More Las Vegas Strip Violence Caught on Camera

Posted on: October 20, 2020, 02:53h. 

Last updated on: October 20, 2020, 03:54h.

Larry Henry Read More
Expertise: Commercial Gaming, Gaming Business, Legislation, Politics, Regulation.

A local man videotaped a fight Saturday on the Las Vegas Strip near the Planet Hollywood hotel-casino. In a separate altercation, police arrested four people in a gun incident early Monday, also near Planet Hollywood.

Planet Hollywood
The Planet Hollywood hotel-casino, seen here on the Las Vegas Strip, was the site of a recent fight recorded on video. Police have beefed up their patrols to stem violence in tourism areas. (Image: Las Vegas Magazine)

Those incidents are the latest in a surge of gunfire and assaults on or near the Strip at some of the world’s most renowned resorts. The Strip includes more than 20 hotel-casinos in a three-mile stretch, running from the Sahara at the northern end to the Mandalay Bay at the southern end.

Dustin Nelson said he shot video of “a cat fight royale free-for all” on a pedestrian bridge near Planet Hollywood just after 8:30 pm on Saturday, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. The video shows a dozen or more mostly young men and women punching and kicking. It is posted on the newspaper website.

Nelson told the newspaper he saw a security guard at the scene, but no police officers. Police later said there were no records of any fights at that area, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal.

Nelson told the newspaper he wanted to share the video because “it’s my city, so I care.”

It is not the same city as it was before the pandemic,” he said.

Nelson said low hotel room rates tend to attract “anybody” to the city.

Gov. Steve Sisolak (D) allowed casinos to reopen June 4 after a COVID-19 lockdown that began in March. Some resorts opened more quickly than others. Planet Hollywood is the latest property to begin operating again on the Strip. It reopened Oct. 8.

Four Arrested in Shooting

The fight on the pedestrian bridge is the second recent violent incident in that area.

On Monday, a man fired a weapon just before 1 am on the Strip near Planet Hollywood. The confrontation involved at least three other people, according to the Las Vegas Review-Journal. There were no reported injuries.

Four people were booked into the Clark County Detention Center in connection with the incident, the newspaper reported.

Jonathan Rosales, 24, was being held on suspicion of assault with a deadly weapon and discharging a weapon where people might be endangered, according to the Review-Journal. Patelesio Togia, 22, Daniel Mikaele, 25, and Leslie Derrar, 20, also were booked in  the incident.

Security Upped in Response

The video from Saturday’s fight is the second one showing a violent incident near Planet Hollywood.

On Oct. 11, one man was shot in the leg and hospitalized in a drug transaction at the Miracle Mile Shops on the Strip, according to police. The Miracle Mile Shops are connected to Planet Hollywood. The profanity-laced video was posted on KSNV-TV’s website.

Public concern over an increase in violence has led to beefed-up police patrols along the Strip and other tourist areas. Authorities have said “a good portion” of this violence is coming from out-of state gang members and visitors.

Some resorts on the Strip have implemented their own in-house security measures in response. The Cosmopolitan has added additional guards and is scanning guests with a metal detector.

Guards at the two Wynn Resorts properties — the Encore and Wynn Las Vegas — also are scanning guests with metal detectors. A fight at the Encore in September caused an estimated $15,000 in damage.