The Mandalay Bay security guard who encountered domestic terrorist Stephen Paddock ahead of his attack appeared on The Ellen DeGeneres Show on Wednesday, and now reports are surfacing about why he chose to go on that show specifically.
The Daily Mail reports that MGM Resorts, the company that manages Mandalay Bay, feared Jesus Campos would reveal information concerning the timeline of the shooting if he were grilled by hard-hitting journalists.
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Campos’ sole appearance on The Ellen DeGeneres Show comes less than a week after he missed his five scheduled interviews with networks like Fox and ABC.
“MGM was behind the decision to call off all the interviews [last week] and did a deal with Ellen, knowing she would not play hardball on the timeline as long as she had the exclusive,” a TV insider told DailyMail.com.
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Campos’ union boss and President of the Security Police and Fire Professionals of America David Hickey did not confirm that MGM was behind the decision, but said the company influenced Campos.
“I was in a meeting with MGM’s upper management and they were definitely concerned about how tough someone like [Fox News’ Sean] Hannity would be on him and they voiced their opinions,” Hickey said.
He noted that he felt the company was pressuring Campos not to give too much specific information away before the interviews that were scheduled for last week.
“I thought they were being negative, telling him that someone was going to be tough and how they were worried about his health — it wasn’t the thing he needed to hear four hours before the interviews were going to begin,” Hickey said.
Hickey said he was pulled into a private meeting with MGM executives and when he returned, Campos was nowhere to be seen.
While on Ellen, DeGeneres explained that she did not inquire specifically about the shooting timeline (of which the police and MGM have different accounts) so that Campos wouldn’t have to live through the attack again.
Campos said on the night of the mass shooting, he was called to check on an open door on the 32nd floor. On the way, he came upon a blocked door and called maintenance to check on the door. He then made his way to the 32nd floor where he was hit by gunfire.
“I was walking down and heard rapid fire,” he said. “And at first I took cover. 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 have been fired.”
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The engineer Campos called about the blocked door, Stephen Schuck, also appeared on Ellen and said Campos saved his life. Campos told him to take cover “within milliseconds, if he didn’t say that I would have got hit,” Schuck said.
Campos said that during the shooting, a woman came out of her hotel room and he told her to go back inside because it wasn’t safe.
“I’m doing better each day,” he said, “just healing mentally and physically.”
He also thanked law enforcement, first responders and the community for coming together.
“Everything puts pieces together on how everyone came together to help that night even in the darkest hour,” he said.
Photo Credit: The Ellen DeGeneres Show
