Employee at Las Vegas apartment complex takes out suspect carrying AR-15, thwarting possible mass shooting: Report

A good guy with a gun likely saved lives in Las Vegas, Nevada, last week after a suspect carrying several weapons, including an AR-15, began shooting inside an apartment building, reports say.

At approximately 1 p.m. on Friday, the Las Vegas Metro Police Department received reports of a shooting at Turnberry Towers, a high-rise apartment complex near Karen Avenue and Paradise Road, just east of the Las Vegas Strip. According to witnesses, a man wearing a helmet began firing several rounds at the front desk of the complex, though without injuring anyone.

Surveillance footage, which is believed to show the suspect attempting to exit the building, reveals a frightening scene. The man appears to blast his way into the entryway of the building by firing several rounds at the glass doors. He then opens another door with his arm and is almost immediately struck by at least one bullet from a gun fired from somewhere outside the scope of the surveillance camera.

Reports, at least one of which comes from a building resident, now indicate that the shooter who so quickly incapacitated the suspect was a Turnberry Towers employee. Noted gun rights advocate John R. Lott also reported that the employee, who has been hailed as a hero, had a permit to carry a concealed handgun.

Police, however, have not confirmed any of those details, stating only that two individuals were involved in the shooting and that one of the individuals was taken to the hospital in critical but stable condition. The injured individual is believed to be the suspect, who has not been identified and who reportedly had been carrying multiple weapons.

Lt. Noe Esparza with LVMPD called the shooting an "isolated incident" and repeatedly stated that there was no active shooter or continued threat to the public. "I want to dispel any reports of any active assailant or any active shooter situations, that was not the case here today," Esparza said. "The community is safe."

Benjamin Teal, also a resident of Turnberry Towers, credits another building employee with keeping him from harm. Teal was returning home just before the shooting and claimed that a building valet warned him about the gunman. "My valet comes out waving his arms saying, 'There is a guy with a gun, turn around and go the other way.' And so we go down to the basement, the first level where the valet parking is, and then we heard about six to seven or eight gunshots," Teal told KLAS. Teal said that the sound of gunshots was "distinguishable."

Esparza added that the investigation into the incident remains "ongoing" and "fluid." Turnberry Towers Las Vegas did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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