What happens in Vegas stays in Vegas
When the name Vegas is mentioned, the images of casino lights, big money, sex, drugs and all other forms of vices typically comes to mind; however, for someone present in Sin City on the first day of October, Vegas now holds a different connotation.
I was there. I was there in Vegas visiting for a weekend for the first time. Staying at the MGM Grand, I was dazzled by the flashing casino lights, the free alcohol, and the masses of people from every corner of the world. Vegas felt magical like a place where all your dreams could come true with just a touch of luck. What I did not expect was how dramatically my perception of this city would change.
My friends and I had just finished getting ready to head out to XS Nightclub for a Marshmello show when a faint noise resembling fireworks could be heard; however within minutes I received texts from the event promoter stating there was an active shooter on the strip and the strip was being closed off. At first we did not understand the severity, but almost instantly following reading this text we could see police cars and ambulances swarming the streets and streets being closed off.
At first it was hard to understand what was going on. Loud sounds and screams of people are common in Vegas. However, the screams of fearing for life has a whole different sound to it and that is what could be heard on the streets of the strip. As a series of shots began being fired from the Mandalay Bay Resort directly at the crowd of concert goers at the Route 91 Festival havoc replaced the fun.
Fortunately for my friends and I, we were outside of the concert and met a strip club promoter who helped us get an Uber and we escaped the madness of the Vegas strip and took refuge in the high security strip club — Sapphire Strip Club Vegas. Ironic how this seemed to be the safest open place we could be at. However, sitting at Sapphire we were not admiring the breathtakingly beautiful dancers, rather we were scrolling through Twitter and other news sites to see updates on what was going around us.
Social media immediately went rampant. Tweets featuring videos of people running for their lives with the sounds of brush fires could be heard. The sound continues to haunt me and has not left my mind. Images of bloodied people too were spread; however hours after the incident, these photos had been removed from Twitter, but not from my memory.
Around 4 AM the expressway finally reopened and we were able to return to the MGM; however the MGM would never feel the same for us.
Silence. Silence filled the halls of the MGM where Casino tables were empty and many of the slot machines turned off. Even the sound of music was nowhere to be heard. Eerie just like a ghost town — Vegas had become cold and quiet and an atmosphere of mourning took over.
Displaced people and shooting survivors had taken refuge in the main lobby of the MGM. People were huddled in brown blankets crying and shaking traumatized from the event while others injured and cut up from escaping the shooting were waiting expressionless for help from the paramedics.
Back at our hotel room staring outside our window, the Mandalay Bay Resort unfortunately was in plain sight view from our window reminding us of the tragedy that had just taken place. For hours my friends and I continued to watch local Vegas news reports. These news reports had initially cited this tragedy as an act of terror and said ISIS affiliation rumors were still just rumors; however within hours the tone of the way news was being conveyed completely took a different turn. National news stepped in and had a different take.
National news took to humanizing Stephen Paddock by creating a story about him and his background. However for me and many of those who were there in Vegas at the time, Stephen Paddock is a criminal. He is a mass murderer. And he is a man that terrorized innocent people and is responsible for spreading mass fear. What he was or did in his life prior to this attack is not what should be the focus on conversation regarding this tragedy. Following the events of the Vegas shooting, the shooting itself had been named ‘The Deadliest Mass Shooting in US History;’ however why is it that the event is attributed with a spine chilling name, but Stephen Paddock is described by national news platforms as “a gambler” or a “retired grandpa.”
As a witness of the aftermath of the Vegas shooting, I have been left with a lot to reflect upon and my perception of the way news media is presented and reported has been significantly impacted. I am left feeling that maybe President Trump’s allegations towards national news organizations of ‘Fake News” may not be complete malarkey after all.
Almost a month has passed now since the tragedy and the conversation about Vegas has died down. Today, across the globe terror striking tragedies have become a commonplace occurrence and people almost expect such tragedies to occur. The only question left to the imagination now is when and where is next and how many will be affected before a real solution to this growing problem is solved.
Edited by Maryam Elahi
