Guests at Circus Circus Hotel & Casino on the Strip were left shaken on Saturday evening as police were quick to respond to reports of a possible shooting incident at the scene.
Later on, the authorities confirmed it was a false alarm.
Guest: “People Started Crying”
As the chaotic scene unfolded at the property near the Las Vegas Convention Center and downtown Las Vegas, many visitors started fleeing the hotel, fearing for their safety.
Hotel guest Shahiera Langendam recalled the terrifying moments when the situation spiraled out of control.
“People started crying. People started yelling and a lot of people started running,” she said. “This was actually the most scariest thing I have ever experienced.”
Langendam, who was inside a store on the property at the time, described the confusion that ensued as people began shouting warnings.
“A woman told me she heard gunshots,” she said. “We heard a lot of stories about people possibly stabbing or shooting. That’s what I heard,” she further added.
“No Victims or Evidence of a Shooting”
At around 6:30 p.m., police issued a statement saying they did not discover any “victims or evidence of a shooting.”
By 9:15 p.m., they reiterated their original claims of the shooting reports being unfounded. The authorities explained that a fight that had broken out inside the venue caused several individuals to flee the property in panic.
“This caused panic amongst the crowd, and several other fights broke out outside of the property,” the follow-up press release added.
While police didn’t specifically name Circus Circus in their statements, they did confirm that officers had responded to the scene just before 5:40 p.m. at a hotel located on the 2800 block of Las Vegas Boulevard South.
The hotel was evacuated as a precaution, and multiple police vehicles were visible outside the property later that evening.
“People Were Saying There Was a Shooter”
Andrew Cannezzaro, visiting from West Palm Beach, Florida, also witnessed the chaotic scene.
He and his girlfriend had returned to Circus Circus around 6:30 p.m. and were met with what he described as a “wall” of police officers outside the hotel.
“Our Uber driver said that there was something going on, so he went in the back way,” Cannezzaro explained.
“There was no way to get into Circus Circus at that point, so we had him drop us at the curb. We tried to go in and walked into a wall of cops. We could tell we weren’t going to get in. People were saying there was a shooter.”
By 8 p.m., Cannezzaro and other guests were allowed back into the hotel. However, those who couldn’t prove they were staying at Circus Circus were turned away.
In January, Circus Circus owner Phil Ruffin announced they were pondering selling the iconic venue, which is now worth roughly $5 billion, given its ongoing battles to stay on top of today’s industry trends.