A lawyer representing victims of the Las Vegas shooting called an MGM Resorts statement that noted the numerous interactions between hotel staff and the gunman “hard to believe” on Friday.
MGM Resorts told Fox News last week that hotel staff at the Mandalay Bay Resort and Casino “had contact with [Stephen] Paddock or entered his suite more than 10 times over the course of his stay, including the three days leading up to October 1.”
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MGM added that all the interactions with Paddock “were normal in nature.”
“Their little paragraph of ‘we have normal interaction’ leaves a lot out,” Michelle Simpson Tuegel, an attorney representing several victims of the massacre, told Fox News. “I would like to know what they were classifying or defining as ‘normal behavior.’”
Tuegel said she’s looking to find out “what else these employees have to say about what they saw and heard in the days leading up to the shooting, and what they may have failed to see,” whether possibly due to negligence or a lack of proper training from hotel management.
Paddock — whose 32nd floor suite was caching a huge stash of firearms — opened fire on an outdoor country music festival on Oct. 1, killing 58 and wounding hundreds more.
“Why didn’t someone say something when he brought all these bags [with weapons] up?” Tuegel asked, adding it’s “hard to believe the amount of ammunition and weapons in the room and no one saw or picked up on anything.”
“MGM Resorts is focused on supporting the health and welfare of our guests,” the company said in the statement put out last week. “Importantly, as it relates to the terrible tragedy on October 1, there were numerous interactions with Stephen Paddock every day at the resort, including a room service delivery and a call with housekeeping on October 1, all of which were normal in nature. As a result of these interactions, there was no need to conduct a welfare check.”
Tuegel said her clients, such as 21-year-old college student Paige Gasper, who was left with shattered ribs and a lacerated liver, are healing and feel “better,” but there is still a “long, rough road ahead.”
Some portions of the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay are now being used again to accommodate guests, but there are still no plans to ever rent out Paddock’s rooms, which remain closed.
In the wake of the Las Vegas massacre, several resorts and hotels nationwide have begun instituting mandatory room checks after a certain period of time — regardless of whether a guest has hung a “do not disturb” sign on the door.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department has refused to release new details about the shooting, with its lawyers filing a lengthy response to a lawsuit from several media companies seeking to unseal records related to the investigation.
“Despite the death of Stephen Paddock, there remains an active criminal investigation,” one of the police department’s attorneys, Jackie Nichols, wrote in the response, according to KSNV.
The response claimed privacy is needed “during the pre-indictment stage of an investigation,” but did not say if an indictment is looming. Paddock, who died of a self-inflicted gunshot wound, has been identified as the lone gunman; however, it’s unclear if anyone else aided his plot.
Police department lawyers argue that “access would reveal investigative techniques used by law enforcement.”
The FBI said in late December the agency probably wouldn’t brief the public about the motive of the attack until their report is released sometime before the tragedy’s first anniversary.
