Police identify Las Vegas Strip shooting suspect and victim
LAS VEGAS -- A man sitting at the back of a public bus on the Las Vegas Strip opened fire “for no apparent reason” as passengers got off at a stop in the heart of the tourism corridor, police said Sunday.
Gary Breitling, 57, of Sidney, Montana, was shot and killed Saturday before the gunman barricaded himself in the vehicle, shutting down the Strip for hours, the Clark County coroner’s office said. He died at a hospital.
Rolando Cardenas, 55, has been accused in the shooting, and he surrendered peacefully after a standoff inside the double-decker bus that lasted more than four hours, police said.
He was booked into jail on suspicion of murder, attempted murder, burglary and opening fire on the bus. An attorney for him could not immediately be found.
A 48-hour hearing is scheduled for Monday, according to CBS affiliate KLAS-TV.
The bus had stopped on the Strip near the Cosmopolitan hotel-casino and passengers were leaving when Cardenas stood up and fired several rounds from a handgun, police said.
Another victim suffered injuries and was hospitalized but was expected to live. Both victims were seated in the back with Cardenas, police said.
It was not known how many people were on the bus at the time of the shooting, but the bystanders and the victims had fled. Police have started a hotline seeking to hear what those passengers witnessed.
Because authorities did not know if more victims were inside, crisis negotiators, robots and armored vehicles surrounded the bus. Officers swept into casinos to warn tourists to hunker down until further notice, leaving the normally bustling pedestrian areas and a road notorious for taxi-to-taxi traffic completely empty.
Visitors also hid out inside some of the other prominent hotel-casino properties nearby, including the Bellagio, Paris, Planet Hollywood and Bally’s, which also hold restaurants, shops and attractions.
This is the 35th homicide investigation for the Las Vegas Municipal Police Department, according to KLAS-TV.