15 July 2023, What happens in Vegas…doesn’t stay in Vegas, it gets blasted all over the news – six Vegas hotels impacted by four incidents of violence or turmoil in 10 days
15 July, 2023 Hotel Attacks
15 July, 2023 Hotel Attacks
Fox5 Vegas TV reports that on 3 July 2023, a female guest, or one of her accomplices, stabbed a male hotel guest at the MGM Grand. The victim reportedly met his attacker in the hotel, and he agreed to have sex with her for money. He followed her to her room on the fifth floor. At some point, the female guest’s female friend was in the room as well. Then, the female duo’s male friend entered the room, which upset the first female. She asked the victim to leave and produced a knife. Then, one of the trio stabbed the victim in the chest. He left the room, leaving a blood trail along the floor, walls, and seating near the 5th-floor elevator. Hotel security was alerted, and the police arrived and investigated. They found a knife in the room, and CCTV footage showed the three perpetrators leaving the hotel with luggage. Police later arrested them at a local residence.
The Las Vegas Review-Journal reports that on 9 July 2023, a 34-year-old man from New York attacked a one-legged man at the Flamingo Hotel & Casino’s Bird Bar. Bystanders reportedly captured the melee on video and showed it to responding officers. A police report demonstrated by Fox News says Flamingo guests seized the attacker and put him in a headlock, which stopped the fight. The perpetrator then fled the scene.
Later, the perpetrator entered The LINQ Hotel + Experience, stripped naked, and streaked through the premises. From there, still naked, he ran into Harrah’s Las Vegas, where he jumped onto a poker table, obscenely gyrated his body at casino guests, and made a ruckus by scattering playing cards all about, says the Daily Mail. Three security guards engaged the man and, after a struggle, subdued him. Police arrived and arrested the perpetrator, noting that he appeared inebriated. Later, the man said he could not remember any of the evening’s activities, claiming that he must have been drugged at an earlier-attended party. He was charged with indecent exposure, battery, and disorderly conduct.
Fox News reports that on 11 July 2023, a brawl between four women broke out near a poker table on the Wynn Las Vegas casino floor. The fight was caught on video. What caused the row is not currently known. Video of the melee shows a woman in thong underwear, her tight outfit having ridden up around her waist, attacking a woman in jean shorts, which escalated into a broader fight involving two other women. A man in a blue shirt who appears to be a hotel guest got between the “thonged attacker” and the other women and unsuccessfully tried to stop the fight. Video from Fox shows what appears to be a Wynn female security officer on her radio (she was wearing handcuffs), probably alerting the hotel’s dispatch to respond to the fight at the six-second mark. At the 20-second mark, the “thonged attacker” is seen dragging another woman off a motorized scooter. Additionally, a man who appears to be hotel security is seen engaging the attacker. He managed to subdue her with help from the man in the blue shirt. Three people were slightly injured. All four women were arrested.
The Las Vegas Sun reports that, on 11 July 2023, a man armed with a knife at Caesar’s Palace took a woman hostage in a hotel room reportedly on the 21st floor. He threatened to kill her, and he threatened to shoot hotel security and police if they attempted to apprehend him. Fox5 Vegas says the melee began at 9:15 am.
Las Vegas SWAT responded, and a five-hour barricade situation ensued. During hostage negotiations, the perpetrator trashed the hotel room and smashed out the hotel room window. He then threw furniture and amenities out the window, where they crashed on the pool patio below, which was littered with broken glass. The hand-thrown missiles included a chair, pillows, a coffee maker, and a hair dryer, says the Las Vegas Sun. The pool area was evacuated, says Fox5 Vegas, and police locked down the impacted hotel floor.
A video posted on Twitter shows what appears to be a TV or a cabinet being thrown out the window, which sent Caesar’s security scrambling for cover. Pictures of room damage on Twitter show a smashed-out window, a shattered shower door, a broken mirror, thrashed furniture, and debris scattered all over the hotel room.
Police arrested the perpetrator at 2:48 pm, says Fox5 Vegas, and no firearm was found, but the perpetrator did have a knife. Both the perpetrator and the female hostage were high on narcotics, which caused both to have paranoid delusions.
Network in Vegas says police charged the perpetrator with “kidnapping, coercion with force or threat of force with a deadly weapon, destruction or injury to property, resisting a public officer with a deadly weapon (not a firearm), and disregarding the safety of people and property.” A preliminary estimate of damages was over $50,000, says Network in Vegas. It was later discovered that the perpetrator had a criminal record, he was wanted for making threats in Colorado, and he and his hostage were a drug-addicted homeless couple living on the streets of Las Vegas.
It is not clear how two homeless people high on narcotics accessed a room on the 21st floor of Caesar’s, but Network in Vegas asserts that the homeless problem in Las Vegas is rampant, and that assault and battery by such persons is common around Caesar’s and along the Vegas strip. A three-minute and 38-second video was provided to back up this assertion.
There are seven takeaways here. First, these multiple acts of violence in a 10-day time period reinforce Muir Analytics’ assertion that hotels are the world’s most violent commercial sector. No other business sector suffers more serious violent crime, brawls, riots, violent protests, terrorism, and war than hotels.
Second, all these acts of violence involved assault and battery – beatings, stabbings, brawls, and making verbal threats. Assault and battery is among the most common tactics, or “perils” in insurance terminology, applied at hotels. To clarify, making verbal threats is, in most US states, considered assault. Battery is when physical contact is made.
Third, the other categories of violence or mayhem exhibited here, specifically malicious damage (at Caesar’s) and disorderly conduct/disturbing the peace (at the Wynn, The LINQ, and Harrah’s), are quite common at hotels as well.
Fourth, while all these instances of violence, save for the stabbing at the MGM Grand, might seem minor, major lawsuits have occurred at Las Vegas hotel-casinos over similar scenarios. Take the brawl at the Wynn Las Vegas, for example. It can be reasonably estimated that the video of this brawl started at least 10 seconds after the melee began, which means that security, specifically the guard wearing the handcuffs, seems to have taken around 30 seconds to respond, and the guard in question might not have physically engaged at all. The male guard who did respond appears to have arrived on scene and engaged in about a minute. A similar episode happened in 2010 at MGM’s New York-New York Hotel & Casino where there was a severe injury plus an apparent delayed response by hotel-casino security, which resulted in a major lawsuit that reportedly has not seen resolution. See that case here: Humphries v. New York-New York Hotel & Casino.
Physical assault lawsuits over hotel security negligence can reach into the $ millions and drag out for years.
Fifth, according to data in Muir Analytics’ SecureHotel Threat Portal, MGM properties in Las Vegas have seen stabbings before, as have scores of other brands, including, but not limited to, Fertitta Entertainment, Las Vegas Sands Corporation, and Wynn Resorts.
Sixth, four of the July episodes discussed above happened at hotel-casinos owned by Caesars Entertainment: The Flamingo, The LINQ, Harrah’s, and Caesar’s. Among other things, this trend signifies that hotel violence is not exclusive to hotels with low-star rankings. Three, four, and five-star hotels see shootings, stabbings, malicious damage, and brawls as well. And their more monied clientele are more likely to file lawsuits for security negligence than guests at lower-ranked hotels.
Seventh, mitigating hotel violence is not always about terrorism and mass shootings. Frequently, it’s about physical assaults, which can generate time-consuming and costly lawsuits that chip away at a hotel’s brand image. They can also degrade a resort city’s brand image.
Hotel security needs to know the statistical trends and scenarios involving such violence so they can train and be prepared to deal with it quickly and efficiently to keep things from getting out of hand and into lawsuit territory. Also, hotel risk managers need to fully understand this information to ensure they have secured the proper insurance coverage for physical assaults, brawls, stabbings, and riots. Muir Analytics’ SecureHotel Threat Portal has that intelligence.
Muir Analytics runs the world’s largest, most sophisticated hotel violence database – the SecureHotel Threat Portal – with over 2,400 hotel attacks (and growing.) We can provide the hospitality sector with intelligence that facilitates full-spectrum risk reduction, which helps hotels protect guests, staff, buildings, brands, and revenues. Contact us for a consultation: 1-833-DATA-444.
“Caesars hostage SWAT standoff suspect was homeless drug addict who lived on Las Vegas Strip,” Network in Vegas, 12 July 2023.
“Man arrested in Las Vegas attack on one-legged man, hotel streak is a ‘victim,’ family says,” Fox News, 12 July 2023.
“Man held in Strip resort standoff to face judge on kidnapping, fugitive charges,” Associated Press via the Las Vegas Sun, 12 July 2023.
NetworkinVegas.com, @Networkinvegas. 2023, July 12. Here is what the room looked like after the homeless meth-addict had a SWAT Standoff at Caesars Palace and sent furniture flying out the windows….Over 50K in damage and a 6 hour standoff! Twitter. https://twitter.com/Networkinvegas/status/1679285335833067526.
Drew Meeks, @CreativeATL. 2023, July 11, Was there -wild stuff. Twitter. https://twitter.com/CreativeATL/status/1678850110980231168/video/1
“Las Vegas police standoff at Caesars Palace ends, suspect in custody,” Fox5 Vegas, 11 July 2023.
“Man held in Strip resort standoff to face judge on kidnapping, fugitive charges,” Las Vegas Sun, 11 July 2023.
“Naked man dances on poker table, runs through Strip casinos,” Las Vegas Review-Journal, 11 July 2023.
“That’s NOT how you play strip poker! Streaker is arrested after gyrating naked on poker tables at Harrah’s in Las Vegas – giving gamblers an eyeful and leaving one woman ‘dry heaving’,” Daily Mail, 11 July 2023.
“Wild brawl of scantily clad women breaks out at luxe Las Vegas casino: video,” Fox News, 11 July 2023.
“California trio arrested for alleged stabbing at Las Vegas Strip hotel,” Fox5 Vegas, 7 July 2023.
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