Las Vegas attack becoming surreal. Shooter attacked Hotel Security Guard BEFORE attacking concert.

via Heavy

Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock shot Mandalay Bay security guard Jesus Campos six minutes before opening fire on the Route 91 Harvest concert festival last Sunday, killing 58 people and wounding nearly 500 others, Sheriff Joe Lombardo said Monday, changing the timeline of events.

Lombardo and other authorities had previously said Campos was shot after the gunfire began. But Lombardo now says Paddock fired at Campos, who was unarmed, from inside his room on the 32nd floor of the hotel at 9:59 p.m. Lombardo has said that Paddock unloaded more than 200 rounds into the hallway and Campos was wounded by a ricocheting bullet. Paddock then began shooting at the concert festival at 10:05 p.m., but police did not get to the 32nd floor until 10:17 p.m., two minutes after the gunfire had stopped. Because the shooting had stopped, police didn’t enter the room until 11:20 p.m., which is when Paddock, 64, was found dead of a self-inflicted gunshot wound.

Story here. 

Hmm.  So let me get this straight.  Paddock shoots the Security Guard, then he turns the weapon toward the concert but police did not get up to the 32nd floor until 10:17?

Kinda makes that "dramatic" breach recording take on much less relevance doesn't it.

This whole thing reeks.

This is the common thread in incidents like this.  SWAT is fantastic but they're not gonna cut it when it comes to situations in progress.

Street officers need to be given the tools, training and leadership to conduct "in extremis" assaults on criminals like this one.  Imagine this playing out differently.

Imagine the security guard getting shot, the patrol supervisor and shift Lt make the call that they have a terrible situation and they assemble a four man team of patrolmen that have been to SWAT school to conduct a hasty breach to prevent wider bloodshed.  These selected officers (and a number of them would be assigned to each shift) would have go bags that contained helmets, heavier body armor, shields, stun grenades, etc.

If such an element existed in the Las Vegas Sheriff's Office then they might have been able to breach on this bastard in the middle of his shooting spree.