Features
Las Vegas Shooting Site May Become SWAT Center
David Becker / Getty Images – Route 91 Site
The Brown United-built stage, along with its two spot towers in the foreground, from the Route 91 Harvest festival remain unstruck two days after 59 music fans were killed and more than 500 injured in a mass shooting Oct. 1, as the police investigation continues in Las Vegas.
The site of the Oct. 1 shooting where 58 died at the Route 91 Harvest festival in Las Vegas may become a SWAT center.
Las Vegas authorities have begun discussions with MGM Resorts International to construct a SWAT building at the Las Vegas Village, where the Live Nation-promoted festival took place, according to Las Vegas Review-Journal. MGM owns the 15-acre site.
“Utilizing a portion of The Village site for law enforcement is one option we are exploring with Metro,” MGM spokesperson Debra DeShong said in a statement.
DeShong also said that the site would not be used for training. She did not say who initiated the talks, or if MGM would donate the land.
About 22,000 people attended to the Route 91 Harvest Festival on the night that Stephen Paddock opened fire from the 32nd floor of the MGM-owned Mandalay Bay during Jason Aldean’s set, killing 58 and injuring more than 500, before turning the gun on himself. The massacre was the deadliest mass shooting in modern U.S. history.
According to court documents released Jan. 12, FBI Agents knew Paddock left behind stashes of guns, ammunition and explosives when they sought search warrants. Authorities still not know what motivated 64-year-old Paddock. The documents do not reveal inventories of what FBI agents obtained from the searches.
Marilou Danley, Paddock’s girlfriend who was in the Philippines at the time of the shooting, is still regarded by authorities as a person of interest.
MGM acquired Las Vegas Village in 2004 and the site began hosting concerts in 2014, prior to which it was used as a parking lot.
A month before to the shooting, the property hosted the iHeartRadio Daytime Village festival, which featured Migos, Halsey, Flume and French Montana. Snoop Dogg played a set at the Village in November 2016 for the city’s Rock N’ Roll Marathon. Vans Warped Tour also made a stop at the site in 2014, featuring sets by Mayday Parade, Beartooth and For Today.