The Four Stories of LVMPD Officers Varsin & Hendrex
As thousands of pages of Las Vegas shooting evidence are released, and members of the public review them document by document, minuscule pieces of the puzzle can be put together. Little by little the events on the night of the shooting are becoming clearer.
There is one confusing story that has been detailed by four different law enforcement officers with different versions being told by each individual.
Officer Cordell Hendrex and Officer Elif Varsin are the subjects of one of the most crucial portions of the police response to the active shooter in Mandalay Bay. It is believed that they are the officers that first knew the exact location of the shooter. This makes the following four conflicting stories all the more troubling.
The first account of the movements of Varsin and Hendrex came from the January 19, 2018 Force Investigation Team (FIT) report:
As the active shooter incident was occurring, two LVMPD officers were in the security office of the Mandalay Bay handling a call for service reference two females who were in custody for trespassing.
10:06 pm- Security Officer Campos told his dispatcher via his radio, “Hey there’s shots fired in, uh, 32–135.”
The officers heard the radio broadcast of gunfire at the Route 91 Harvest Festival. Both officers, along with security personnel, exited the security office and responded towards the Las Vegas Village.
10:07 pm- LVMPD Officers Varsin and Hendrex left the Mandalay Bay Security Office with two armed Mandalay Bay Security Officers.
As they were making their way through the casino, security personnel advised the officers of an active shooter on the 32nd floor of the hotel. The officers then directed security to escort them to that location. The officers and security personnel entered the Center Core guest elevators and were again advised the shooter was on the 32nd floor. The officers made a tactical decision to respond to the 31st floor and take the stairwell to the 32nd floor.
10:10 pm- Engineer Schuck stated over his radio, “Shannon, call the police. Someone’s firing a rifle on the 32nd floor down the hallway.”
10:11 pm- LVMPD Officers Varsin and Hendrex arrived at the Center Core area of the 31st floor and began walking up the 100-wing along with armed security officers from Mandalay Bay.
10:16- LVMPD Officers Varsin and Hendrex along with Mandalay Bay security officers made entry into the stairwell on the 31st floor.
The second account of Varsin and Hendrex’s response comes from Mandalay Bay Engineering Supervisor Shannon Alsbury. His account is as follows:
Mr. Alsbury describes running into his office for a moment and getting a phone call from his dispatcher saying that a security officer needed to talk to him. He was transferred to the security officer, who asked him if engineering was doing any work on the 32nd floor, 100 wing. Alsbury told the security officer that he was not aware of any work going on in that location. They discussed what type of bracket was on the door and the fact that the security officer was hearing drilling on the other side of the bracketed door…
At that point, Shannon Alsbury thinks there may be someone putting brackets on all the stairwell doors so he leaves his office heading in the direction of the 32nd floor. On his way, he calls his engineer to have him meet him on the 32nd floor regarding the bracketed door. He took the elevator to beach level and stops at the casino floor. These are the events as described by Shannon Alsbury from that point on:
“The 32nd floor and I hit the 32nd floor, stopped at the casino. “Cause we’re goin, you know, tryin’ to find this guy.”
“Um and then next thing you know three security managers and two Metro cops come running in and they’re like, uh, you know, and I’d already had 30 seconds and they’re like, you know, ‘oh there’s a shooter up on the 32nd floor.” And I said, ‘A shooter? I’m on my way up there for somebody bracketing a door.”
“So we, you know. The doors shut, you know, they’re getting’ already ’cause we’re goin’ up. Doors open up. I was tryin’ to call out on the radio to let [REDACTED NAME] know, hey look, you know?”
“Get out of there. I don’t know if it went through because it bein’ in the elevator in the core it’s kinda real dead. Doors open up on 32. Well doors open up on 31 first and the Metro officers got out kinda turned back in ’cause we were gonna try to get…
…into the stairwell. Doors open, you know, doors shut. Go back up to 32. Doors open up. We come out of the elevator and just as we’re comin’ out of the elevator core [REDACTED NAME] and [REDACTED NAME] — the security officer — are coming around from the 100 wing and kinda holdin’ [REDACTED NAME].”
“And they’re like, ‘Hey look, somebody’s shootin’ down the hallway,” and you could hear the- what sounded like full auto.”
“Whatever it was it never punctured the skin or the uniform. Um, made sure he was good. Got him around the corner. Um, they were kinda lookin’ at [REDACTED NAME]- Metro and the two Metro officers and the three security manager started working their way down the hallway.”
“So then they started clearing the room. Now…”
“The rooms.”
“The rooms on the way down. But we didn’t hear. We just as soon as we got out of the elevator we heard maybe him emptying out one round or one full clip of ammo.”
“And then another clip of ammo and then it was dead silent.”
Detective M. Colon then asks Mr. Alsbury about the officers that went up in the elevator with him:
Det. Colon- What- the officer that went up in the elevator with you were they- what were they wearing, like, the…
SA- Uh, they were wearin’ the tan- the tan…
Det. Colon- Just the normal, like, patrol uniform?
SA- Yeah, I guess.
Det. Colon- Not that green thing? Not like what the SAWT guys were wearing?
SA- No- No- No.
Det. Colon- Okay
SA- No. The — from what they had said was that they were here because of a couple of hookers.
Det. Colon- Oh okay. They were on a…
SA- Yeah
Det. Colon- They were on another call? A different call.
SA- Exactly. And then everything started comin’ across the radio from what I understand.
Det. Colon- Hey when the- the elevators I think you said opened on 31? Did any of the cops leave or they all stayed?
SA- Uh, they walked out and then turned back around and came back in.
The third version of events came from a witness statement that Detective Breck Hodson conducted with an unnamed Mandalay Bay security supervisor:
Supv- Yes, sir.
BH- What do you recall from that night in your own words?
Supv- Around 2100 hours approximately we had found two prostitutes, recognized prostitutes in a bar on the casino floor, Mizuya Lounge. We escorted the two women to our holding room, the casino security office, where I, we did pat down searches on them. They had false ID on both of them and also regular ID. I made the phone call for Metro to show, I’m going to guess probably around 2120 hours — I’m sorry — 2140 hours, Metro arrived. They began to do the paperwork, and I’m going, you know, you’renot recording times because you don’t know what’s going to happen, right. So, I’m going by a guesstimate, a good guesstimate, I’m going to say 21–0r 2200 hours.
A radio transmission came over Metro Officer Hendrick’s radio, “Shots fired, festival lot across from Luxor.” Officer Hendrix looks at me and said, “Did you hear that?” And I said, “Yeah, that’s right across the street.” And right after I said that over Metro’s radio again came, “Headed to Mandalay Bay.”
And it was like basically everybody went, “Oh {expletive}.” And then we ran out of the CSO [casino security office] towards the casino floor. My intention was to head towards the Dragon Falls on the corner of Las Vegas Boulevard and Mandalay Bay Road.
OK, because that would have been the logical entry from the festival lot if they were heading to Mandalay Bay. So, my intention was to go out the tram doors to start heading in that direction, but as we hit the craps tables our radio transmission came from our security officer who was patrolling the hotel at the time [name redacted in report, but this was S/O Jesus Campos] his radio transmission was Control, shots fired, 32nd floor, 100 wing, I think I’ve been hit.
So as soon as we heard that I yelled at Hendrix and said, “Elevators — elevators, shots fired on — elevators — elevators.” So, we ran, we grabbed an elevator. My [name redacted], Officer Hendrix with metro, his trainee — which I don’t know the name, it was her first day — and myself we were in the elevator heading up to 32. When we hit around the 23rd to 25th floor our radio traffic came on and said, “Shots fired 31st floor.” So, I pushed the 31st button.
And the 32 was obviously pressed already. We were all going to 32. Doors opened on 32. [Name redacted] and the training Metro officer got off on the 31st floor. Me and Hendrix got off on the 32nd floor. When we got off on the 32nd floor we heard active shooting still going on.
BH- So, hold on, so Hendrix is — was he with you on 32?
Supv- Mm — hm.
BH- He left his trainee down on 31?
Supv- He — the trainee got off with my two assistants on 31. And Hendrix went up with me to 32. When the elevator doors opened we heard active, semi-fire. It was basically (making gunfire noises). We head — we turn the wing, because the 100 wing when you came out of the elevator bank was on the right. We turned the wing. I hugged the left wall at center core. He hugged the right wall and there was active shooting going on in the room for approximately two minutes more. About two minutes more there was still gunfire going on. Then it got quiet. That was it, done. And then myself and Officer Hendrix with our weapons drawn on the room way down the hallway now.
We maintained, we maintained our position, to conceal, to confine rather, that room, hopefully, nobody would be coming out. And then we waited, and then I’m going to say about maybe three to four minutes later some uniform Metro cops started showing up, gathering in center, center core. And then, armor set up in front. Had two officers laying on the floor with their rifles drawn on the room. One in the left, one on the right. And then, after a while a decision was made to try to start to evacuate.
Officer Hendrex’s statement is the fourth different version and begins with him and Officer Varsin responding to a trespassing call at Mandalay Bay and in the middle of writing a citation for the trespassers:
About halfway through the citation at approximately 2207 hours I hear and officer get on the radio and say that there was an active shooter inside the Route 91 Music Festival, which I knew to be across the street from the Mandalay Bay hotel. I then informed the security personnel that were in the office with me of the information I had just received and I immediately got up and walked out of the security room toward the front of the casino
While heading across the casino floor we received more information regarding the shooter or shooters. I heard on the police radio that at least some of the shots were coming from inside of the Mandalay Bay about halfway up the side of the casino closest to the strip and not just from the concert.
I once again shared this information with the security personnel with me and we continued running across the casino floor. A moment later one of the security personnel stopped and said that he heard over the hotel radio that the shots were actually coming from the 31st floor. I then told him to take me there. He directed me to the elevator and I asked him if this was the tower closest to the strip and he said that it was. (It should be noted that Officer Varsin activated her BWC while still in the security office, I forgot to turn mine on until later). We got into the elevator and I realized that Officer Varsin was right there with me along with 3 security managers, whom were identified later as [THREE REDACTED NAMES]. As we rode up the elevator I distinctly remember saying a prayer in my head for all of us in the elevator and the ones still dealing with the shots coming at them.
At some point I pulled out my firearm, as I do not remember doing this, but when the doors opened on the 31st floor my gun was in front of me and I was clearing around the corner and then down the hall to try to locate the shooter or shooters. The floor was quiet and no one was in the hall.
While going down the hall one of the guys said that there was a stairwell at the end of the hall. Once were near the end of the hall we heard a volley of automatic rifle fire start. The sounds of the shots were so very loud and reverberated through the hall like thunder all around and above us. Above us I could tell that it was coming from the floor above us on 32. I then told everyone to get back and we retreated a few doors from the end of the hall. I know I hesitated and remember being terrified with fear and I think I froze right there in the middle of the hall. For how long I can’t say. I do know that at 2212 hours I got on the radio and told dispatch that I was inside the Mandalay Bay on the 31st floor and that I could hear the automatic fire coming from the floor above us. (I regret not being clearer in my radio traffic and saying 32nd floor because after hearing myself later I said “coming from one floor ahead, one floor above us, I stumbled my words).
I once again hesitated as the shots were still being fired from the 32nd floor and I remember saying another prayer in my head for God to keep us safe. I did not know what to do next. I remember that I had myself, my day two trainee and three security managers. Between the five of us only I and Officer Varsin were wearing body armor and all of us were only armed with a handgun each. The shooting stopped and all I could think was to stop the shooter or shooters from becoming mobile and escaping. At 2215 hours the last shots were fired and we then made our way back to the end of the hall to the stairwell. Once at the stairwell door I had to again stop [REDACTED NAME] from opening the door as once again I knew it was my responsibility. I then made entry to the stairwell and quickly cleared down then up and around the stairs to the 32nd floor door. I walked up to the 33rd floor……..
In conclusion:
We have FIT report stating that Mandalay Bay security personnel told Varsin and Hendrex that the shooter was on the 32nd floor once they left the office, even though they were in the security office when Campos reported the shooter’s exact location. This account says Varsin and Hendrex got off on the 31st floor, as a tactical decision in order to go up the stairwell from 31st to 32nd floor.
Shannon Alsbury’s version states that Metro officers ran up to him and told him that there was a shooter on the 32nd floor and has Varsin & Hendrex getting out of the elevator on 31st floor but getting right back in and going up to 32nd with him.
An unnamed Security Manager states that he heard Jesus Campos’ call of shots fired on 32nd floor 100 wing, over the radio and notified Varsin and Hendrex. They got into center core elevator and around 23rd to 25th floor there was security radio traffic saying “shots fired on 31st floor”. When the elevator stopped at 31st floor, Hendrex left his 2nd day trainee Varsin on the 31st floor, while he went up the 32nd floor.
Finally, Officer Hendrex’s statement says that both he and Officer Varsin went to the 31st floor because of the radio transmission in the elevator saying shots fired on 31st floor. He heard the shots from the next floor up (32nd) and continued to clear rooms on the 31st floor. Shots stopped at 2215 hours and he then made his way to the stairwell with his partner and the three security managers and ascended to the 32nd floor.
These conflicting stories are extremely disconcerting. Four individuals that were together for many of the same events that night have differing accounts. The determination on whose story is the most accurate, correct version of events can only be made by the release of Officer Varsin’s body camera footage, intact, beginning from the time she activated it in the security office.
