Strip property evacuated
Reports of what eventually proved to be a false shooter alarm created hysteria at Circus Circus Hotel and Casino this weekend, leading to an evacuation of the Las Vegas Strip property.
The Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD) first responded to the Circus Circus incident at 5:40pm Saturday. The LVMPD took to X to announce preliminary reports of shots fired, only to post an update three hours later stating the reports of gunfire turned out to be “unfounded”:
According to a press release, the LVMPD evacuated Circus Circus “out of an abundance of caution” despite there being no victims or verified reports of shots fired.
The caution described by the LVMPD was certainly felt at Circus Circus, which, according to reports, essentially descended into mass hysteria.
Fear, hysteria rule
As the dust settled, the LVMPD issued a later press release stating its investigators learned a fight had taken place inside Circus Circus, leading to multiple other altercations that ultimately caused mass panic.?
Circus Circus has a history of violent crime, being the site of a double fatal stabbing in 2018, while more recently, four people were shot at and injured.?
Whether or not Circus Circus guests had the Strip resort’s violent past in mind on Saturday, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, guests fled the property “in fear of their lives.”
Circus Circus guest Shahiera Langendam stated people were crying and yelling, and many were trying to flee the property. “This was actually the most scariest thing I have ever experienced.”
heard a lot of stories about people possibly stabbing or shooting”
Langendam added that after people started warning others to hide, a woman told her she heard gunfire. “We heard a lot of stories about people possibly stabbing or shooting.”
Only guests allowed back
Another eyewitness report came from a pair of Circus Circus guests, who, luckily for them, had been visiting another Strip property.
As Andrew Cannezzaro and his girlfriend returned to their hotel at around 6:30pm, they were met with a “wall” of LVMPD officers outside Circus Circus.?“We could tell we weren’t going to get in . . .People were saying there was a shooter”
Cannezzaro said Circus Circus allowed the couple and other guests back into their rooms around 8pm, while those who couldn’t provide proof of being guests of the property were turned away.