel after 10:19 p.m.
The information about the ending of the shooting is given between 3:17 and 5:30 on the video. McMahill releases these facts in remarkable agreement with what I concluded in yesterday’s article.
The mass killer started firing about 10:08. He fired for 9-11 minutes and a dozen or so volleys. He stopped firing at 10:19.
Four officers were working the Mandalay Bay at another event. They formed a team and were approaching the room on the 32nd floor. A heroic security guard was ahead of the police. Three cameras had been placed by the mass killer. Two were in the hallway, one in the room looking out the peephole. The guard was advancing toward the room when he was shot. The shooting stopped, just after the security guard was shot.
The mass killer shot him through the door. Although wounded, he was able to give details to the police, completing the identification of the room.
We do not know for certain if the security guard was armed. Some are, some are not. It seems likely that this guard was, but we do not know as yet. It appears the mass killer killed himself at this time. There are no further reports of gunshots until the SWAT Team blew down the door.
Warning: Graphic image:
The police were not far behind the private first responder. Given the radio traffic, the mass killer stopped shooting about 10:19. The four policemen report that they have a person with gunshot wounds at 10:21.
10:19 p.m.: A team of four officers makes their way into the hotel up to the 32nd floor. It’s unclear if the shooting is still going on.
10:21 p.m.: An out-of-breath officer yells over the radio: “Gunshot wounds to the chest and head. We need immediate medical!”
The maximum time between when the private security guard was shot and when the police arrived was two minutes. It may have been much less.
If it were one minute, that is about 10% of the time the mass killer was engaged in killing people. I believe the security guard saved lives with his prompt response.
The four officers who formed a team and responded immediately are also heroes.
They took the initiative and literally ran to the sound of the guns. Police are reactive by nature. The private security guard was on his home turf. He was the one who arrived first and stopped the slaughter. We often see this in mass killings. When confronted by an armed first responder, private or a public servant, the mass killings usually stop. A majority of the time the killer commits suicide, as happened in this case.
This article records 28 mass killings stopped by armed private citizens in the United States. Most did not make the FBI mass killing list because the armed individual stopped the slaughter before it reached the minimum of four deaths of innocents required by the FBI definition.
Police are the backup for armed private citizens. Armed citizens are often on the scene before police arrive. Police officers provide the force that keeps society together. A private armed citizen usually knows the police are on the way. He or she only has to deal with the situation long enough for the police to arrive.
A backup force is absolutely necessary to this equation. It is possible the hero security guard would have died without police assistance. Without a sanctioned backup force, society devolves into tribal warfare. In colonial America, the backup force was the militia. Armed neighbors are still helpful. But most of our backup forces are police and sheriff departments.
It is unclear if Mandalay Bay has a policy forbidding guests from bringing firearms into the Hotel.
©2017 by Dean Weingarten: Permission to share is granted when this notice is included.
About Dean Weingarten:
Dean Weingarten has been a peace officer, a military officer, was on the University of Wisconsin Pistol Team for four years, and was first certified to teach firearms safety in 1973. He taught the Arizona concealed carry course for fifteen years until the goal of constitutional carry was attained. He has degrees in meteorology and mining engineering, and recently retired from the Department of Defense after a 30 year career in Army Research, Development, Testing, and Evaluation.
I doubt a website like this will bother to issue a correction, as it would invalidate the idea that the security guard stopped him, but the police have since corrected the timeline to state that the security guard was shot prior to the gunman opening fire on the crowd and had nothing to do with why he stopped shooting. I’m not trying to take away from the heroism shown by the security guard, he did put his life in harms way to try and stop the shooter, but he wasn’t responsible for ending the massacre.
who really was the shooter/?
Good article Dean. There are a few big mouth cop haters that post here. Ignore them like we do.
The security guy hero have a name????
The left and the media are rejoicing at this opportunity to push for gun control. I read several B.S. stories on CNN and NBC where they cited ridiculous numbers for gun deaths (400,000+) over the last 3 years and ridiculous claims regarding the weapons used. All this of course was deliberate in order to further incite and inflame the antis and capitalize on a horrific tragedy simply to push their agenda. Shame, shame on them.
This event was orchestrated by the leftist deep state as a means to begin taking away the 2nd amendment. There is no other logical explanation. Why in the hell would a guy on his own bring so many weapons up to the room to do what he did? WAY, WAY WAY over the top and totally unnecessary. Look at the lib media’s reporting now. It’s all about the legal modifications and number of legally purchased weapons. Pretty easy to figure out IMHO.
The article ends with the question — “It is unclear if Mandalay Bay has a policy forbidding guests from bringing firearms into the Hotel.” This is irrelevant. Is the author implying that if such a policy existed the shooter would have obeyed the “no guns” posting and the shooting would not have happened. I doubt Weingarten means to imply that so why end the article with the question? I’m just waiting for some jerk politician to pick up that idea and run with it.
I think the FBI won’t release a motive until they accurately say he acted alone and by the looks of things (my two Cents) I don’t think he did all that alone he had to have help.
I am glad that there was someone in the building with intelligence. If it were not for him the ignorant cops would still be looking for the room.
Weingarten,
I read your copsucking garbage again. The badged thugs are not there to protect the people paying the forced taxation that funds worthless police agencies.
Go sell your bullshit to the good, Marxist citizens of Chicago. Chicago, where the cops aren’t coming to rescue anyone ! Weingarten, you are full of it.