Las Vegas Sun

March 18, 2024

Metro: Reports of shooting on Las Vegas Strip unfounded

MGM Grand and ARIA

Wade Vandervort

An exterior view of the MGM Grand, Wednesday, Aug. 26, 2020.

Updated Sunday, July 17, 2022 | 3:06 p.m.

The loud noise caused by someone breaking glass near the valet area of a Las Vegas Strip resort Saturday night brought panic in the tourist corridor as false social media posts of an active shooter started to spread.

Rather, the loud bang was caused someone breaking a window in the valet area of the MGM Grand, according to Metro Police. The person who broke the glass was taken into custody and faces a destruction of property charge, officials said.

In a Twitter post about 30 minutes after the chaos started Metro wrote that “reports of a shooting near the MGM tonight are unfounded. Initial reports are a glass door shattered causing a loud noise which startled people in the valet area.”

“It caused a loud bang, there was a subsequent panic, thinking it was possible gunfire given the nature of what’s been happening across the nation,” Metro Police Capt. Branden Clarkson said Sunday.

The false reports of an active shooter started a chain reaction of discord as people frantically fled the area. Metro said its officers on the Strip were telling those people it was a false alarm, but many raced across the pedestrian bridge looking for safety at New York-New York.

In a Twitter post about 50 minutes after the incident started MGM said “operations at MGM Grand and all Strip properties are continuing as usual.”

There was a heavy police presence on the Strip for a few hours after the incident. There were no reported injuries.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.