Las Vegas tourism sees changes in aftermath of shooting

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LAS VEGAS, NV. (NEWS 1130) – The Las Vegas tourism sector is bracing for changes in the aftermath of the massacre that killed 58 people at an outdoor music festival earlier this month.

Analysts who closely track the finances of the city’s casino companies say Las Vegas will see a short-term dip in visitors in response to the shooting.

Casinos and police may have to impose new security measures after gunman Stephen Paddock brought more than 20 rifles into his hotel room and drove a car filled with explosives into the parking garage.

Electronic billboards that typically promote restaurants, concerts and other entertainment are now showing a dedicated phone line for victims and their families.

Stock prices of the main Las Vegas casino companies also took a minor tumble, and the “What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas” slogan has been put on hold.

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There have been different timelines provided on what happened on the night of the shooting.

In a recent chronology provided by investigators, Clark County Sheriff Joe Lombardo said Paddock started spraying 200 rounds from his suite at the Mandalay Bay resort into a 32nd floor hallway at 9:59 p.m. on Oct. 1, wounding an unarmed security guard in the leg.

Six minutes later, the gunman unleashed a barrage of bullets on the festival crowd. He then killed himself with a gunshot to the head.

Mandalay Bay hotel officials have disputed the timeline and whether six minutes actually passed between the first gunfire in the hallway and the start of the concert rampage. They said Paddock may have wounded the security guard within 40 seconds of firing into the crowd.

The 64-year-old real estate investor and retired accountant began his 10-minute attack on the crowd at 10:05 p.m., firing more than 1,000 rounds from two bashed-out windows, police said. Police didn’t arrive on the 32nd floor until 10:17 p.m., two minutes after he had stopped shooting, according to Lombardo.

In a statement last week, MGM Resorts International, which owns the Mandalay Bay, said the 9:59 p.m. reported time of the hallway shooting came from a report that was manually created after the massacre. “We are now confident that the time stated in this report is not accurate,” the statement said.

The shooting left 58 people dead, including four Canadians and one of those people was from Maple Ridge. Nearly 500 others were left wounded, some are still in the hospital.

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