Security guard describes moment Stephen Paddock shot him

Daily Mail

The security guard who was shot at the beginning of the Las Vegas gunman’s rampage has finally spoken out about his brush with death.

Jesus Campos had several interviews scheduled last week, before he cancelled them all and disappeared.

But he resurfaced on Tuesday, when Ellen announced that she would be interviewing him on her show.  

Ellen released a preview of the interview Wednesday morning, in which Campos describes the moment that gunman Stephen Paddock started shooting at him through the door of his Mandalay Bay hotel room suite.

Sitting next to maintenance worker Stephen Schuck, who was also shot at by Paddock, Campos says he went up to the 32nd floor to figure out why a fire escape door wasn’t opening.

When he reached the 32nd floor he said he heard ‘drilling sounds’ and assumed they were doing work nearby. It’s unclear what those drilling sounds were. The most recent police timeline says that Paddock hadn’t started shooting at the festival until after Campos arrived on the floor and was injured.

The stairwell door emptied onto the 32nd floor right outside Paddock’s corner suite, and Campos was walking away from the room when he says the gunman started shooting at him.

‘I heard rapid fire,’ Campos recalled. ‘At first I took cover. I felt a burning sensation. I went to go lift my pant leg up and I saw the blood and that’s when I called it in on my radio.’

Police believe Paddock was tipped off to Campos’ arrival due to security cameras he rigged in the hallway. They say he fired 200 gunshots through the door at Campos before opening fire at a music festival across the street through a broken window in his room.

Shuck arrived on the floor just as Campos was being shot at, and he credits the security guard with saving his life.

‘Jesus, he leaned out and he said “take cover, take cover!” and yelled at me and within milliseconds…if he didn’t say that I would have got hit,’ Schuck said.

When asked how he is coping, Campos said: ‘I’m doing better each day. Slowly but surely, just healing physically and mentally.’

He also made sure to thank everyone who helped stop Paddock and who aided the victims that night.

‘Everyone came together to help that night even in the darkest hour,’ he said.

Campos said that his interview with Ellen will be the first and only time he speaks publicly about what happened.

Ellen says that both Campos and Schuck refused to accept any money from her, so one of the show’s sponsors donated $25,000 to the Las Vegas Victim’s Fund on their behalf.

The full interview with Campos and Schuck airs Wednesday afternoon on Ellen.

It comes after police spoke out saying Campos was a victim and he was not a missing person after questions were raised about his disappearance.

Campos had interviews with Fox, CBS, CNN, ABC and NBC scheduled for last Thursday, but he was a no show to all of them.

Questions have been raised about his whereabouts but police told Fox News on Tuesday that he was not considered a missing person.

‘He is a victim in this and we don’t discuss victims,’ Las Vegas Police officer Larry Hadfield said.

A spokeswoman for MGM Resorts International, the casino company that owns the Mandalay Bay hotel, said Campos was safe but that he wanted people to respect his privacy.

It comes after a representative for Campos’ union said he had prepared last Thursday for TV appearances but went to a health clinic instead.

Security, Police, and Fire Professionals of America leader David Hickey said Tuesday he last heard about Jesus Campos’ whereabouts from a union member who messaged that he was with Campos at the clinic.

Hickey says the same union member sent messages on Friday saying he was with Campos but not saying where.

His disappearance came just hours after MGM Resorts International disputed the official timeline of the shooting.

They rejected any suggestion that hotel staff delayed calling 911 for six minutes after Paddock opened fire.

The latest chronology raised a series of questions about whether officers were given information quickly enough to possibly have a chance to take out the gunman before he could carry out the bloodshed.

But according to resort officials, it was no more than 40 seconds between the time Campos used his walkie talkie to call for help and Paddock opening fire on the crowd from two windows in his suite.

Earlier in the investigation, police had said that Paddock shot through his door and wounded Campos after the guard distracted him from firing on the crowd out the windows.

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-4992862/Security-guard-describes-moment-Vegas-gunman-shot-him.html#ixzz4vt1WSgkk
Follow us: @MailOnline on Twitter | DailyMail on Facebook