Security Guard Opens Up About Fatal Vegas Shooting
Two weeks after the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history, the man who helped police track down the active shooter is speaking out in full detail for the first time. Mandalay Bay security guard Jesus Campos, who was hailed as a hero in the aftermath of the Las Vegas shooting that claimed 58 lives on October 1, opened up on The Ellen DeGeneres Show Wednesday.
“Slowly, but surely, [I'm] just healing mentally and physically,” Campos told DeGeneres of his current state in the teaser clip, which you can watch above. “I imagine you relive that a lot,” DeGeneres said.
Campos was the first person shot by Stephen Paddock on the day of the shooting, just six minutes before Paddock opened fire on unsuspecting concertgoers, The Daily Beast reported.
The security guard explained on Ellen that supervisors had told him to check on an unlocked door on the 32nd floor that Sunday night, which Campos said was protocol for a door that has been left unopened for a long period of time. However, Campos said, he was met with a blocked door in the stairway.
“When I was in between that area, I was calling security dispatch to get transferred to engineering... so they dispatched an engineer to go verify what that was,” Campos said. That’s when Campos said hotel workers sent building engineer Stephen Schuck to the 32nd floor. Schuck was also a guest on the Ellen segment.
“At that time, I heard what I assumed were drilling sounds,” Campos said of the gunshots, adding that as he walked further down the hallway he was able to distinguish that it was rapid fire. “At first I took cover,” he said. “I felt a burning sensation. I went to go lift my pant leg up and I saw the blood. That’s when I called it in on my radio that shots had been fired.” On the day of the attack, Campos warned Schuck to take cover and essentially saved him from also getting shot.
Police initially reported that Campos was shot after the mass shooting occurred, but Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department Undersheriff Kevin McMahill told Nevada Public Radio that timeline changed when officials spoke to Campos and others involved.
According to The Washington Post, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo clarified that Campos had first arrived on the floor at 9:59 p.m., but wasn’t shot until roughly 10:05 p.m. This was around the time the mass shooting began. The first law enforcement officers then arrived on the scene at 10:17 p.m. local time.
“I want to say today that I don't think we've a good enough job recognizing him and his actions and for that I apologize,” McMahill said at a press conference on October 6. “I just want to take (a) moment and clear the record that he's an absolute hero.”
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