Reports of gunfire from MGM
The Las Vegas Strip witnessed frenzied scenes over this weekend, after reports of gunfire originating from the valet entrance of MGM Grand Las Vegas Hotel & Casino quickly spread, causing mass panic with crowds running across casino floors and out onto the streets.
disrupted the 2022 WSOP at Bally’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino, and Paris Las Vegas
The incident occurred on Saturday night and also disrupted the 2022 World Series of Poker at Bally’s Las Vegas Hotel & Casino and Paris Las Vegas. Twitter user D. Stamos/Helodriver was at epicenter of the panic, and shared images of armed security personnel and police on the MGM casino floor.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) later said the claims of gunfire were unfounded, and that the reported sound of a glass door shattering caused the panic.
D. Stamos/Helodriver shared other images via social media of MGM’s front valet entrance, revealing a shattered glass door and some large chunks of rock on the floor.
Fox News Digital reported that one video reveals LVMPD officers “with their guns drawn running toward the New York, New York sign outside, as crowds fled in the opposite direction.”
WSOP disrupted
The LVMPD stated that one person received minor injuries after falling down during the initial panic. According to PokerNews, however, many WSOP players at Paris got injured, including Daniel Negreanu, who shared an image of his lacerated hand via Twitter:
Tables and chips got sent flying in the Paris Ballroom, as spectators, officials and WSOP players involved in the three bracelet events stampeded towards the exits. According to the news source, the aftermath of the mass panic meant the three events were stopped early, to resume Sunday.
Fox News reached out to the LVMPD for more information, with a police watch commander stating the incident only took place at the MGM, but panic escalated to other casinos. The commander also “denied unsubstantiated social media reports claiming the incident was any sort of premeditated prank or attack.”
Back to normal
LVMPD captain Branden Clarkson told reporters at the scene that the individual believed to have smashed the glass at MGM was detained. MGM Grand Hotel posted on Twitter that operations at the Grand and all Strip properties were going on as usual.
The MGM Grand casino floor was the scene of a real shooting incident in 2020, after an argument between two men resulted in a live round being fired. Fortunately, nobody was hurt.