LAS VEGAS, Nev. (KSNV/NBCNC) – The sheriff in charge of Las Vegas police is defending his department against charges of hiding information and giving out an inaccurate timeline.
Sheriff Joe Lombardo said the shooting on October first was a huge event with more than a thousand pieces of evidence. He tried to clarify certain things starting with the number of injured.
Lombardo says there were 546 people injured and that 501 have been released from the hospital. And while there are 58 victims who were killed, that number could rise since some of the 45 still hospitalized are in critical condition.
Lombardo made sure that praise went to not only police and fire personnel, but to the medical community as well. He also stressed that his department is not handing over the investigation to the FBI, and that it is a joint operation.
Sheriff Joe Lombardo made the following statements:
“My intent in the early throws were to give you the information to provide that calmness in the community to ensure that we didn’t have a second player or a third player out hiding in the community intending to cause us harm. So… there WAS no integrity question associated with that, as I’ve experienced through the cyberspace questioning my integrity. I provided you the information as I knew it… and everybody in here knew it was gonna change.
“I still stand by the time of 2159… 9:59. It’s important that you continue to listen to me. 9:59 IS important. It wasn’t inaccurate when I provided it to you. The circumstances associated with it is inaccurate. Okay? I am very well aware of the MGM statement provided yesterday. I agree with their statement. I’m not in conflict with their statement. (:33) But here’s what I will tell you. We were provided the time of 9:59 as a human entry into a security log. Through investigation we have determined that Mr. Campos had encountered the barricaded door adjacent to the suspect’s door at approximately 2159.
“There is no conspiracy between the FBI, between the LVMPD and the MGM. Nobody is attempting to hide anything reference this investigation. The dynamics and the size of this investigation requires us to go through voluminous amounts of information in order to draw an accurate picture. My intent, like I stated earlier, is to give you the information, as I know it, unverified, to calm the public.
“Unfortunately a great deal of my investigators’ time has been preoccupied on this timeline. In the public space the word “incompetence” has been brought forward… and I am absolutely offended with that characterization.”
© 2024 KOBI-TV NBC5. All rights reserved unless otherwise stated.