Video portrays crowd clapping for police help
Las Vegas police officers received a round of applause from hundreds of people sheltering in the Michael Jackson Theater at Mandalay Bay in the early morning hours of Oct. 2.
The spontaneous show of appreciation was captured in officer-worn body camera footage released Tuesday by the Metropolitan Police Department.
It was the ninth court-ordered release since early May of department records from the Oct. 1 shooting.
The latest batch included 34 audio files of police radio traffic and three separate body camera videos.
One of the videos, roughly 90 minutes long, follows a team of at least four officers as they clear several restaurants on Mandalay Bay’s casino floor about 25 minutes after the first volley of gunfire is reported. Through the sound system of the deserted resort, country music can be heard playing in the background.
The recorded radio traffic includes phantom reports of shootings at numerous other resorts, details about the gunman and efforts to coordinate the response along the Strip, at area hospitals and even at valley police stations, where a handful of officers were assigned to protect their fellow officers.
Several audio files capture the chaotic scene at Mccarran International Airport, where police were trying to locate dozens of terrified concertgoers who had broken though gates and fences and run across runways in search of shelter.
“We’ve got people on all sides of the fence,” one officer reports. “It’s going to take us hours to clear this airfield when we’re done.”
RECORDS
Around 10:22 p.m., an unidentified officer on the 32nd floor of Mandalay Bay tries to call in the shooter’s room number and other details. “I need the radio, please,” he says. Other calls about gunshot victims or streets that need to be closed continue to pour in.
“Let the unit in Mandalay Bay talk,” another officer says over the radio.
Two hours later, a first responder comes on the air to confirm that the shooting is in fact over.
“At this point, they’re thinking it was one shooter, and it is resolved at the Mandalay,” the person is heard saying.
By 1 a.m. on Oct. 2, as families and survivors are making their way to the Las Vegas Convention Center in search of their loved ones and belongings, a first responder radios in that no bags or purses would be allowed inside.
The longest of the body camera videos released Tuesday clicks on as an officer comes under fire while working overtime at the Route 91 Harvest music festival. His yellow safety vest obscures the lens of his body camera for the first few minutes, but bursts of gunfire can be heard as he runs for cover behind a wall along the Strip.
He later makes his way inside Mandalay Bay as officers sweep through the building in search of possible gunmen. He ends up inside the Michael Jackson Theater, watching over more than 1,000 people who spent hours that night sheltering inside the performance hall.
At one point, about three hours after the attack, his body camera captures the voice of another officer telling those in the crowded theater to be patient and sit tight until police know it’s safe for them to be released. The crowd responds with clapping. Last week, Las Vegas police released 35 audio clips of emergency radio traffic and 19 body camera videos.
One video shows two officers holding their position in a Mandalay Bay hallway one floor beneath the gunman for about five minutes as rapid gunfire is heard in the background. The officers were with three armed Mandalay Bay guards.
The Review-journal previously received more than 3,000 pages of witness and officer reports, as well as surveillance footage and additional body camera footage from the shooting, which left 58 concertgoers dead and hundreds more injured.
Another release of records is expected next week.
Contact Henry Brean at hbrean@ reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0350. Follow @Refriedbrean on Twitter. Review-journal staff writers Jessie Bekker, Natalie Bruzda, Rachel Crosby, Meghin Delaney, Briana Erickson, Rio Lacanlale, Colton Lochhead, Art Marroquin, Jamie Munks, Katelyn Newberg and Madelyn Reese contributed to this report.