Speaking to the media on Monday, Las Vegas Sheriff Joe Lombardo confirmed that Mandalay Bay security guard Jesus Campos was shot by gunman Stephen Paddock a full six minutes before Paddock fired on the crowd at the Route 91 Harvest Fest. Paddock killed 58 people and injured more than 500 before killing himself.
"What we have learned is that Mr. Campos was encountered by the suspect prior to his shooting," Lombardo told the crowd.
Watch:
NEW: Las Vegas sheriff says Mandalay Bay security guard was shot 6 minutes before first shots were fired at crowd. https://t.co/93TsuvBxBg pic.twitter.com/8iJuHX5kap
— ABC News (@ABC) October 9, 2017
Campos was shot while investigating an alarm that was unrelated to Paddock's room. He was shot in the leg at 9:59, about six minutes before Paddock opened fire on the concert. Previously, police thought Campos had been the one to stop the shooting.
Police were not in a hurry to enter Paddock’s suite because the security guard’s arrival had halted the shooting, police implied in previously describing the timeline.
But on Monday, the timeline changed.
“Mr. Campos was encountered by the suspect prior to his shooting to the outside world,” Lombardo said at a Monday news conference.
Police officers who started searching the hotel after the shooting began didn’t know a hotel security guard had been shot “until they met him in the hallway after exiting the elevator,” Lombardo said.
Charles "Sid" Heal, a retired Los Angeles County sheriff's commander and tactical expert, said the new timeline “changes the whole perspective of the shooting."
Police still have not determined Paddock's motive in the attack.