Gold Coast Thunder from Down Under MC, cafe owner caught in Vegas gunfire drama
UPDATE: Former Gold Coast casino executive Brian Hodge was in the hotel near the alleged shooter and had to be rescued by a SWAT team.
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- LATEST NEWS: Mandalay Bay casino Las Vegas shooting
- EYEWITNESS: ‘There’s a gunman shotting upstairs’
UPDATE: Former Gold Coast casino executive Brian Hodge was in the hotel near the alleged shooter and had to be rescued by a SWAT team.
“There is a live shooter with a gun in my hotel in Vegas right now, but I got outside safely and am hiding in bushes,” Mr Hodge wrote on Facebook.
“Just got rescued by a SWAT team and heading to safety.”
The ex-entertainment marketing and special events director for The Star in Broadbeach, formerly Jupiters, travelled from Los Angeles to Las Vegas three days ago for work.
EARLIER: GOLD Coasters caught up in the open-air concert shooting drama in Las Vegas have described hectic scenes close to the incident.
Surfers Paradise Ultra Lounge bar co-owner Nathan Claridge, a globetrotting MC for the Vegas-based Thunder from Down Under male revue, posted video from the near the scene soon after the shooting started.
The 32-year-old had just left work from a nearby hotel when he came across people diving for cover and running from away from what sounded like machine gun fire which could be heard in the background.
Mr Claridge, who said he shot video of the pandemonium from a car he was a passenger in, said initially it was difficult to pinpoint where the gunfire was.
He can be heard in the video saying: “Yo, what’s doing up there? Yo, where is that coming from?
“What the f..k?”
A voice can then be heard saying: “Holy s..t...gunfire down there...f..k.”
Mr Claridge posted the video to Facebook with the status saying: “Stay off the (Vegas) strip - leaving work in Vegas, multiple shooters up near Mandalay Bay at country music festival.”
Speaking to the Bulletin after getting safely back to his accommodation several miles away, he said: “I have never been involved in something like that before. It was nuts.
“It was surreal, it was like ‘Is this really happening?’.”
He and colleague Benny Cleary, of the Sunshine Coast, who was driving the car asked people if they needed help - and people shouted back at them to turn around and “just get out of there”.
Meanwhile, Gold Coast woman and local business owner Jessica Winters told the Bulletin, she and her partner Peter Tutton were locked out the back of the MGM Grand nearby after being evacuated from an internal restaurant twice.
“We were in the restaurant and everyone was running through the casino. There were people running past our restaurant. I said to our waiter what’s going on? He said ‘Oh there must be a celebrity.’
“I was like no are there are alarms going off, do we need to evacuate? Then a guy came in and said there’s a shooter, you need to get out. The staff quickly ushered us out the back of house.”
Armed police were responding to reports of a gunman opening fire at Mandalay Bay casino in Las Vegas.
There are unconfirmed reports of “multiple victims” at the open-air concert where gunshots have been heard.
Witnesses say the shots appeared to come from a balcony on the 32nd floor of the adjoining casino at the crowd of at the Route 01 festival on the grounds below.
Witnesses report seeing “multiple injuries and fatalities”, with people being shot around them as they fled the concert show on foot.
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