Las Vegas gunman who shot two people on bus surrenders

Las Vegas gunman who shot two people on bus surrenders



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A man who allegedly shot one person dead and wounded another on a Las Vegas transit bus has surrendered to police following a four-hour standoff.

A police spokesperson was quoted as saying that the alleged gunman surrendered without incident.

The other shooting victim who survived was reported to have minor injuries and was rushed to hospital.





There was nobody else on the bus at the time that the gunman surrendered, police said.

Police have ruled out terrorism as a possible motive for the shooting.

The standoff began about 11 a.m. Saturday with a shooting that killed one person and injured another.

It happened on a double-decker bus stopped on Las Vegas Boulevard near the Cosmopolitan hotel-casino.

'He was on the bus. He was shooting people on the bus. He was just contained to that location. He never exited the bus,' Clark County Assistant Sheriff Tom Roberts said.

The city was in a state of terror Saturday as the Cosmopolitan hotel was evacuated following the shooting.

For hours, crisis negotiators, robots and armored vehicles surrounded the bus with authorities uncertain if there were any more victims inside the bus.

Meanwhile, officers swept into the casinos to warn tourists to bunker down until further notice, leaving these normally bustling pedestrian areas and a road notorious for taxi-to-taxi traffic completely empty.

The Strip, normally crowded with cars and people, was shut down for blocks in both directions.

Around 1.45pm, local time, a loud bang occurred near the bus, as some reports indicate the SWAT team detonated the side of the vehicle.

There was a flash of light and smoke appeared to come from the bus, which was stopped on Las Vegas Boulevard.



The boulevard was sealed between Flamingo Road and Tropicana Boulevard as the standoff was unfolding.

No information has been made available as of early Saturday evening regarding the identities of the suspect or the victims.

Former NBA player Scot Pollard, who is staying at the Cosmopolitan, told The Associated Press by phone that he was at a bar at the hotel-casino around 11am when he saw several people, including staff, running through the area toward the casino and repeatedly screaming 'get out of the way.'

'We can hear them negotiating. We can hear them saying things like "No one else needs to get hurt," "Come out with your hands up. We are not going anywhere. We are not leaving."'

After he was told that the area would be closed, he went back to his room, which oversees the Strip.

The bus is operated by the Regional Transportation Commission of Southern Nevada.

It's unknown how many people were on the bus at the time of the shooting but it appears that those who were there were able to flee.

Police have started a hotline in search of those passengers to report what they witnessed.

This is the second shooting incident to occur in less than 24 hours in Sin City, as a gunman in a pig mask opened fire during an armed robbery at the iconic Bellagio hotel earlier in the day.

A police spokesperson said the bus shooting was unrelated to the incident at the Bellagio.

That shooting prompted terrified tourists to seek shelter amid a chaotic scene.

At least three people entered a high-end store, which is believed to be a Rolex store, inside the resort, including one who fired gunshots, police said.



Larry Hadfield, a spokesman with Las Vegas Metro police, said of the bus situation to USA Today: 'The shooting incident happened on the bus. We had one single shooting incident with two victims. Both were transported to the trauma center and one is deceased.'

Hadfield added that SWAT and hostage negotiation personnel were on site but wouldn't confirm if there were passengers still on the regional transit bus.

Witnesses and photos suggest the day's earlier armed burglary took place at the Bellagio's Rolex store, and show a person in a pig mask with a gun in hand.

One suspect has been taken into custody.

Guests and tourists had to flee the hotel and head out to the strip amid report of the armed robbery.

Panicked people have tweeted their shock, with one woman saying she had to hide under a table.

No one was injured, Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department later confirmed. Parts of the casino property remain closed as authorities investigate.



Officers received a call about the incident at the Bellagio at 12:50 am, and has apprehended one suspect by 2:15 am, the Las Vegas Review-Journal reported.

One woman who was at the hotel when the robbery unfolded described the atmosphere as one of 'mass panic'.

'Everyone running. I'm currently ducked on the floor under a table,' she wrote.

The store was closed when the armed robbers got in and all shots were fired inside, police said.

Some witnesses said the burglars used sledgehammers to break into the store, although police have not confirmed it so far.