Man starts shooting in casino
LAS VEGAS – Christopher Koenig was pumping nickels into a slot machine at the New York-New York casino just after midnight early Friday, “losing big,” when he first heard gunfire.
The former public-safety officer from Missouri said he ran toward the shots, bounded up the casino escalator to a second-floor walkway and helped others subdue the alleged shooter, 51-year-old Steven Zegrean.
Zegrean, reportedly an out-of-work painter who is estranged from his family, allegedly opened fire on casino gamblers, wounding four people. He was reloading his 9 mm semiautomatic handgun when he was tackled by off-duty law-enforcement officers, two military men and casino security officers, said Koenig, of Ballwin, Mo.
Las Vegas police described Zegrean, a resident of Henderson, a Las Vegas suburb, as “distraught” but could not say what triggered the shooting spree.
“We believe he had been walking up and down the Strip for several days,” said Capt. James Dillon, who runs the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department’s robbery homicide division. “We believe it was a random act with no relationship to the New York-New York and no relationship to the victims.”
About 16 shots were fired from the balcony, sending gamblers running for the doors, leaping over chairs and diving under gaming tables. Pit bosses stayed on hand, however, to guard the casino chips, Koenig said.
And most of the New York-New York casino did not even shut down during the incident, according to a hotel spokeswoman. By about 4 a.m., the casino was back in full operation.
Two shooting victims were treated at the scene and released, while two others were transported to a local hospital for “non-life-threatening injuries,” said Las Vegas police spokesman Bill Cassell.
Zegrean was booked on charges of attempted murder, battery with a deadly weapon, burglary, conspiracy and discharging a firearm in an occupied structure, Dillon said.
“It was extremely fortunate that nobody was killed,” Dillon said.
Police said Zegrean had concealed his gun inside his jacket and walked to a balcony area overlooking the casino floor.
Melody Zegrean, 43, a Las Vegas resident who identified herself as Steven Zegrean’s cousin, told the Associated Press that he had been divorced for several years.