KVVU reporter Dani Masten was inside the Aria Resort and Casino on Saturday night when a false report of a shooter created chaos up and down the Las Vegas Strip.
According to Las Vegas Metropolitan Police, a man had thrown a rock at a glass door at the MGM Grand, but the loud noise caused people to think it was an active shooter. KVVU said word spread quickly through social media.
Masten has worked at the Las Vegas Fox affiliate since April. She said she was sitting inside one of the lobby bars at the Aria, which is a 15 minute walk from the MGM Grand, when she saw what she called “a flood of people” running in the same direction through the casino, some saying, “Run, get out, hide.”
People were knocked to the ground and drinks were spilling everywhere. Waiters and waitresses were hiding behind the bars. The casino floor and the lobby bar were empty within a couple of minutes.
A security guard was escorting people through side doors near the bar—from what I remember, it was an emergency exit. About 20 of us were guided down some stairs and into the underground part of the Aria. We were there for about 20 minutes.
Once we were told the stampede initiated from the shattered glass at MGM, security told us to stay sheltered in place for a little longer before going back out to the casino.
When we were finally able to return to the casino, the musician—who was signing at the lobby bar before the stampede began—told me it brought back too familiar feelings of what he experienced at the Route 91 music festival in October 2017.
Police said Thompson Bradley was arrested for destruction of property for allegedly throwing the rock.