Las Vegas strip safety eyed following New Orleans’ Bourbon Street vehicular terrorist attack

Torres-Cortez, Ricardo

Tribune News Service’s Las Vegas Review-Journal

LAS VEGAS Residents and tourists may be wondering what security measures are in place to stop a similar horrible catastrophe from happening on the Las Vegas Strip after Wednesday’s attack, in which a white pickup truck drove down New Orleans’ famous Bourbon Street, killing 14 people.

Thousands of steel posts have been placed along Las Vegas Boulevard in an effort to make the tourist route safer in the wake of vehicular terrorist attacks worldwide and a car ramming in the Strip that injured three dozen pedestrians in December 2015.

The county started erecting 6,000 bollards along the Strip in 2018, which has so far cost roughly $40 million. According to officials, each weighs more than half a ton and can survive a head-on collision with a 15,000-pound truck moving at 50 mph. On any given day, they are also in place to stop cars from swerving onto the walkways.

According to a Clark County spokesperson’s email on Friday, any designs that change the existing pedestrian protection in the resort corridor will have to incorporate pedestrian protection measures into their design as new development moves into the area.

The Associated Press claims that bollards in New Orleans are detachable, in contrast to those in Las Vegas. There were security holes because some were being replaced at the time of the attack.

Then, hours after the attack in the French Quarter, the Metropolitan Police Department reported that a Cybertruck carrying fuel and pyrotechnics exploded near the Trump International hotel in Las Vegas. This sparked early worries that the Cybertruck bombing might have been a terrorist strike.

Matthew Livelsberger, 37, the sole occupant of the Tesla car, had shot himself in the head and died. Investigators think the suicide and detonation happened at the same time, according to Sheriff Kevin McMahill. Police were looking into a letter Livelsberger allegedly sent in which he claimed that his acts were a wake-up call rather than a terrorist strike.

The explosion also caused minor injuries to seven additional people.

FBI officials stated in the hours and days following the two occurrences that Shamsud-Din Jabbar, the assailant from New Orleans, had acted alone and allied himself with the Islamic State group, and that there didn’t seem to be any evidence linking the attack to the Cybertruck blast. Additionally, authorities stated that they had not discovered any proof linking Livelsberger to a terrorist group.

According to Amanda Bellarmino, an assistant professor at UNLV’s William F. Harrah College of Hospitality, CEOs should always work to make the resorts even safer. According to her, guests should also be aware of things that don’t appear regular.

In an email to the Las Vegas Review-Journal, Bellarmino stated that hotels and casinos should undoubtedly have strategies in place to deal with terrorist strikes, and they most likely do.

“I think we are still a very safe destination, but the world is not a safe place,” she continued. We should all exercise caution and report any suspicious activity we come across.

Bellarmino stated before police revealed Livelsberger’s alleged letter: I believe the Cybertruck incident suggests that the driver was unable to drive into the throng because our city has the necessary safeguards in place to keep him from doing so on the Strip.

Every year, as tens of thousands of people converge on the Strip for New Year’s Eve celebrations, a section of Las Vegas Boulevard is blocked to cars. At the Fremont Street Experience in downtown Las Vegas, where roadways that cross the canopy are also closed, thousands more people celebrate the start of a new year.

With an abundance of personnel and technology, Metro and its local, state, and federal law enforcement partners protect the festivities. Officials predicted that over 400,000 people would attend the New Year’s events in downtown Las Vegas and on the Strip.

For apparent reasons, the city of Las Vegas did not want to reveal specifics about its security measures, according to spokesman Jace Radke. However, he pointed out that the city has stepped up safety measures, such as installing big concrete bollards at pedestrian crossings.

Councilwoman Victoria Seaman expressed her confidence in Metro’s and the city’s department of public safety’s preparations for special events in an interview with The Las Vegas Review-Journal on Friday.

Regretfully, she said in a statement, other incidents, like the recent catastrophe in New Orleans and the Trump hotel, can teach us more about prevention. To keep our community safe, I think law enforcement and government authorities can collaborate effectively.

According to Seaman, she prefers proactive rather than reactive behavior from officials.

Days before Christmas 2015, Paris Morton, formerly known as Lakeisha Holloway, killed an Arizona lady by driving into a walkway in front of Paris Las Vegas and Planet Hollywood Resort. The county took action.

Morton was charged by the prosecution with purposefully driving up the sidewalk while under the influence of marijuana. She is set to stand trial later this year on accusations of murder and attempted murder after undergoing several competence evaluations.

Ten years prior, a Californian used a Buick vehicle to mow down fourteen people close to the former Bally’s resort, which is now the Horseshoe Las Vegas. Three tourists lost their lives.

Stephen Ressa is currently serving a 100-year jail sentence for telling authorities that he believed the victims were demons attempting to murder him.

According to the county, Metro and the county also collaborate with private resort security to guarantee patrolling, enforcement coverage, prompt reaction times, and medical services.

The most of the time, pedestrians can only traverse the boulevard on bridges.

Although these are only two instances of what is a standard response to those in need, the county said in a statement that this partnership has been demonstrated by the quick response times by both Metro and the fire department during recent high-visibility incidents like the truck explosion and the stabbing incident that occurred in 2022.

The bollards were supported and put into place with close collaboration between Metro and the Nevada Resort Association, an advocacy group for the gambling and resort sector.

Virginia Valentine, the association’s president and CEO, stated in a statement that safeguarding both staff and guests is always the resort industry’s first priority. Strong procedures, such as security and surveillance measures that are hidden from the public or kept secret for optimal efficacy, are in place for our members to guarantee a safe atmosphere.

Valentine went on to say that our members, some of which had already included protective barriers in their hardscaping, Clark County, and Metro, enthusiastically accepted the bollards.

This was not the first time local authorities responded to high-profile catastrophes. The federal government constructed a new courthouse downtown with a blast-resistant curtain wall, which was first done at the time of the 1995 Oklahoma City bombing, which claimed 168 lives.

In 2000, the building opened.

McMahill was also questioned during a press conference on Wednesday about whether police should review security protocols in light of the Cybertruck explosion.

The previous evening, we had great success. “To be honest with you, I’m surprised this happened, and that’s definitely something we’re going to have to look at,” McMahill stated. Additionally, on Thursday, the sheriff expressed his confidence in our community’s safety going forward.

(This story was written by Richard N. Velotta, a staff writer at the Review-Journal.)

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