(Ezekiel Loseke, Headline USA) An armed man wearing a tactical helmet used his rifle to force his way into a luxury condo in Las Vegas last week but was confronted and stopped by an armed employee, as captured on security footage.
Despite the widespread video of the attempted mass shooting, the Las Vegas Police Department has actively refused to confirm that the man was stopped by a citizen with a gun, RedState reported.
It's indisputable that an armed civilian stopped an active shooter last week.
You almost certainly haven't heard about it.
Why?
Because Las Vegas Police have gone out of their way to downplay it, while the media have shown basically zero interest.
THREAD.
— Amy Swearer (@AmySwearer) June 27, 2023
“It’s indisputable that an armed civilian stopped an active shooter last week,” wrote Amy Swearer, a senior legal fellow at the Heritage Foundation, in a tweet thread noting the media blackout.
“You almost certainly haven’t heard about it,” she added. “Why? Because Las Vegas Police have gone out of their way to downplay it.”
Swearer then proceeded to outline the basic details of the story as reported by local media.
“Two people involved. One shot and injured,” she wrote. “That’s it. Pretty standard crime, right?”
Swearer noted, however, that none of the reports indicated how the assailant was stopped.
“Was it a rugby tackle? Persuasion? Sorcery? An Old Testament-style act of Divine Intervention and super-natural strength?” she asked.
Despite the publicly available footage, “the police are just pretending like they have no idea what happened,” she continued.
She asked the Heritage Foundation’s news arm, the Daily Signal, to assist in asking the police to confirm basic details of the event that were readily verifiable with the security footage.
They asked for information “like whether they can confirm the gunman was shot by an employee, and what the employee’s role is at the building,” Swearer said, noting that the request was made four days after the incident, and the information requested posed no risk to the investigation.
Nonetheless, the LVPD proceeded to stonewall reporters, insisting that they undertake a lengthy and burdensome paperwork process instead of supplying simple answers.
Their response?
FOIA it. It's an active investigation.
I'm dead serious.
They refused to simply state the obvious – an armed civilian thwarted an active shooter.
— Amy Swearer (@AmySwearer) June 27, 2023
“They refused to simply state the obvious—an armed civilian thwarted an active shooter,” she said.
According to RedState, the reason for the cover-up may be that law-enforcement fear Clark County District Attorney Steve Wolfson may wind up charging the employee rather than the would-be assailant.
“Is Las Vegas PD keeping this quiet because the district attorney (a Democrat) might charge the employee for shooting the active shooter in the back as he’s leaving the building?” wrote RedState’s Bonchie. “That would be ludicrous. I wouldn’t think any person in any state has a reasonable expectation to allow an active shooter that has already opened fire back out onto a busy street.”
