Mandalay Bay Security Officer Campos failed to mention engineer in police statement

LAS VEGAS — Mandalay Bay Security Officer, Jesus Campos along with Maintenance Engineer, Steven Schuck appeared on the Ellen DeGeneres show last October what was an apparent publicity stunt orchestrated by MGM Resorts International, the owners of the Mandalay Bay Hotel.

During their appearance on the comedians show last year, Campos stated, “There was a female that came out and I told her to get back inside it wasn’t safe.  Shortly after, that’s when Steven was approaching, and I told him to stay back and get cover and that’s when more rounds were dispersed.”

“And I believe it was outside, it wasn’t in the hallway yet, and that’s when Jesus, he leaned out and he said ‘take cover, take cover,’ yelled at me, within milliseconds if he didn’t say that I would have been hit,” Schuck said,

It was such a compelling account on the show when considering that on October 4, 2017, when Campos was interviewed by LVMPD Detective B. Penny during his recorded statement to the police, he did not make any mention of Steven Schuck, nor did he mention anything about the female who came out of her room.

Campos completed a Henderson Police Department witness statement on October 2, 2017, at 2:25 a.m. while he was at St. Rose Sienna Hospital in Henderson, Nevada.

Campos wrote: “On Saturday October 1^st2017, at approximately 2200 hours I was responding to HotSos room using stairwell attempting to open door on 32 floor 100 wing.  It was blocked off, went down a floor to use another wings stairwell.  Approaching room 32-135 shots were fired as I was leaving, and I got hit on my left calf. Called for backup and Security Dispatch sent armed security with shift manager [name redacted] responded and I was evacuated and went down to baggage area where SWAT cleared area then got medical treatment.  Four Metro officers first responded before I was evacuated, then SWAT.”

The transcription of Campos’ recorded statement to the police is as follows:

(BP) is LVMPD Detective B. Penny.  (JC) is Jesus Campos.

BP: You were working the night of October 1. Can you tell me what you were doing and what brought you into this incident that we’re investigating?

JC: Approximately 2200 hours I received a call from Dispatch, told me to go check the doors that – we have a Hotsos system which indicates which door is propped open for a long period of time.  On my patrol I was on the last room which was 30 – I was on my way to 32-129.  As I was approaching the stairwell from the 31^stfloor to the 32^ndthe – the door—the door that leads to the stairwell to the hallway was locked or secured – locked.  And I thought it was out of the ordinary because those doors are always open. So, I dropped down to the 31^stfloor.  I went down the hallway into the elevators – I believe it was the center core elevators – and then from there I walked all the way down to the last room on the left which is the door that leads into the stairwell.  [Paddock didn’t see him approaching on his surveillance camera system?].   As I – as I observed a metal bracket that was keeping the door shut, I called our security dispatch.  They stated they weren’t aware and to contact engineering.  I contacted engineering.  They stated they weren’t aware of the situation either.

At that moment in time I heard noises which I assumed were drills or like, very loud drill.  So, I started walking away from the room.  [Suspicious noises from the room, he did not investigate, nor call it in?].  As I got in front of 32-129 that’s when I heard gunfire.  As I got hit I – I was pinned in front of 32-121 and 32-123.  I noticed I was bleeding.  And at that moment in time I got over the radio and, my mobile phone to contact dispatch that shots were fired and that I was hit.  [On the audio recording released by MGMRI Campos does not say he was shot over the radio.]

I gave them the location of 32-135 because that’s where the shots were being, coming from.  Later at that time when he dispersed a full – full magazine, I don’t know if he started shooting back outside.  [Had Campos been armed and trained he could have taken some action, at the very least it may have distracted Paddock, saving lives].

At that moment in time my shift manager [name redacted], my two outside units [names redacted], they arrived to the center core. [Those units were all armed].  At that moment in time he wasn’t shooting out towards the hall way. That’s when I breached and made my way down to the center core.  After the center core, four Metro officers showed up.  At that moment in time I was given the green light to go downstairs – the 200 wing elevators – down to baggage area.  [No mention of interacting with Maintenance Engineer Steven Schuck and no mention of the female guest who came out of her room. What happened to Schuck?].

BP: I’m just going to go back.  So around 2200 dispatch contacts you via radio?

JC: Yes.

BP: And says they have a HotSos alarm?

JC: Yes.  S-O-S.  It’s an acronym.  I don’t know what it stands for.  I know its hotel operating something system.

BP: So, you get a Hotsos – alarm and that alarm is tripped when a guest room door is left open for an extended amount of time?

JC: Yes.

BP: That alarm was coming from 32-129?

JC: Yes.

JC: So, as you’re coming up the stairs and so you’re in the 100 wing?

JC: Yes.

BP: And the stairs are on the far end of the 100 wing, like where the suites are – wherever they are? At the very end of the hallway?

JC: Yes sir.

BP: As you get to 32 you check the door and the door is secured?  [When was the last time a hotel security officer checked that stairwell?]

JC: Yes.

BP: Which is unusual.  You notify your dispatch – they don’t know anything about it. They tell you to contact Maintenance, you contact them – they don’t know anything about it.  So you go down to 31 – take an elevator back up to 32 and you go straight down the hallway into the fire exit that was secured. Those are double doors?

JC: Yes.

BP: So, you have one door from the hallway leads into a little alcove and then the second door is what’s in the stairs?

JC:  Correct.

BP: And was it the hallway door or the elevator door that was secured?

JC: The door that leads to the stairwell.  So, the inner one.

BP: So, as you enter that little alcove area from the hallway – the stairwell door you see has a metal bracket?

JC: Yes.

BP: Fixed to it?

JC: Yes sir.

BP: Were the light on in there or were they…

JC: Yes.  They were on.

BP: So, you see the metal bracket and then you start to hear what you believe to be like a loud drill?

JC: Yes.

BP: Could you tell where that noise was coming from?

JC: 32-135.

BP: So, you hear loud drilling coming from 32-135. Could you tell if it was deep in the room or right by the doors?

JC: It was deep in the room… and it was pretty – pretty rapidly.

BP: So, you hear this – you obviously know that’s not a normal sound – so you start walking down the hallway, toward the center core?

JC: Yes.  [Ten o’clock at night, drilling sounds coming from a guest room, that’s suspicious activity, and he doesn’t investigate?]

BP: Right around 32-129 – in that area – is when…

JC:  He disbursed shots into the hallway.

BP: He started firing shots at you. Describe the shots.  Like, rapid fire or like slow consistent?

JC: No.  It was – it seemed like an automatic.  If I wouldn’t have been shot I wouldn’t have known where those shots were coming from.  [Really, he was just a few doors down from 32-135.]

BP: So, you start hearing what you believe to be automatic gunfire, you get hit in your left leg?

JC: Yes.

BP: Like where on your leg? Like outside?

JC: Calf.  The back – back calf.

BP: So, you get shot in the left calf.  Like dead center?

JC: Dead center.

BP: So, as you’re hit in the left calf, you continue down where you get into the alcove right by 32-121 and 123?

JC: Correct.

BP: You’re on the radio, you’re on your phone reporting shots fired?

JC: Affirm.

BP: Did you look down the hallway to try and see where the gun when… Did you try and – did you look down the hallway to see where the gunfire was coming from?

JC: Negative.  At that point since I was shot I was too afraid to pop my head out.   [He wasn’t concerned that someone may be approaching him with a weapon?]

BP: Okay.

JC: But I knew the last room was where the shots were coming from.  [Why was that, because of the drilling sounds, or what?].

BP: And then – so you’re already in communication with dispatch – you’ve got help on the way.  You have [name redacted] and what was…

JC: [Name redacted].

BP: [Name redacted] and all three armed security?

JC: Yes.  Two are our outside units and the shift manager.

BP: So, they arrived there and they’re at the center core.  While you’re pinned down you’re hearing continuous gunfire? [So now we have three ARMED security officers on the floor while Paddock is still firing.]

JC: Correct.

BP: And you were unsure if it was still coming down the hallway at you or if he was directing it outside?

JC: Correct.

BP: And so, at some point in time you decide – do you think that hey, you know, he is no longer firing down the hallway – he’s focusing all of his attention outside?

JC: Yes.

BP: And when you believe his attention is focused outside is when you make a break for it and you run to center core?

Correct.  [Where the hell is Schuck at, he is eliminated from Campos’ statement.]

BP: And when you get to the center core you meet up with your guys and that’s when four of our guys are also coming to center core?

JC: Correct.

BP: And did you speak to those officers or give them information?

JC: Slighty.  I told them at the time I believe that he was shooting through the peephole.  [ Next question should have been what made you believe that?]

BP: Okay.

JC: However later, at a later time I found out what he actually had – a setup of the table and the camera.

BP: But at that time, you didn’t notice that?

JC: Yes, I didn’t notice that.

BP: Do you remember the cart being in the hallway?

JC: Nope.  I don’t remember recalling any carts in the hallway.  [Unbelievable.]

BP: And then so you had a brief conversation from – with our officers, you relayed to them where the gunfire’s coming from?

JC: Correct.

BP: And they tell you or your guys tell you hey let’s – you—get you downstairs because you need medical attention?

JC: Correct.

BP: And so, you go down to the 2^ndfloor – to the 200 wing, where…

JC: Lower level which is the basement.

BP: So lower level 200 wing?

JC: Correct.

BP: And then staff members – do you guys have paramedics on site, or?

JC: Negative.  They had contacted them but under the command that we were under I wasn’t able to leave, or they weren’t able to come in to attend me. So, I had to wait about an hour and a half before a SWAT medic actually looked at me.

BP: Any of your people apply pressure or anything like…?

JC: We’re first aid certified.  So, I did my best to wrap it – keep the pressure, the compression on.  At that time, I wasn’t bleeding out as much, so it did stop the bleeding… after I did apply the gauze and the wrap.

BP: And what hospital did you end up going to?

JC: St. Rose Sienna.  And I did conduct a Henderson voluntary [statement] at that time.

BP: So, Henderson sent out detectives or officers?

JC: No, they were already there.

BP: And then – as we were walking over you told me that the – you still have, like, fragments in your leg?

JC: I do.  I do have a fragment in my leg.  The surgeon gave me his consultation and stated if he did try to remove it he can cause more damage.

BP: Were any fragments removed or did they just leave it all?

JC: Negative.  They’re still in – in my body.

BP: When you got shot and you’re pinned down and you’re hearing the continuous gunfire, what was your mindset?

JC: My mindset was contact for help and that contact is what, provided the correct information for Metro and SWAT to proceed.

[The police proceeded into Paddock’s suite at 11:20 p.m., over an hour since the last shots were fired.  Mandalay Bay ARMED security and LVMPD on the floor when shots are being fired, people getting slaughtered and nobody did anything. Then, more police officers arrive, they wait around for an hour waiting for the SWAT team that never showed up, while all along they had no idea that gunfire could erupt again from the room.]

BP: Were you afraid that you were going to get killed?

JC: I was afraid.  I was afraid of other people being afraid also. [Who JC, according to you, you were the only person up there, what happened to Schuck?]

BP: Is there anything else that you can remember, because I know you said you’re off Thursdays and Fridays.  Did you have any other occasion to go to that room at all?

JC: No, I was just doing my job. I was responding to a Hotsos room.  And I was fortunate enough to encounter that situation.

BP: Do you know if there were any other calls, like, on any other days, for that room or did you have to do any checks on the floor on Saturday when you were at work?

JC: Negative.  I am not in the tower frequently enough.  It just so happened to be that day that I was working on those floors.

BP: Is there anything else that you can think about the event, that you feel is important that I need to know?  Or if there’s any questions that I didn’t ask you that you think is important that we should know?

Negative.  To the best of my knowledge this is the maximum amount of information that I have.

[ Are you sure about that JC, I guess you refreshed your memory after being coached when Steven Schuck and yourself appeared on the Ellen show.  Great job MGMRI.]

Authors Note, according to the LVMPD Communication Center Computer Aided Dispatch records, on October 1, 2017:

22:12:59 – Metro unit 3Mary 14 is inside Mandalay Bay on the 31^stfloor calling in gunshots coming from one floor above.

22:16:54 – Person reporting is Security at Mandalay Bay, shooter in room 32-135.

22:17- Security officer has been shot, other employees with him, have managers above and below floor that shooter is on, can hear gunshots, semi-automatic/rapid fire.

So, what was all the confusion as to where the gunshots were coming from and why wasn’t room 32-135 entered immediately once there were sufficient officers on scene?  The threat was inside that room, it was still an active shooter incident whether he was still firing or not.  Nobody could have known at the time that gunfire could not have erupted again.  Concert-goers were dead and wounded in the venue and according to reports that have been released everybody who responded on the 32^ndfloor was fully aware of that.     

Never forget the 58 people who lost their lives and the hundreds of others wounded by gunfire in the worst mass shooting in modern American history that occurred on the Las Vegas Strip, October 1, 2017.   It should never have happened.