Wynn Resorts Chairman and CEO Steve Wynn says that staff at Wynn Resorts properties have been trained to identify security threats, but may have been powerless to prevent the “unexpected” actions of Las Vegas shooter Stephen Paddock according to the accounts of employees who knew him.
In an interview aired on the US television show Fox News Sunday, Mr Wynn admitted that Paddock – the man who killed 58 people and wounded hundreds more when he opened fire on a Las Vegas music festival from the window of his Mandalay Bay hotel room – had frequented Wynn properties on the Las Vegas Strip but didn’t fit the profile of a prolific or problem gambler.
“This sounds like someone totally demented, which he never evidenced, or someone who’s sending a message,” Mr Wynn said.
“We don’t know what that message is or if there is one but this behavior, according to my employees, is as stunning, as unexpected as any of them have ever met.
“He was a rational man and every historical review of his behavior indicates that he was a rational man … and yet he prepared, over an extended period of time, a totally irrational act.”
However, Mr Wynn added that Wynn Resorts had begun implementing new security protocols at its properties in 2015, including a ban on guns and routine checks of any guests posting a “do not disturb” sign on their door for long periods of time.
“We certainly wouldn’t invade the privacy of a guest in a room,” he said. “But put it this way – the scenario that we’re aware of would have indicated that he didn’t let anyone in the room for two or three days. That would have triggered a whole bunch of alarms here and we would have, on behalf of the guest, investigated for safety and it would have been a provocative situation.”
In regards to security protocols, Mr Wynn said, “We had to retrain the entire workforce from housekeeping and room service and people in the tower and observing people. We had to cover every exit and every aspect of the building to see if we could identify and pre-empt any kind of terroristic or violent action. It’s never perfect, of course, but what you can do – to use local vernacular – you can change the odds, I guess.”
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