LAS VEGAS — Las Vegas is posting snipers and surrounding tens of thousands of runners with other safety measures at a weekend marathon, the first large-scale outdoor event since a gunman killed 58 people at a country music festival.
Police have beefed up security and tweaked their original safety plan for the annual event that starts on the Las Vegas Strip. Some say they will be running Sunday to stand up to evil. About 350 officers will be working to protect the runners as they pass by world-famous high-rise casino-hotels and the crime scene.
“We’ve made a few changes, some subtle things,” Capt. Andrew Walsh said. “Obviously, the threat of a sniper attack is something that we know can happen. So, we added some counter-sniper surveillance posts along the route.”
A high-stakes gambler and real estate investor killed 58 people and injured hundreds more on Oct. 1 after shattering the windows of his hotel suite and firing on the Route 91 Harvest music festival below. From the 32nd floor of the Mandalay Bay casino-hotel, Stephen Paddock had an unobstructed view to rain bullets on the crowd, who had few places to hide.
