Recent Violence Prompts Wynn Resorts in Las Vegas to Beef Up Security

Posted on: October 6, 2020, 01:23h. 

Last updated on: October 6, 2020, 02:07h.

Larry Henry Read More

Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Gaming Business, Legislation, Politics, Regulation.

Wynn Las Vegas and the Encore casinos on the Las Vegas Strip are putting new security measures in place, including K-9 dogs and metal scanners.

Patrons entering the Wynn Resorts properties will now be scanned for metal objects. Security will also screen hand-held bags, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. Security checks will only occur Fridays through Sundays.

The increased security comes after a fight last month at the Encore and several recent gun incidents on the Strip. The fight at the Encore resulted in an estimated $15,000 in damage.

Wynn Las Vegas and the Encore were built at the site of the now-demolished Desert Inn hotel-casino. The Desert Inn became well-known as the Strip property where reclusive billionaire Howard Hughes lived for several years in the late 1960s.

Most Recent Violence

A string of recent violent incidents on and near the Strip led to this increased police presence.

In the most recent incident, security guards at the South Point Hotel Casino and Spa shot and killed an armed man on Sunday in the valet area at the resort. The South Point is at the southern end of the Strip.

The man had been on the property for about an hour. Then man fired a shot into the air after leaving the casino, according to news reports. He then pointed the handgun at security guards and was killed, authorities said.

The man had not been a guest at the hotel. He was thought to have been homeless, authorities said.

Vegas’ Gun Violence

At least five people had been wounded in shootings at different locations on the Strip in recent weeks.

One woman was grazed last month during gunfire in the valet area at the Aria hotel-casino. In a separate incident, three people were hospitalized in a shooting on the parking lot at the off-Strip Stage Door Casino.

Another shooting on the sidewalk near the Flamingo hotel-casino resulted in one man being hospitalized. The resort was locked down for about three hours while authorities searched for a suspect. Two suspects later were arrested in California.

Sheriff Joe Lombardo blamed the increase in violence partly on alcohol and drug usage.

It’s just a lot of people in a small condensed area and you infuse their desire to have a great time and infuse things like alcohol and drugs and it’s a bad combination,” he said in an interview on KLAS-TV’s “Good Day Las Vegas.”

In August and September, police seized more than 60 weapons and made more than 1,100 arrests in downtown Las Vegas and on the Strip. The Strip is outside Las Vegas city limits. The combined city-county police department has jurisdiction over both areas.