Vegas security up for marathon
LAS VEGAS — Las Vegas is posting snipers and surrounding tens of thousands of runners with other safety measures at a weekend marathon, the first largescale outdoor event since a gunman killed 58 people at a country music festival.
Police have beefed up security and tweaked their original safety plan for the annual event that starts on the Las Vegas Strip. Some participants say they will be running Sunday to stand up to evil. About 350 officers will be working to protect the runners as they pass by world-famous highrise casino-hotels and the crime scene.
“We’ve made a few changes, some subtle things,” Capt. Andrew Walsh said. “Obviously, the threat of a sniper attack is something that we know can happen. So, we added some countersniper surveillance posts along the route.”
A high-stakes gambler and real estate investor killed 58 people and injured hundreds more on Oct. 1 after shattering the windows of his hotel suite and unleashing gunfire on the Route 91 Harvest music festival below. From the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay casino-hotel, Stephen Paddock had an unobstructed view to rain bullets on the crowd, who had few places to hide.
The police helicopter unit will be circling throughout the Rock ‘n’ Roll Marathon, set to begin just before sunset Sunday. Police also will have bomb-sniffing dogs.
Semi-trucks, dump trucks, buses and other large city vehicles will be positioned at key intersections to try to prevent anyone from driving onto the course, Walsh said, following recent attacks in the U.S. and abroad in which vehicles have plowed into crowds.
He acknowledged that the event presents a huge challenge to police and encouraged casino employees, visitors and others to alert authorities of anything suspicious. Security checkpoints will be set up for the Sunday races — a marathon, half marathon and 10K — and a Saturday 5K and concert.
Organizers moved events away from the scene of the massacre. The concert, typically held at the outdoor venue where the shooting took place, was shifted miles north, across from the SLS hotel.